Page 143 of Love Among the Ruins
“Not all men are like that,” he countered, trying to speak up for the good ones.
“That is true. I have met some real gentlemen.”
He nodded.
“I wish parents would teach their sons that women aren’t objects and deserve to be treated with respect.”
He lifted his glass to her. “That’s exactly it. It all starts with your upbringing.”
“I can handle myself well.”
“I know you can. Your martial arts skills are legendary.”
They exchanged a knowing smile in solidarity.
“I couldn’t do that this time, with my dress, and the heels, and it being that wedding. I didn’t want anything to reflect badly on you.”
“Nothing you could do would reflect badly on me. It was an honor having you on my arm.”
A flush crept up her cheeks, fanning out all over her face. She pulled her lower lip with her teeth, a smile quirking on her lips. “Then I did what I was supposed to. I saved you from Galatis’ nieces.”
“You did. You fit right in, Eleni.” She was smart and funny, clever and sharp. She was so much more than the women she felt inadequate next to, and he wished she could see it.
The damage that a lifetime of not being valued—of being told she didn’t matter and being rejected by her father—damage like that could be irreparable. The only way to counter it would be to shower her with so much love and attention that it would forever erase all the bad things.
He eyed her, and it took a forced effort to not let his gaze wander down the length of her body. Never before had he experienced such a problem with his vision. “I’m sorry it’s coming to an end.”
She waved at their surroundings. “I will never forget this. I’ve had such an amazing weekend.”
He marveled at her ability to bounce back, but he shouldn’t have been surprised, knowing what he did about her past. “You can say that even with what’s happened?”
“I try to focus on the good things and not dwell too much on the bad. There are always bad things, but it’s the little moments of happiness that add up and make life bearable again.” She looked away, and he wondered if she’d gone there again, to the past, to the accident. He wondered about that a lot more now, that even with her tragic past, she wasn’t as bitter as he would have expected.
The huge buffalo in the room, the ghost of her boyfriend, loomed large and full before him. “Is climbing the mountain a way to focus on the good things?” he asked, softly.
“It’s something I must do.”
He didn’t understand it, her devotion, her desire to keep their dream alive. “You must have loved him very much.”
She looked up, looked unsure, hesitated. Then, “We’d been together since I was seventeen. He was my first proper boyfriend. The first one to show me what it meant to be truly loved.”
His jaw tightened and he did a rough calculation in his head, she’d been with him for two and a half years. And now, all these months later she was still pining for him.
His first love had been a girl he’d met one lazy July in the Hamptons. It had lasted about as long as the summer, and he’d never thought about her much after that.
Eleni looked down at her legs, scratched something on her thigh. He was so engrossed in watching her that it startled him when she looked up and caught him gawking at her. “What about you? You must be quite a catch in the US. You must have a lot of kiss and tell stories.”
He was surprised by her forthrightness. This was new, her probing for answers when she’d never been so inquisitive before.
“Why did you and Demi break up?” she asked.
He flinched. “I don’t want to talk about Demi.”
“But you asked me about Jonas.”
“I asked you about your mountain climb.”
The air chilled to minus five degrees, or thereabouts.
