Page 39 of Footprints in the Sand
Maybe he wanted nothing to do with her romantically, after all.
After the warehouse closed at six thirty that evening, Eva said goodbye to Jean-Paul and checked into the hotel room they’d booked for her and only for her, directly down the hall from Jean-Paul’s. Once there, she showered and put on a sleek black dress, which she immediately took off, exchanging it for a crop top and a pair of loose-fitting pants. She looked young and free and unlike anyone who’d been with the same guy since she was twenty years old. If Finn saw her like this, she knew he’d say,you’re dressing too young for what you are.
Finn had so many rules for how people were meant to live.
That reminded her that for the past few days, Finn had been texting and calling, trying to contact her.I need to talk to you. It’s urgent. Please, answer the phone.But Eva hadn’t been in any mood to discuss whatever was so “urgent” for him. She was fully immersed in Greek living. Finn had no part in that.
He probably wouldn’t have any part in her life ever again.
Because Jean-Paul needed his truck later, Eva took a taxi fifteen minutes down the road to the villa the American girls had rented for a full three weeks. On the outside was a gate with a buzzer, which Eva pressed with a delirious sense of fear and excitement. As the gate opened, she double-checked her makeup in the smeared back window of the taxi before it drove away and laughed at herself. She’d hardly been wearing makeup in Greece,running around in a swimsuit and messy hair, wondering where her life was going. Now, she was going to a swanky party. Life was filled with contrasts.
The villa was enormous, which shouldn’t have come as a surprise to her. It was white and glowing, lumbering over the dusty green ground, and situated so that it had a gorgeous view of the jagged coastline and turquoise water just below. The water was maybe fifty feet beneath them, sloshing and wild, which saddened Eva. She liked to have easy access to the water. She didn’t like to feel like it was something so far away and colossal.
Valerie, Winona, and Alyssa were waiting for her at the pool, sipping cocktails and wearing string bikinis that accentuated their toned bodies. They were literally perfect in ways that Eva had stopped trying to be after age eighteen. It was too difficult to keep up with.
“She made it!” Alyssa cried, raising both of her hands.
“The beautiful Greek goddess herself!” Winona said.
A bartender came over and handed Eva the cocktail of the evening: something gin-based with a light pineapple taste to it. Eva thanked him, and was surprised when he didn’t look at her or say, “You’re welcome.” Eva sat down in a pool chair and raised her glass to the American girls, who clinked their glasses with hers.
“To new friends!” Winona cried.
But Eva couldn’t help but feel uneasy. What had begun as a wild and careless decision to come drink and hang out with these girls had become proof of what a fish out of water she was. Yes, Eva knew wealthy people. Her mother had done very well for herself, and her grandfather was extremely wealthy. But Eva had never been one to take hand-outs. In fact, if she ever looked at her bank account (which was something she was too frightened to do these days, especially after what Finn had done), she knew it would break her heart. It would make her remember all theyears she’d worked tirelessly for the money she’d earned, only to have Finn throw it away.
These women would never let their boyfriends handle their finances, she knew. They would be smarter than she was. They would know how to hang out to their wealth.
For a little while, the girls talked about their trip so far. They’d begun in Italy, where Winona had fallen in love with a Roman guy who’d broken her heart after three days.
“We were worried she was going to bail on the rest of the trip,” Alyssa said with a laugh. “Val and I were praying that something would go wrong.”
“You were praying for my unhappiness!” Winona cried, but her eyes were filled with laughter. “Oh, Eva, you should have heard the lines he used on me. They were some of the most cliché lines I’ve ever heard in my life.”
“And you fell for them!” Alyssa laughed.
“I did not. Or I only half did.” Winona sighed.
“I think European men are really good at using English clichés,” Eva said, remembering Nico, whom she hadn’t seen since their Fourth of July sailboat tour. “They’ve seen too many romantic movies and know how to turn up the heat.”
“And we’re all craving romance so much!” Valerie agreed. “We fall head over heels.”
“We don’t know how not to,” Alyssa said.
They were quiet for a moment, watching the moonlight spill onto the turquoise pool.
“Eva,” Winona said, “tell us more about Jean-Paul. What’s he like?”
Eva’s heart pounded. “He’s really just my employer. I don’t know him very well.”
“Is he single?” Winona asked.
“I think so,” Eva said. “I’ve never met any of his partners. I get the sense that he really wants to live his life on his own.”
“A lone wolf,” Valerie said.
“Something like that,” Eva said.
“Don’t you want to change him?” Alyssa asked.
