Stay With Me (5 page)

He nodded and said, “Yep. See ya, Kilyn.”

I lifted my hand and said, “See ya.”

Turning, I took off running. I’d never run so fast in my life. It was as if I was running from the way he looked at me.

Or worse yet, from the way he made me feel.

W
ALKING THROUGH THE
cabin, I tried like hell to forget about my conversation with Kilyn. Blowing out a deep breath, I shook my head to clear my thoughts.

“How’s it looking?” Mike asked. He was the contractor handling the building. He was also a friend of mine since high school.

With a smile, I replied, “It looks great. What’s left to do?”

“If you’re happy with everything, we’re done. We had a few paint touch-ups to do that the guys took care of earlier this morning. The inspector came in and all is looking good. You my friend, have your cabin in the woods.”

My chest tightened. Savannah and I talked about building a place in the mountains. She would have never gone for how simple this cabin was though. She grew up in a very wealthy family. A three-bedroom cabin would never have made her happy. But being up here would have.

She should be here.

“Hey. You okay, Thano? You look pale.”

Clearing my throat, I nodded and hit him on the side of the arm. “Yeah. I’m great. It all looks great, Mike.”

“Did you ever tell your parents?”

With a halfhearted chuckle, I looked around again. “Hell no. My mother would have been all over you. Picking paint colors and adding this or that. In a way, I did it for you, Mike.”

He narrowed his eyes and stared at me with a disbelieving look. “For me? How’s that?”

“If she had known I was building this place, she would have been calling you on the phone every day. You and I both know it. My mother gives new meaning to the word control freak.”

He nodded. “That’s true. She would have been, but I also bet I’d have gained forty pounds with her cooking.”

“See. Me not telling them was a good thing.”

“Uh-huh. You keep telling yourself that, Thano.”

The moment I opened the door to my parents’ house, my mother called out my name, “Athanasios! It’s about time!”

With a slight smile, I made my way through the house and into the kitchen. My mother was jabbering away in Greek as she moved about. Her black hair was pulled up into a bun and she wore just a touch of makeup. My mother was beautiful. Beyond beautiful. She was only fifty-five-years-old and didn’t look a day over thirty.

“Mmm, smells good, Mama.”

“Of course it does. No one cooks moussaka like I do.”

With a chuckle, I agreed. “No one does, Mama.”

The smell of the ground lamb and garlic cooking made my mouth water. Damn, I loved my mother’s cooking.

“How has your week been?” she asked as she laid the eggplant in the baking dish. It was a very rare occasion for her to be alone in the kitchen.

With a shrug, I replied, “It’s been uneventful.”

She turned to look at me and raised her eyebrow. “Is that so?”

I knew that look. It was the look that told me I better rethink my answer.

“Um . . . yep. Why do you ask?”

She turned back to what she was doing and pursed her lips. “Rosemary, Aunt Marie’s friend, saw you talking to a girl on the street near your apartment.”

“Rosemary? Why was she in Manitou Springs?”

“Ah, so you do not deny you were with a girl?”

I popped an olive into my mouth and sat at the island while I watched her. “I wasn’t with any girl, Mama. I was talking to a girl.”

She huffed. “What’s the difference?”

“There’s a huge difference.”

“Is she a friend?”

I thought for a moment. Was Kilyn a friend? We hadn’t exchanged phone numbers and I just found out what her last name was.

“No. Gus and I met her at a cooking class and she—”

Taking a step back, my mother clutched her chest. “A cooking class! What is this? You take a cooking class from this girl? What can this girl cook better than your Mitera?”

Oh hell.

“No, Mama. I don’t know how she cooks to be honest with you.”

Her eyes widened in shock. “You date a girl and you don’t know how she cooks? Does she cook a good pastitsio? What about a spanakopita or baklava?”

I closed my eyes and prayed I’d get through this meal. “Mama, I’m not dating anyone and I highly doubt Kilyn knows how to cook any of that.”

Her face turned white and, right on cue, my father and Thaddeus walked in.

“Katerina, are you okay?” my father asked my mother, rushing to her side.

She held up her hand and gave me a look that should have turned me into dust.

“And why can she not cook those meals, Athanasios?”

Thaddeus tossed an olive up and caught it in his mouth as he leaned back and looked at me. Gus had already filled him and Nicholaus in on the hot girl in cooking class I met at the bar the night before.

“Yeah, Thano, why?”

I shot him a dirty look before turning back to my mother. “She’s Irish, Mama. I seriously doubt she knows how to make a baklava.”

Stepping back, my mother cursed in Greek while my father shook his head. “Not again,” he mumbled. “Katerina, the world is not filled with Greek women.”

Closing her eyes, my mother cried out, “Why do you try to break my heart, Athanasios?”

I stood and rolled my eyes. “I’m not breaking your heart, Mama, because I’m not dating Kilyn. I barely know her. What Rosemary saw was me out running and I happened to see Kilyn running. I was being polite in saying hi. She helped Gus and me out in class.”

She let out the breath she had been holding in. “This does not explain your betrayal of going to a cooking class!”

Thaddeus busted out laughing but quickly stopped when my father gave him a look.

“Katerina, let the boy explain before you go off jumping to conclusions.”

“Thank you, Dad.” Turning back to my mother, I said, “We are about to market pots and pans. We were doing research. Seeing what women like to use when they are in the kitchen.”

Anger moved across my mother’s face and I involuntarily took a step back. As did Thaddeus, hoping to escape the wrath of our Greek mother. Because when she got pissed. She. Got. Pissed.

“Am I not a woman?” Spinning around to look at my father, she shrugged. “Dimitris? Did you not marry a woman who knows pots and pans?”

I could tell my father was holding back a smile. “I did. I’m sure Thano was going to seek out your knowledge soon, my love.”

He walked up and wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her to him. Placing his lips on hers, he kissed her passionately. I’d long ago gotten used to my parents’ displays of affection. My father never could seem to keep his hands off of my mother. He’d give her the world if he thought he could, but he tried hard to make everyone believe he wore the pants in the family, which was not the case. He was true to his Greek roots—but our mother—she was hardcore old Greek.

Breaking their kiss, he winked and said, “Now, leave the boy be and let him do his job the way he wants.”

I swear my mother melted when in my father’s arms. He knew it too and worked it well.

“Fine. I’ll let it go.” Turning and pointing to me, she continued. “This time!”

Dinner proved to be like every other time I came home to eat. My brothers argued like cats and dogs. My mother informed me of the perfect girl for me. One of her Greek friend’s daughters. My father talked about going camping, even though we all knew he’d never take the time off from his practice to actually go camping. Aunt Maria, Uncle Nick, and my two cousins also showed up for dinner.

Getting up, I walked out onto the deck and stared out to the mountains. Closing my eyes, Kilyn popped in my head. I quickly opened them and ran my hand across the back of my neck.

What was happening to me? Why couldn’t I get her out of my head? I was torn between wanting to find out more about her and not wanting to forget Savannah.

Glancing over my shoulder, I watched my father take a seat. My father was a handsome man. For as long as I could remember, women would flirt with him endlessly. He never paid them any attention though. He only saw my mother and that was something I truly admired about him.

He looked straight ahead and nodded, as if saying something to himself. “I believe you are struggling with something, Athanasios.”

I never knew how he did it, but my father always knew when something was bothering one of his sons. He saw it in me after Savannah died, and when he told me to find myself again, he didn’t mean run off to Texas. I knew he was upset I left my job and went to work on the oil rig. But he never told me so. I saw it in his eyes though.

“Nah, I’m just tired. Work’s been busy.”

He slowly nodded. “You feel as if you are betraying her. Is that it?”

Pinching my eyebrows together, I asked, “Who?”

His eyes flicked up to meet mine.

“You know who . . . don’t skirt around it. You’re interested in this girl. Maybe this is the first girl who has sparked something inside you, huh? That makes you feel guilty.”

I let out a laugh. “Kilyn? Dad, please. I don’t even know the girl, and just because Mama’s friend saw me talking to her means nothing. I ran into her and said hello.”

“Have you been with a woman since Savannah? Sexually?”