by Pilar Lepe
“Did you check your phone?”
Evelyn took her phone out from her purse, she had ten missed calls every five minutes.
“I had the phone in silent mode, I’m sorry. I promise it will never happen again, I would also get worried if it was the other way around...What time are we leaving?” She asked to change the subject; she didn’t feel like arguing about her obligations.
“I can’t go there yet, they called about a half hour ago to say Josh died, the funeral will be in the afternoon.”
“Do you mind if I leave? Is Deb staying?”
“You can go, we’ll leave at night or tomorrow in the morning, depending how everything goes.”
“I’ll make breakfast and then I’ll see about the flight, what do you say?”
“Good idea, but first I think you should shower.” He laughed looking at his mom’s hair.
Evelyn blushed and she decided not to say anything back, it was better not to know what her son was thinking.
Back at the hotel, Nick woke up stretching his hand where Evelyn was. She had left without an explanation. He looked around everywhere to see if she had left a note but she hadn’t left anything for him, just the smell of her conditioner on the pillow.
“You will not get away that easily Evelyn Thomas, I have found you and I’m not letting you get away...”
The phone rang interrupting his little chat with himself.
“Hello? Mitera?*
* Mitera: mother in Greek.
Chapter 25
Evelyn breathed feeling relieved when the plane landed in Sacramento, this time she did not sleep during the flight because she had not stop thinking about Nick. Nick who after hours didn’t call, of course she had run off like a criminal, but he didn’t do anything to look for her. Then she realized she never gave him her phone number, and if she wanted to check on him, she had no way of doing so. Surely Deb knew, but she wasn’t going to ask her, she was embarrassed if Deb knew she was interested in him.
He was so different from the men she had met, he was dominant but in a gentle way, besides he was extremely creative in bed, just to remember it, Evelyn felt warm. He also seemed spontaneous, not going by the book. Why when she finally found a man like that, it lasted so little? She knew the answer, she was so self-confident, but deep down she was a coward when she really liked a man, she always feared a serious relationship and especially, scared of commitment.
When she got home, she went directly to the apartment, she wasn’t feeling great emotionally and everything was a man’s fault. She hated when a man affected her this way. Chills ran down her spine when she remembered his kisses.
It was six-thirty and it was almost time to close, she changed her elegant clothes to her comfortable jeans. But she enjoyed the most, was taking her bra off at last. She was lucky she could still not use if she didn’t feel like it.
When she went into the shop, Sarah didn’t see her, she was very busy showing tulips to a lady. The first thing she did was to go over the sales from the day and make sure everything was in order.
“Evelyn! You’re here.”
“I just got here, how is everything going here?”
“Very easy going as you can see, good sales. Fall is just like spring, there are more events. How about you, how was it?”
“Better than expected. It wasn’t as traumatic to see Josh as I thought it would be. Truth is I couldn’t even recognize him, he looked so much older than he really was.”
“Was?”
“He died this morning. Mark and Deb stayed for the funerals, I rather, I didn’t want to stay to pretend I’m sad when I’m not.”
“Nothing else happened?”
“Nothing.” Evelyn tried to look natural, but Sarah knew her very well.
“You know what I’ve been thinking? If you don’t mind of course. I postponed the trip for two weeks, but now I see it’s too long. Would you mind if I call the airline to see if I could go this week. I was supposed to leave today.”
“Let me see if my neighbor’s daughter is available and I’ll let you know.”
“When? Now? It’s late to call, I think.”
“I’ll do it tomorrow, but right now I’ll call Pam.”
“I’ll order chrysanthemum meanwhile, they look strange.”
“An older man came with his granddaughter earlier and she was playing with the flowers while he was picking out flowers. I didn’t say anything just because the old man took the most expensive Lilium we have.
“We’re always exposed to that kind of incidents. I’ll leave you so you can talk calmly.”
Around five minutes later, Sarah came with a smile on her face and looked at Evelyn.
“Everything is set; she said she would charge per delivery. She will come with me to the store, and if there’s a delivery to do, she’ll go, and if there isn’t she’ll just keep me company.”
“Does that work for her?”
“She says it does, she rather do that than stay at home watching T.V. Don’t worry about it, with luck there will be a lot of deliveries.”
“Thank you Sarah, you’re an angel as always.” Evelyn hugged affectionately. “It should be me taking care of you, not the other way around.”
“Don’t think about that, I don’t want to talk about the same thing over again, but you gave me a hand when I needed it the most thought you didn’t have much to offer. How do you expect me to forget that? And...”
“And?”
“Tom has a partner in Brazil and he invited us to his house when is summer over there, which is in January. It will be my turn to ask you to manage without me.”
“Oh! You’ll see a different culture, they are very passionate, they say.”
“I’ll learn how to dance samba.” Sarah said while doing some strange steps.
They both laughed and ended up hugging with their eyes closed full of tears.
“We are so silly.” Evelyn said. “It will be the first time I’m going to sleep alone in the apartment, just me and Simba.
“By the way, about Simba, I didn’t see him last night. I went to leave him food and called him, but I didn’t see him.”
“I didn’t see him today either. Maybe he left.”
“Or maybe he got a girlfriend.”
“Alright, I’ll look for him again later. It’s time for you to leave, it’s late.”
After closing the shop, she decided to go for a walk to look for the cat, she called him and asked the neighbors, and owners from other shops that hadn’t closed yet. But no one had seen a yellow cat with a collar. They she remembered the taco restaurant that was two blocks away from where she was; maybe he had gone looking for food. She looked at her watch, it was almost nine, hoping the cat was fine, she went back home, maybe he would come home soon.
She was going up the stairs when she heard the phone rang, she ran up the stairs and opened the door harshly to answer the phone before the person from the other line hangs up.
“Hello?”
“Mom? What’s wrong?”
“I ran up the stairs, I thought I was not going to answer in time.”
“I should’ve called later.”
“I thought...”
“That I was somebody else?”
“Never mind. What’s up?”
“Good, I’ll tell you all the details tomorrow. I just wanted to let you know that we couldn’t catch the night plane, so we reserved the nine o’clock flight tomorrow morning.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.”
“Lock the doors please, remember the one downstairs has a false.”
“Yes dad!” She said laughing. She loved the paternal attitude he had, but she would never tell him because he could take it seriously and he wouldn’t let her do anything.
“Deb and I send you kisses.”
“Right back at you, tell her that I have to talk to her as soon as possible.”
“What about?”
“Don’t be curious! It’s a girl thing.”
&n
bsp; “Fine. Bye mom...I’m sorry.”
“What are you sorry about?”
“That I’m not the person you wanted me to be.”
Evelyn blushed even though no one was looking at her. Had she been so obvious?”
“Don’t worry, it’s not what you think. Goodbye.”
“Whatever you say. Bye.”
They hung up and she went to lock the doors, but before she looked outside to see if Simba had appeared, but when she didn’t see anything, she closed the door. She put three locks on the apartment door and headed towards the bathroom. She needed a long warm bath to relax her body and wash the memories from last night.
Chapter 26
The first thing she did the next day after breakfast was to call the airline. The agent told her that the earliest flight she could offer was for Friday night, she said yes immediately before changing her mind once more.
She hung up the phone realizing she only had two days to get organized and get everything ready. Luckily, she had the most important things: tickets and passport.
It was quarter to ten and she went downstairs to open the shop, but she found a great surprise to see Simba at the door. Evelyn took him in her arms, the cat was dirty and smelly, but she didn’t care and kissed him tenderly.
“Where have you been huh? You don’t want to tell me?” The only answered she got from the cat was a thankful purr. “Fine, the only thing that matters is that you’re back. We’ll open and I’ll give you a bath. I can’t let you go on the bed when you’re so dirty.”
Sarah appeared right away and after apologizing for so many events, she went upstairs to give Simba a bath.
Half an hour later she went downstairs feeling more relaxed to talk to her friend.
“Friday at ten.” Sarah repeated to check if she heard right. “How many hours of flight to get there?”
“It’s from LAX*, because Sacramento airport only has national flights, all together is like twenty-four hours.”
“You don’t have a lot of time to prepare yourself, you have to hurry.”
“I got the most important stuff: plane tickets, passport, visa, and some money. The rest doesn’t matter, you know I don’t care much about outfits.”
“But you’re going somewhere important, I read Mykonos is very exclusive.”
“Maybe I’ll feel out of place.” Evelyn said laughing.
“You have to dress accordingly to the place you visit.”
“I was looking at the hotel and it is very impressive.”
“Stop whining and enjoy.”
“Fine, I’ll do what you say but for now, let’s work. There are two people looking at flowers and we’re here chatting.”
Sarah went with the customers and Evelyn checked on bills. Nick, Nick. Why did she think about him all the time? Her legs shook every time she thought about the arms of her Greek god, her god? Evelyn shook her head to shake her thoughts away, how could she call him “her god,” she was going crazy.
The day went by so fast, they hadn’t realized how late it was until they saw Deb and Mark at the door.
Evelyn hugged them to greet them. Mark said they would go upstairs to eat something and then he would drop Deb off at her place.
“I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes.” Evelyn said, “I need to talk to Deb.”
“Then I won’t leave until we chat.” Deb said kindly.
After Sarah left, Evelyn closed the shop and headed upstairs. She hugged Mark once again and asked how he was feeling.
“I feel strange, I don’t feel sad though I’m not sure if I should because I hardly knew Josh. They buried him with the family, his wife threw herself on top of the coffin making a scene.”
“What about your siblings? You have sibling, I assume.”
“Two.” Deb answered for Mark since he didn’t feel like talking much. “A girl around twenty years old, she looks like Mark, and a boy around fifteen, he looks more like his mother.”
“Did you talk to them?” Evelyn insisted.
“Not so much...didn’t you want to talk to Deb?”
“Oh! Right, I had forgotten.” Eve said ignoring his son’s bad mood. “Deb, I’m going to Greece on Friday!”
“Oh! What time is the flight? Tell me everything Miss Thomas!”
“Please, call me Eve. Deb I am very thankful for keeping Mark company.”
“I love him.” She replied and Evelyn felt like crying she was so excited to hear that.
“Thank you!” Evelyn gave Deb a hug. She couldn’t hope for a better girlfriend for her son.
“Well.” Said Deb while wiping her own tears. “The essential: You can use dollars, don’t worry about that. Get sunblock here, over there is very expensive, the weather is still warm over there. Drink bottled water.
“And what can I see, what can I buy?”
“You’re going to Mykonos, right?” Evelyn responded with a nod. “You have a lot to see: museums, excursions, nude beaches...”
“I’ve never been in one.”
“They’re common over there, no one blushes. But I advise you not to go crazy shopping, it’s an expensive city, besides with the crisis, I think they want to take advantage and get everything they can from tourists. Which hotel will you stay at?”
“Wait, I’ll het the tickets.”
She went right back with the transparent envelope where she had everything.
“Let’s see...Theoxenia.”
“Theoxenia! Wow! It is very luxurious.”
“That’s what I thought when I looked at the pictures on the internet. My poor mom, she probably bought what they sold her.”
“If she did it was because she could.” Deb calmed her down taking her hand. “You’ll be totally spoiled, like a goddess.”
Evelyn thought for a while and Deb said it was time for her to go. She said her goodbyes and headed out the door with Mark, who insisted on taking the van and not a cab.
That night she went to bed feeling nervous about the trip, and also sad because she thought she would never see her Greek god again.
* LAX: Los Angeles International Airport.
Chapter 27
Time went by flying for her so longed for trip. Between shopping, organizing the shop and leaving things ready with Pam, the girl who would do the deliveries.
On Friday, Mark came back earlier from work to take Evelyn to the airport. She was so nervous.
“Calm down, it’s not the first time you get on a plane.”
“But it’s the first time I make a long trip, and alone.”
“Did you call my grandparents?”
“Yes, in the morning. They were so excited, it seemed like they were the ones taking the trip.”
“You got everything?”
“Yes. Tickets, passport, money, camera, sunblock, clothes.”
“Only you can manage with so little. Most women would take three suitcases.” Mark said looking at only one big bag her mother was taking with her.
“I have what’s important.” She said showing her huge brown bag.
“It’s a little over three, I think we should go. Deb says hello, she wanted to go to the airport but she had to go to a conference about sociology.”
“Don’t worry sweetie. Wait, I’m missing something!”
She went running back to her bedroom and on the second drawer from her nightstand, she took out a turquoise tissue. She covered her neck with it and looked in the mirror, it fit perfectly with her brown bag.
“Now I’m ready.”
They went out to the street and Evelyn took a good look at the shop, begging that everything goes well while she’s away. Then she hopped on the van because Mark was a little impatient.
Mark made Evelyn company for about two hours at the airport. The time was coming for her to board the plane, and she was getting more nervous every minute.
The documents and luggage check was quick because she didn’t take a lot with her, and she didn’t have anything that was not permitted. When they announced
the flight to Los Angeles, Evelyn’s hands got sweaty almost instantly.
“I have to take three flights.” She said feeling sorry for herself.
“You can still change your mind.”
“No! No way... Sarah gave me a sleeping pill, I’ll take it when I take the longer flight.”
“People are boarding, you should hurry or you’ll miss the flight. Please take care.” Mark said hugging his mother.
“I will. You take care, and take care of that cat, and take care of the shop.” Evelyn hugged him tight and then went to line up behind the people boarding the same plane.
When the flight attendant took her to her seat, she saw that an older man was going to sit beside her, and she was a little upset. He didn’t staring at her, it was a good think she bought a magazine before boarding, she thought.
Aside from her neighbor looking at her all the time, the flight from Sacramento to Los Angeles went well and as soon as they landed, Evelyn couldn’t wait to get out of there to get away from that man who wouldn’t stop looking at her for three and a half hours. At the exit it was her turn to look at him, but with a shameful look, since two women were waiting for him, she figured they were his daughter and wife.
It was seven thirty and her stomach growled. She knew that at the next flight they would serve food and they could serve either something really good or something as if it was for someone sick at the hospital. But she still had a couple of hours to go, so she decided to look for a cafeteria and asked for coffee and delicious Arab candy.
She then went to register, and gave the only bag she was carrying with her. At customs, she filled in some papers. To kill time off, she went to look for a magazine and she bought one about Greece. Now she waited to board the other plane sitting on a not so comfortable seat.
When they announced flight DL8467 to Paris, Evelyn slowly stood up and headed to the boarding door. She didn’t want anyone to notice her anxiety thought she didn’t even know anybody, it was just the fear of embarrassment. She held her purse and pressed the magazine against her chest. She also put her sunglasses on so no one would notice the fear in her eyes.
Once she sat on her seat, luckily she had the window seat this time, she said that the only thing she needed now was patience about the twelve hours of flight ahead of her.