everyone’s ready, there’s a footpath beyond that copse of trees running up the side of the valley. Last one to the lookout is a girlie man.”
Both boys laughed. Dax asked, “What’s that?”
“A phrase I picked up while I was living in New York. It means wimp!”
Ari’s smile faded. He stared hard at him as they walked. “Mom and I used to live in New York.”
That was where she’d gone? Where she’d been for so long?
It was an astounding piece of news, despite the fact that he knew Stasio did business there on a regular basis. To think Ari had been living in the same city where Theo had worked…So close? It slayed him. “Did you like it?”
“Yes, but I like Greece better.”
“So do I.”
“Come on, everyone,” Stella urged. “At this pace we’ll never get there.” Theo wondered what had made her so nervous that she’d been a little short with Ari just now. A tight band constricted his breathing. By the end of their hike he intended to find out.
“I’ve never been to New York,” Dax muttered.
“It’s an exciting city.”
“I thought you lived in Greece.”
“I did until my twenties, Dax, then I moved to New York to earn my living. Now I have an office in Athens and am back to stay.” Stella walked ahead of him with Ari, but he suspected she was listening to make sure the conversation didn’t touch on things she wanted kept quiet.
“What do you do?”
“I deal in stocks and investments. Some real estate. What does your father do?”
“He owns a bank.”
Of course. Dax belonged to the approved sector of Greek society. “Does your mother have a job, too?”
“No. She stays home with my brother and sister and me.”
“You’re very lucky. Do you know my mother still helps my father run their taverna on Salamis? I can’t ever remember when they weren’t working. Sometimes I wished my mother could stay home with me and my brothers, but we were too poor. She had to work.”
“Is she a cook?”
Theo smiled. “She’s a lot of things. The other day I told her she and papa didn’t have to work anymore because I planned to take care of them from now on. Do you know what she said?”
Dax looked up at him. “What?”
“‘I’ve worked all my life, Theo Pantheras. If I didn’t have work, I wouldn’t know what to do with myself.’”
Ari slowed down and turned around. “Do they know about me?” Stella looked back. The pain in her eyes as she reached for their son tore him apart.
“They know all about you and hope the day will come when you might like to meet them.”
To ease the moment, Theo pulled off his pack and opened a compartment. “Let’s see. I’ve got water, oranges, peanuts, hard candy. Who wants what before we race the rest of the way?” The relief on Stella’s face needed no explanation.
Once they’d refreshed themselves, Theo stood next to a pine tree. “I’m going to count to twenty while you two guys head up the trail first. Take my binoculars, Ari. If you see something exciting, shout.”
The second he started counting in a loud voice, they took off on a run. It was steeper in this section and the trail zigzagged up through the forest. “Twenty!” he called out at last, then eyed Stella. “Are you ready to try catching up to them?”
“Just a minute, Theo.”
“What’s the matter? Are you about to tell me I’ve done everything wrong?”
Her chest heaved with the strength of her emotions. “Don’t pretend you don’t know you’ve done everything right,” her voice shook. “Inviting Dax along made Ari feel comfortable.”
“I thought that was why you brought him with Ari.”
“No. I was going to take Dax on a little tour of the island while we waited for you, but your idea was much better.” She wouldn’t make eye contact with him.
“Then you’re angry because I got you involved in the hike. When I saw Ari’s face stripped of animation, I made an impulsive decision hoping it would help our son.”
She wiped the palms of her hands against her womanly hips in a gesture of nervousness he’d seen many times years ago. He would always be touched by her vulnerability.
“Your instincts were dead on,” she admitted. “I didn’t expect him to have a good time today. Instead I…I have the feeling he won’t be averse to seeing you again,” she stammered. “That’s what I need to talk to you about.”
He chewed on some more peanuts. “Go on.”
She cleared her throat. “We’re here on vacation for two and a half more weeks.” After a pause she leveled a guarded brown gaze with its hint of pleading on him. “Before you ask to see him again, would you wait until we’re back in Athens?”
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