Page 165 of Love Among the Ruins
“No buts, Miranda. For fucks sake can’t you take an order from me?”
Miranda’s face turned white. But the huge frame of Hector Galatis’ slowly moved past her as she flattened her body against the door.
Dominic rose slowly, his insides in upheaval. He wasn’t ready to see this man. Didn’t want to see him. Ordinarily he would have been excited, humbled even, to have this man in his office.
But today?
Today he was already struggling to focus. He did not need this. Miranda rushed away and closed the door, leaving him and Galatis staring at one another.
“This is most unexpected, Hector.” Dominic strode towards the old man. “We barely spoke at the wedding.” He beckoned the man to take a seat and pulled out a chair he hoped would be big enough to accommodate him. Then he waited, his foot at the ready to block the chair in case it moved as Galatis slowly descended his weight upon it.
“I ... was ... busy.” Galatis puffed, out of breath already as he pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his face.
“I could see that.” Dominic smiled and slipped his hands into his pockets as he waited. Something was up. Galatis always made Dominic come to him. Not the other way around. “I was hoping we’d have a meeting or two at the wedding,” he mentioned casually.
“It wasn’t the place.”
“It wasn’t. You have a large family, Hector. You were working the crowd and enjoying yourself, as you should.” Dominic sat down. “Can I get you a drink? Something cold?” he offered, but all the while his brain was theorizing, trying to work out why he was here.
Galatis shook his head, then closed his eyes for a few seconds. “How do you know her?”
Dominic watched the man’s face and waited for his eyes to open. This was most peculiar. “Who?”
“Your girlfriend.”
“Eleni?” Unease trailed up his spine like an army of ants. “We should have had this conversation at the wedding, Hector. You could have asked her yourself.”
“I’m asking you now.”
“I met her at a party,” he replied, evasively, but not altogether lying either. As far as he was concerned it was none of Galatis’ business. “Why do you ask?”
“I am curious.”
“Eleni and your wife were talking. Your wife seemed to like her.”
“She looks familiar.”
Galatis’ questions confused him. It was possible that the man had caught a glimpse of Eleni at one of the meetings. Did it matter to him that Galatis was bizarrely interested in Dominic having ‘a thing’ with an employee? Eleni had been worried about that. “Is there a reason you’re asking me so many questions?” He attempted a laugh to ease the tension in the air. The mood turned dark and heavy, and he wasn’t sure why, but something was off. Galatis turning up unsolicited in his office was off. Asking questions about Eleni was off.
When the old man didn’t reply, Dominic ventured another smile, unsure where this conversation was going. “This is a surprise, Hector because I got back to the office late last night and I wasn’t going to take any meetings today—”
“That clip in her hair.” Galatis gestured with his crepey leathery hand pointing to his head. He averted his gaze and looked at a point behind Dominic, on the wall, the expression on his face faraway and distant.
“What about it?” Dominic struggled to understand. Galatis appeared dazed and confused and wasn’t making much sense. He suddenly became worried that the man might be on the verge of having a stroke.
“I had something similar made once. It was a custom piece I had commissioned a long time ago.”
Dominic stopped breathing. Eleni’s words hit him like shrapnel.
I haven’t met my father. I have no idea who he is.
He told my mother to get rid of me when she was pregnant.
He already had a wife and family.
His eyes locked with Galatis’ in a new understanding and he quickly rewound back to the wedding, and now this sudden visit the moment Dominic had returned to the office.
Could it be possible that … Hector Galatis was Eleni’s father?
