a brief hesitation he reached for his cola and took a long drink. ‘Can you fish, Mum?’
Alex blinked and put her piece down. It was noisy in the pizza bar and she wasn’t sure she’d heard correctly. ‘You mean with a rod and reel?’
Jason nodded and studied the remaining pieces before reaching for the one with the most olives, despite it being the furthest away.
‘I’ve been known to catch the odd fish, sure.’
Jason focused on his next mouthful before continuing. ‘I thought so. I told them you could do anything, but they still said I couldn’t come.’
‘You told who? And couldn’t come where?’ she asked, secretly pleased that Jason still had such faith in her.
‘Matt and Jack. They’re going fishing one weekend with their dads. They said I could have come but you were a girl and you wouldn’t know how to fish.’
‘That’s a shame,’ she said, feeling more than slightly put out. ‘Did you want to go?’
‘Sort of. The camping out sounded the best bit, though.’
‘Ah,’ she said, getting some idea of the real reason why they might be uncomfortable with a woman along. ‘I know why they didn’t want us to go.’
‘Why?’
She smiled. ‘Well, how would they feel when we caught all the fish?’
‘I knew it.’ Jason leaned back in his chair and surveyed with only half interest the few remnants left in the pizza box. ‘I told them it wouldn’t make any difference even if I had a dad, because we’d still catch the most too.’ Then he burped loudly, clapped his hand over his mouth and collapsed into a fit of giggles.
Alex laughed too, but inside felt his words as a boot to her heart. Hot tears stung her eyes.
It’s the shock, she tried to tell herself as she brushed away the evidence with the back of her hand, pretending they were laughter induced. Naturally she would be feeling more sensitive than usual after Aristos’s sudden death and the arrival of Nick on the scene. Why else would she be crying into her pizza at dinnertime?
But, despite what she wanted to believe, part of her knew there was more to her tears than that. Once again she was reminded that no matter how she tried to be both mother and father to Jason, to provide him with the balance his young life required, there would be times when she just couldn’t be both.
Jet lag, Nick decided. It had to be jet lag.
Why else would his legs be so unresponsive and his body so stressed and lethargic? Three kilometres into his run along the foreshore, it was obvious he wasn’t going to make his usual ten. The rhythm wasn’t there, his breathing was forced, and the power just wasn’t happening.
And he needed to run. Needed to clear the fog that was clouding his brain, the fog that sprang from changing time zones and hemispheres—and from a girl he should have forgotten long ago.
Who was he trying to kid? She was hardly a girl any more. One touch had confirmed that. His breath caught in his throat, he coughed and shot his rhythm to hell again. In rebellion, he cursed, kicking out one foot at the sand, spraying the heavy salt-encrusted grains far and wide, scattering seagulls up into the ever lightening sky.
Breath rasped and scratched his throat. He needed sleep. Long, uninterrupted sleep. Instead last night he’d been plagued with visions of a leggy teenager, sitting cross-legged and smiling up at him from the midst of a field of yellow wild flowers, her long blonde hair almost liquid in the gentle spring breeze.
She’d been nervous. But she’d come to meet him willingly, knowing that this was the day—their last together—and her shyness had faded under his touch and they’d taken each other to a place they’d always share.
Or so he’d thought.
Maybe he’d got it wrong back then. From the way Alexandra acted now, it was clear she wasn’t interested in sharing the time of day with him. He smiled to himself.
The way she’d reacted when he’d suggested staying in Australia! She obviously couldn’t wait for him to get out of her life. He didn’t even know why he’d said that; he had no intention of staying here. Although it was more than obvious that Sofia was keen he should hang around a while.
Maybe he should.
So far Dimitri was insisting that all was well with the business in Athens, and it was clear that Sofia needed his support here. Maybe that wouldn’t be as onerous as he’d first expected. Somewhere along the line Sofia had transformed herself from a pestering child into a dark-haired beauty. Perhaps it wouldn’t hurt him to stick around a while—at least until she’d had time to come to terms with her loss.
A thin smile found its way to his lips as another reason to stay crystallised. For there was something infinitely satisfying about making Alexandra think she was not going to be rid of him too easily.
But then, that was foolish thinking. He wasn’t here to settle scores. He was here to make sure the business functioned well and prospered long into the future. He should be thinking instead whether there was even a place for her in the operation.
If he was going to leave the business in sound hands it was clear there’d have to be someone pretty damned capable in the financial area. Would a receptionist-cum-bookkeeper make the grade? He doubted it. It might be better to get someone better qualified in and just let her go. Although the employment agencies had had no success so far.
Maybe it would be better getting Dimitri to come out from Greece. He would know what the job required, so they could employ the right person.
Gulls wheeled overhead and a lonely swimmer hauled himself from the water nearby, shaking jewelled droplets from his body as he surged out of the shallows.
A swim. Maybe that was what Nick needed to clear his head of this infernal jet lag. Lord knows, the run didn’t seem to be helping. He turned back the way he had come and headed along the beach.
‘He’s cute, don’t you think?’
Alex looked up from her computer screen, in the middle of typing her letter. ‘Who’s cute?’ she asked innocently, keeping her face deliberately schooled as she minimised her computer screen. But Sofia was too busy closing the door to notice anything. She grabbed one of the visitor’s chairs by the arm and pulled it up close to the desk, hunkering down conspiratorially, her elbows on the desk, cupping her chin. She was grinning from ear to ear.
‘Nick, silly. Who else around here could I mean?’
Alex smiled indulgently. While ‘cute’ wasn’t exactly the word that sprang to mind whenever she thought about Nick, it was obvious who Sofia was referring to. Apart from the two of them, the office only employed a part-time woman for the phones, for whenever Sofia had had enough of playing receptionist, and an ageing property manager who looked after maintenance issues.
Still, she feigned surprise. ‘Oh, him. Sure, he’s not bad.’
It was easy to play along. Sofia was the happiest she’d seen her since her father had died. If having Nick here did that for her, then at least something good would come from his visit. With no one else to turn to, Sofia deserved it.
‘I think he likes me.’
Alex’s breath snagged in her throat. Oh, please, I don’t want to hear this!
She somehow forced a bare smile to her face. ‘Of course he likes you. You’re his cousin. You’re a nice girl. Why wouldn’t he like you?’
She shook her head. ‘No, you don’t get what I mean. I mean he likes me. You know—like, seriously likes me.’
‘That’s…nice.’ Alex wondered what else she was expected to say. She looked at the girl sitting opposite, her dark eyes shining with hope in her impeccably made-up face, her insanely long acrylic fingernails painted the exact shade of her crimson