Blazing Bedtime Stories, Volume III Read online

  “You should have married him,” was Alex’s favorite refrain.

  On several occasions, she’d considered moving out on her own. But their mounting problems had to be faced as a family. She couldn’t abandon her mother. And her brother had never been much of a leader.

  So every morning she got up before sunrise, showered, and made sure her brother was out of bed ready to hit the bricks in search of another job, something to replace the low-wage telemarketer position he’d had for the past three weeks. And she went to the restaurant that had stood boarded up for the past year. The only saving grace was that they still owned the land and the building—Manolis had somehow overlooked taking away that one anchor.

  She hated viewing events in that unflattering light, but after all that had transpired since she’d stood before him at the church, she’d been shocked by her former fiancé’s vicious acts of revenge.

  Never would she have believed him capable of this type of behavior.

  With her mother’s grudging help—even as Ekaterina tried everything she could to try to convince Elena to seek Manolis’s forgiveness—she opened the restaurant back up, starting with breakfast, which offered the greatest rate of return even with the specials she came up with to tempt customers back.

  She consulted with her friend Merianna, who was a damn good attorney, to find out whether or not Manolis would be able to recoup the monies he’d given them to cover her father’s bad business debts. This time, she wanted to be ahead in the game instead of offering herself up so willingly as victim.

  Most days she also worked as a waitress at a restaurant across town where the hours were long but the tips were good. Anything to put enough money together to save her mother’s house.

  If every now and again her thoughts turned to Ari, she didn’t readily admit it to anyone but herself. She’d read a newspaper piece on his brother and the family company a week or so ago that covered the Philippidis deal falling through. While the family wasn’t in any way tycoon material, she’d read that they were very well off and already had backup plans in motion to help save the old mill town about an hour south of Seattle.

  Elena had allowed herself a few moments of relief that Manolis hadn’t been able to hurt Ari. And then hid the paper from her mother in case Ekaterina got it in her head that she should marry someone else for money.

  The way Elena saw it, life had been challenging before. It was now challenging again. She didn’t care about the money. So long as you worked hard and had a plan, she strongly believed there wasn’t anything you couldn’t do.

  If only she could convince her mother of the same.

  “You should sell the jewelry,” Ekaterina said that morning as she buttered toast at the restaurant.

  Elena checked hash browns and flipped pancakes. “I’ve already told you that I’m sending it all back, Mama. I don’t want you to mention it again.”

  “Then why haven’t you sent it yet?”

  That was the question, wasn’t it?

  Back at the house, she had a large box stuffed full of all the designer clothes, shoes and handbags Manolis had bought for her either directly or indirectly. Nestled on top was a box with the jewelry he’d given her, including the ten-carat diamond engagement ring that was worth a small fortune.

  She wasn’t sure why she hadn’t sent the items back yet. Perhaps she was waiting for him to ask for them. In fact, she was surprised he hadn’t done so yet. The thought of slipping a box that held so many valuable items into the mail was unsettling. And she certainly couldn’t afford the postage insurance to cover it.

  She’d considered calling his secretary and arranging to have someone come pick the box up. But every time she thought about it, Manolis did something else to make her rethink the matter.

  She and her mother plated the two breakfast special orders of pancakes, two eggs, hash browns and toast and her mother slid around the counter to serve them to a couple in a corner booth.

  The restaurant wasn’t quite up to its former glory, but it had passed a health inspection last week and the customers they attracted didn’t seem to mind that half the dining area was cordoned off for simplicity’s sake, or that the one waitress, her mother, was a little on the slow side.

  “More coffee?” she heard her mother ask.

  Elena stood in the open window cut into the wall between the dining area and kitchen and watched her.

  Ekaterina seemed to have aged ten years in the month since their return. Elena’s stomach ached, knowing she was to blame. She glanced at a picture on the wall above the framed first dollar her father had made at the restaurant over thirty years ago. The photo was of the four of them, taken a long time ago. They’d never had a lot of money, but they’d always been happy together. Their smiles told of that, as did Elena’s memories.

  They’d be happy again.

  “You just sighed again,” her mother told her as she came back with another order from a table of three that had come in.

  “I did not.”

  “Yes, you did. You sigh more than you talk these days. I think you miss Manolis.”

  Elena smiled wryly. “Fat chance.” She broke a couple of eggs into a bowl and then poured them into a hot pan. She picked up a spatula and then dropped it back to the prep counter, causing a clatter. “You know, life would be a lot easier if you’d stop hounding me about Manolis. I will not call him. Ever. The sooner you accept that, the better off we’ll all be.”

  “Better off?” her mother asked. She swept a hand toward the other side of the kitchen that was closed because of a broken oven and water damage in the corner that they had painted over to keep mold from forming, but couldn’t afford to repair. “How will we be better off, Elena?”

  She came around the counter and checked the eggs.

  “I don’t understand how you could have turned so quickly,” Ekaterina said. “So he slapped you. Even you’ll admit, you probably deserved it. No, you did deserve it, for betraying him like that.”

  It wasn’t the first time she’d heard the argument. And it wasn’t the first time she’d told her mother, “I can’t believe you’re still siding with him after all he’s done.”

  “A man like Manolis doesn’t get where he is without being strong and a bit ruthless. He’s hurt. He’s lashing out.”

  “The only thing that’s hurt is his pride.” Elena hadn’t seen any pain in his gaze when she’d faced him. Only anger.

  “And how is that any different?”

  “What kind of marriage do you think I’d have if I called him right now? Right this minute?” Elena asked. “If he’d even have me.”

  “Oh, he’ll have you all right,” her mother assured her. “It would be the perfect salve to his wounded ego.”

  “And the first part of my question?”

  “You’ll suffer. A little bit. But once you’re in his bed, he’ll forget soon enough.”

  Elena winced. “What, are you my pimp now?”

  Her mother’s mouth fell open. “How dare you talk to me like that.”

  “Well, that’s what you are, aren’t you? You’re suggesting that I beg forgiveness from a man who is trying to put us out of our house, Mama. And that I marry him and…service him to soothe his bruised ego.”

  “You’d rather we go homeless.”

  “If that’s the only alternative, then, yes, I would.”

  “Come on, Elena. You’re acting like you’re the wounded one. You can’t tell me you really loved Manolis to begin with.”

  “What?” She was appalled that her mother was suggesting otherwise.

  “Your father left us in dire straits. We needed the money and you came through for your family.”

  She gasped. “I loved him.”

  Her mother snorted. “And that’s why it was so easy for you to sleep with another man the night before your wedding?”

  Elena felt her face go hot.

  The eggs were ruined. She picked up the pan and tilted the contents into a nearby garbage bin.

/>   “I loved Manolis,” she whispered. “But maybe I wasn’t in love with him.”

  “But you are in love with the other man. That…Ari character.”

  Elena turned her back on her mother and went about making fresh eggs.

  She hadn’t known Ari long enough to say that. But meeting him…spending time with him, she’d learned there was an important difference between loving someone and being in love with them. She hadn’t been “in love” with Manolis.

  In all honesty, she probably hadn’t loved him, either. Because judging by his recent actions, she hadn’t really known him, despite all the time they’d spent together.

  Why the act? she wondered. If her mother was right, and men like Manolis had to be ruthless, why then would he act another way with her?

  Then, of course, there was the other important reason why she couldn’t return to him. While he might be able to forgive her for momentary insanity, he’d never be able to accept another man’s child as his own.

  Elena slid her hand down over her still-flat stomach and swallowed hard.

  “You better turn those out before you burn them, too.” Her mother handed her a plate.

  They silently plated the two specials along with an order of oatmeal, and her mother went out to serve.

  Elena glanced at the clock on the wall. It was almost ten. That gave her a half hour to get home, get showered and changed and go to serve lunch at someone else’s restaurant.

  She began cleaning up. While her mother would hold down the fort for however long it took to keep the remaining customers happy, the Closed sign would be turned around to discourage further diners. But by next month, Elena hoped that they would have enough capital to begin offering a limited lunch menu.

  She started untying her apron when she heard the cowbell over the front door ring. Since everyone there had just been served, it meant that her mother had yet to turn the Closed sign.

  She tied the apron again.

  “We’re closed,” her mother said sternly.

  Elena turned quickly, wondering who she could be addressing so stridently in front of paying customers.

  “The sign says Open.”

  Her heart skipped a beat. Though she’d only heard the voice for two short days, she’d recognize it anywhere.

  Ari…

  She ducked down and scrambled to the end of the row where she couldn’t be seen from the window.

  What was she going to do?

  12

  ARI IMAGINED A LOT of different scenarios when he tried to seek out Elena, but this definitely hadn’t rated in the top five.

  He absently rubbed the back of his neck, nodding his apologies to the restaurant customers who stared openly at him and the older Greek woman trying to shout him back out the door.“I’m not here to eat,” he insisted when she said they were no longer serving.

  Although Lord knew he could use a good meal. He’d dropped five pounds in the past month because he kept forgetting to eat. He simply hadn’t had any appetite for food. He moved through the days, hoping for the dawning of the one when things would get easier. When he wouldn’t think of Elena every damn moment of every damn day and life would return to normal.

  Instead, the passage of time merely served to intensify his feelings for her. It wasn’t the point that even his brother had said to him the other morning, “Christ, Ari, you’re actually starting to look physically ill. And, frankly, you’re beginning to make me sick.”

  Troy had just accepted breakfast from the house cook and watched as Ari leaned back away from his own plate and reached for his coffee instead.

  “Okay, I get it. This wasn’t merely about sex for you.” Troy had cut his French toast with agitated chops. “I’d like to say it makes me feel better about losing that blasted deal with Philippidis, but…well, at least knowing you’re suffering helps a little.”

  “Gee, thanks,” Ari had said, pushing his plate away.

  “Oh, for God’s sake, go find the woman already,” his brother had mumbled. “Just looking at you makes me want to cut my own wrists with a dull butter knife.”

  Ari had stared at him as if he was short one sugar cube. Then Troy had slowly grinned.

  “Well, what are you waiting for? You’ve been going like gangbusters at the office, but here at home it’s like you’re sleepwalking. Do something already, or else I will.”

  Ari hadn’t moved. Truth was, it hadn’t been his brother’s objection that had stopped him from seeking Elena out. Something else had. A pain that had developed when she’d run away from him outside the church, and refused to go away.

  He’d cleared his throat. “What if she doesn’t want me?”

  Troy had allowed his silverware to clatter to his plate as he glared at his brother. “Well, you won’t know that until you go see her, will you?”

  Despite his fears, the lick of hope that had run through Ari’s chest had begun a string of events that had led him to this restaurant on the outskirts of Seattle.

  His brother had been insufferable over the past month. Plans that had been set into motion had to be stopped, rerouted or scrapped altogether. Government stimulus had dried up without the supplemental resources to sustain it. Tries at making inroads with other investment firms had proven futile. And repeated attempts to contact Philippidis’s people had ultimately led to the threat of a lawsuit.

  Ari had thrown himself into the act of striving to make up for what had happened. He’d flown all over the country, meeting with various capital investors and banks, each time worse than the one before. No one, it seemed, was interested in helping a washed up, old mill town.

  Thankfully, the family was still doing well, managing to maintain the lifestyle their father had worked hard to create, and employing more people than was really necessary for the upkeep of the Metaxas estate in order to give a little back. But whenever they left the large grounds, they were reminded that life wasn’t going as well for the rest of the town’s inhabitants. And, more than ever, Ari felt personally responsible for their continued struggle.

  Had he not fallen for Elena, had he controlled himself and allowed her to marry Philippidis, they would have closed the deal. By now the company would have broken ground on the new solar panel manufacturing facility they planned to build, and begun putting town inhabitants back to work: first, the local construction companies, then unemployed mill workers when they went into production six months later.

  Now those plans were on indefinite hold. All due to him. And he had nothing to show for it but countless empty bottles of antacid.

  Still, despite all the recent hardships, he couldn’t help thinking that none of it compared to the angry Greek woman he now faced.

  “I need to talk to her,” he said quietly.

  “I think you’ve done enough talking,” Ekaterina Anastasios refused to back down. She planted her hands on her hips. “Go on. You’re not welcome here.”

  Ari looked around the restaurant’s humble interior. A large screen had been set up to separate the dining area into two distinct sections. Perhaps to hide blemishes, as the place was in dire need of renovations and updating, although it was spotlessly clean. Or to limit the customers to one side for ease in serving. He didn’t see any other waitstaff, so perhaps they were running on bare minimum.

  It hadn’t taken long to track Elena down. Or, rather, research her family. A restaurant in business for a good quarter of a century rarely went without some sort of notice. He’d found several good newspaper reviews and pieces that included photos of what he guessed had been Elena’s father before he passed away.

  Then he’d come across the engagement announcement.

  “Local girl set to marry Greek tycoon” had been the accompanying story headline.

  He’d also uncovered that the family house sat on the brink of foreclosure, no thanks to Elena’s vengeful ex-fiancé, and that she’d reopened the restaurant for limited service two weeks ago.

  He figured that would be the best place to approach her.
In a public place.

  Now he questioned that logic.

  If he was going to be rejected again, did he really want it to be in front of a room full of strangers?

  Of course, he’d prefer she did the rejecting and not her mother.

  “Elena,” he called out, craning his neck to see over the screen, and then the window to the kitchen.

  “She doesn’t want to see you,” Ekaterina insisted, giving him a shove toward the door.

  “I’d like to hear that from her lips, if you don’t mind.” He gently but insistently caught her hands in his to keep her from pushing again. “Elena!”

  The customers had stopped all pretense of eating and now sat openly watching him.

  “Elena!”

  Her name rolled out of his mouth naturally and he thought he noticed the slightest edge of desperation to his voice.

  Finally, the kitchen door opened and there stood the woman who had haunted his every waking and sleeping moment for the past month.

  Merely glimpsing her made him fear that she would haunt him for the rest of his life…

  ELENA HAD RUSHED toward the kitchen door. Anything to halt the escalating confrontation in the dining room. But the instant her gaze crashed with Ari’s, she was swept back to that Aegean island that seemed so far away. She could nearly smell the gardenias and taste the salty sea on her lips as she licked them.

  Realizing she still wore her apron, she hurried to untie it even as she focused on her mother’s reddened face.“I’ll handle this, Mother,” she said firmly.

  Ekaterina opened her mouth several times to object. Elena handed her the apron and then took Ari’s arm and led him outside.

  It was a rare Seattle day full of bright sunshine. Elena shivered, unsure if it was due to the weather or Ari’s nearness.

  Was it possible that his presence affected her even more powerfully now? That without the distraction of her engagement and wedding that he was somehow able to draw her entire essence to him? Or had time and circumstances amplified what they had shared, making him the sun emerging from the clouds after a month of relentless rain? Making her even more vulnerable?