“Athena!” Vanessa’s sing-song voice intruded on her thoughts. “Someone is out in the front asking to see you.”
She looked up to meet Vanessa’s knowing smile, and a rush of excitement made her heart beat a little faster. “Is it Derek?”
“Oui, it is!” Vanessa jumped onto the bed, almost sending the mirror over the side. She saved it with a last minute grab and waved it around as she spoke. “I had just finished breakfast and went to the door to see the weather, and there he is. He asked if you are still here and wants to see you.”
A flush having nothing to do with makeup warmed Athena’s cheeks. She thought she’d seen the last of him after the previous night’s anti-climactic finish. After an hour of the most blistering rock ‘n roll Athena had ever heard, the authorities had arrived at Hyde Park to demand Wolf leave the area. She and Vanessa helped the band pack up the stage, and as Ian drove the truck out of the park Derek asked Athena if she was ready to go. Unfortunately, Paul overheard and invited himself and Vanessa along. They ended up in a little pub where Athena and Derek were overshadowed by the loquacious Paul and Vanessa. Since Paul seemed to know everyone there, the foursome soon turned into a large, boisterous group.
It wasn’t long before Athena felt left out. She had never been able to interject herself into lively conversations since any witty response she thought of came at least five minutes too late. So she did what she always did – sat back and watched from the sidelines. She noted that Derek also seemed uncomfortable and either unable or unwilling to make himself part of the in crowd.
As a consequence, both of them faded into the periphery as Paul led the group in singing drinking songs and telling stories. There was no chance for private conversation, and before the evening was over she and Derek weren’t even sitting in the same section of the pub. Disappointed in the turn of events, Athena said her goodbyes and made an early exit. It seemed Derek had lost interest in spending time with her, and she accepted it as yet another lost opportunity.
But if he had come to the hostel looking for her… With a muffled squeal of delight, she started cramming her makeup into her bag.
“He was very happy when I told him you are still here.” Vanessa grinned and tucked the mirror into the bag.
“I can’t believe it!” Athena zipped the bag closed and shoved it into her backpack. Grabbing handfuls of clothes not yet packed, she stuffed them in. A sudden thought quailed some of her excitement. “Paul’s not with him, is he?”
“No, he is alone.” Vanessa shrugged. “I like Paul, but I told him I am leaving for Brighton today, so we said au revoir last night.”
Athena paused as realization hit her. “Oh, that’s right. You’re leaving today.” Though she’d known her summer would involve meeting people and then parting from them on a regular basis, a pang at parting from Vanessa stung her. Even though they’d only known each other a few days, Athena had grown close to her.
“Yes, I’m leaving now. I just came back to get my things.” The excitement in Vanessa’s dark eyes dimmed a bit. “I thought to ask if you would like to come with me, but…” An impish smile curved her lips. “With Derek here for you, I think you might stay in London for a bit, no?”
“Maybe.” Athena leaned forward and hugged her friend. “I’m really going to miss you, though.”
“I shall miss you, too,” Vanessa said, returning the hug. “But it is not such a big country, so perhaps we shall see each other again.”
“I hope so.” Athena gave her a last squeeze. “Have fun, and be careful.”
“Fais attention à toi, et amuse-toi bien.” With a last hug, Vanessa got up and crossed the room to where her backpack rested on her bed.
Athena swung her own backpack over one shoulder and left the room.
As advertised, Derek was out front, and Athena’s heart performed a small back flip when she saw him. Tousled dark hair brushed the collar of the long fringed vest that hung open over his navy blue T-shirt and a pair of faded jeans hugged his thighs. All her life she’d heard the term “sex on legs,” but this was the first time she’d ever seen an actual specimen. He straightened up when she appeared and the smile that lit his face made her muscles turn to mush.
“Hi,” she murmured, still unable to believe someone this gorgeous and this nice not only wanted to spend time with her, but actually came looking for her.
“Hi. I thought since we didn’t get a chance to talk yesterday that we might spend some time together today. If you don’t have anything else planned, that is.”
A radiant smile fixed itself to her face and refused to be dislodged. “No, I don’t have anything else to do.” Even if she’d had an audience with the Queen on the agenda, she would have thrown it aside for a chance to be with Derek again.
“Have you eaten yet?”
Athena shook her head. “No, I kind of slept in today.”
He held out his hand. “Come with me, then.”
The warmth of his fingers laced with hers melted away some of her nervous tension and the jittery feeling in her stomach subsided. Her curiosity was piqued when Derek bent and picked up a faded blue backpack from where it rested next to his feet and settled the strap over his shoulder.
Instead of taking her to a pub like she’d expected, Derek led her to the Piccadilly Tube Station. “We have a bit of journey,” he explained as they boarded the train, “but it’s not too long, and it’ll be worth it.”
Athena didn’t care if they ended up boarding a slow boat to China as long as she was with him. The uncomfortable silence she dreaded didn’t materialize since Derek turned to her as the train began to move and asked her to tell him all about herself. She uttered a nervous laugh.
“How much do you want to know?”
“Everything,” he replied, a twinkle in those blue, blue eyes.
“You’re a glutton for punishment, aren’t you?” She leaned back in the seat and crossed her ankles. “Let’s see; I’m from Memphis, Tennessee, lived there all my life. My parents are professors at Memphis State University and they both teach Greek Mythology.”
“Ah. That’s where you got your name.” He appeared pleased, like he had been trying to solve the mystery of her unusual name, and a glow of exhilaration warmed her chest when she realized she was on his mind as much as he was on hers.
“Got it in one. At least it’s not as bad as my brother and sister. Their names are Adonis and Andromeda.”
Derek barked a surprised laugh. “Oh, Jesus! They can’t have had an easy time of it.”
“I think they insisted on nicknames fairly early on.” A grin lit her face when she thought of the vehemence with which her brother and sister corrected anyone who used their given names. “They go by Donnie and Andi now. They’re both in school at Memphis State, where my parents think I’ll be going this fall.”
“Think?” Derek turned sideways to face her, leaning back against the side of the car. He propped one foot on the seat in front of him and rested his arm on his upraised knee. “You’re not going?”
Athena shook her head. “Nope. I’m going to be a stewardess. I’ve always wanted to travel and see the world, and I think it would be so cool to fly to all these great cities and meet new people.” Afraid she was boring him with the details of her humdrum life, she attempted to transfer attention to him. “Now, enough about me. Tell me about you.”
“Everything, right?” he asked with a mischievous glint in his eye.
She dimpled. “Yep, everything.”
“You’ll be sorry,” he warned with a laugh. “It’s fairly straightforward, I’m afraid. I’m from Liverpool, and no, I don’t know The Beatles. Everyone always asks me that. My older brother Lee used to be friends with Paul McCartney’s brother Mike when they were in school, though. My brush with fame, I suppose.”
Athena had to laugh at his rueful tone. “I guess everyone thinks of the Beatles when they hear ‘Liverpool’ now.” A sudden thought occurred to her. “It must be hard to get anyone to take a musician
seriously when they hear they’re from Liverpool. But you want Wolf to be as big as The Beatles, right?”
“Bigger,” he replied with no hesitation. “That’s why I left even though all my family is there. It’s not that no one took me seriously, but everyone expects a Liverpool band to be the next Beatles. I like them, but I’m not keen on everyone having this preconceived notion that my music is like theirs.”
Athena grinned. “Oh, it’s not. What I heard yesterday didn’t scream ‘The Beatles’ at all.”
Derek glanced her way, but couldn’t seem to meet her eyes. “I didn’t get a chance to ask you yesterday – thanks to my big-mouthed singer – but…” A shy note crept into his voice. “What did you think of it?”
“I’ve never heard anything like it.” All the words that came to her mind first were inadequate to describe what she felt about Derek’s music. From the hesitant way he asked and the fact that he wouldn’t meet her eyes, it was clear her answer was important to him; a lame “great” or “far out” wouldn’t cut it. She leaned forward to force eye contact.
“It was powerful.”
Derek drew in a swift breath at her words, and a pleased light made his eyes shine.
“It had power,” Athena continued, determined to convey to him how his music affected her. “It resonated in me, still does. It made me want to sing. Not the lyrics. I don’t mean they were bad or anything; I liked them when I heard them, but I couldn’t tell you what they were now. But the music itself – it made my soul sing.”
Derek visibly relaxed and that little half-smile that had so captivated her the day before appeared again, bringing out the dimple in his left cheek.
“Thank you,” he breathed. “You don’t know how it makes me feel that my music made you feel like that.” He leaned forward and pressed a sweet, feather-light kiss on her lips.
Gentle as it was, it left more than Athena’s soul singing. Her natural inhibitions fled, and she slipped her hand behind his neck and pulled him to her for another kiss, a more thorough exploration that said a lot more than “thank you.”
Before the kiss could intensify too much, a garbled announcement squawked through the speaker at the front of the car. Though it was indecipherable to Athena, Derek apparently understood since he pulled away from her with a rueful laugh.
“This is our call.”
Disappointment flashed through her; she wouldn’t have cared if they’d stayed on the train forever. She’d have ridden it to hell and back if it meant she could keep kissing him, could keep feeling his breath quicken as he kissed her back, and stay close enough to feel the warmth of his skin on hers.
Derek stood and swung his pack over one shoulder and she followed suit. His eyes were sparkling with anticipation again and some of Athena’s disappointment abated. Wherever he was taking her, he was excited about it.
They emerged from the Underground station into muted sunlight. Derek cast an eye toward the light clouds that gathered and a small frown line appeared between his brows.
“Hope it doesn’t rain,” he muttered under his breath. With a fatalistic shrug, he held out his hand. “It’s not far now, just a short walk.”
Hand in hand they strolled along the sidewalk with Athena casting surreptitious glances at him. Whenever the sun peeked through the clouds it illuminated a fascinating array of bright copper, auburn and gold strands in Derek’s hair, turning the dark brown into an ever-changing halo around his head. It waved softly in the light breeze, and Athena was captivated by the way it curled against the back of his neck. Her palm still tingled from the remembered feel of those soft little curls.
A discreet sign advised her that they were entering Waterlow Park. While planning her trip, Athena researched the most popular tourist destinations in London, but she couldn’t remember seeing the name Waterlow. She was glad Derek brought her there, because now that she’d seen it, she couldn’t imagine passing it up. It was a quiet, serene place with beautifully maintained walkways passing between rows of mature trees and shrub borders. The sound of birdsong filled the air, and it was hard to remember they were in the heart of a bustling, busy city.
Derek seemed to have a destination in mind as he led her forward, and soon they came to a lovely pond with a number of ducks floating on its placid surface. As Athena watched, one of the ducks dived after a tidbit only it could see, its tail feathers pointing toward the sky in a ruffled triangle.
A small glade shaded by trees sat just back from the water’s edge, and here Derek stopped. With a smile, he released her hand and opened his pack. Reaching in, he pulled out a blue and white striped cotton blanket with the flourish of a magician producing a rabbit from a hat. He shook the blanket open and spread it on the ground in the shade.
“I thought we might have a picnic,” he said, his mouth curving into a half smile.
“Oh, Derek! What a great idea.” Her heart melted at such an unexpected sweet gesture, and she sank down onto the blanket. “And what a great spot to have one.”
“Yeah, this is a wonderful park.” He sat beside her and reached into his pack again. “It’s not as well known as Hyde Park or Kensington Gardens, so it’s usually not as crowded or noisy. I found it a couple of months ago, just after I came to London.” He pulled some wrapped bundles from his pack and pulled back the wax paper to peek into one. “We both have a chip butty and a bacon butty. Here.” He handed her the package. “This one’s chip.”
What he’d just said was as indecipherable to Athena as the garbled train announcement, but she took the warm package from him anyway. She lifted the top slice of bread to reveal what appeared to be a French fry sandwich between two thick slices of buttered white farmhouse bread. It even had ketchup topping. Before she had time to wonder about it too much, he handed her a second wrapped package.
“Here’s your bacon butty.” He grinned. “I couldn’t decide which I wanted more, so I just made both.”
“You made these?” Her heart melted further, and she ceased to wonder why he’d given her a sandwich made with French fries. At that moment she’d have eaten raw octopus on a stick if he offered it to her.
“Oh, yeah; they’re my favorite.” He pulled two thermoses from his pack and sat them on the blanket between them. “How do you take your tea?”
“Um, just plain, I guess.”
“Black it is, then,” he said, removing the cup from the top of one thermos. “I take mine white without, so the other vacuum flask has milk. I brought sugar, too, just in case.”
Again, she had no idea what he was talking about, but the trouble he had gone to made her want to dive across the blanket and wrap him in a hug. Instead, she took a bite of the sandwich so as not to disturb his preparations.
Wow, not bad. Not bad at all. Eyebrows arched in surprise, she looked again at the sandwich. Who’d have thought French fries with ketchup would taste so good on buttered bread?
“Is it okay?” he asked, a hint of worry in his voice.
Nodding, Athena chewed quickly and swallowed. “It’s fantastic,” she raved. “I’ve never had it before, and it’s so good!”
“You don’t have chip butties in America? Well, now you know what you’ve been missing.” He motioned toward the other package near her knee. “Wait ‘til you try the bacon.”
“I’ll try it now.” She put down the chip butty and reached for the other one, but stopped as he handed her the plastic cup.
“Have some tea first while it’s still hot.”
Athena took the cup and raised it to her lips, blowing on the contents to cool them a bit. Over the rim of the cup she watched Derek add a dollop of milk to his tea before raising his cup to her.
“Here’s to the lot of us, and a fine looking bunch we are,” he toasted.
She touched her cup to his and took a sip. The tea went down in a smooth, warm swallow, and she sighed in contentment. With the birds singing overhead, a soft breeze chasing away the worst of the heat, and a beautiful man who had cooked just for her, Athena coul
dn’t imagine a more perfect picnic.
The bacon butty was, if anything, even better than the chip, and Athena ate like she hadn’t been fed in a month. After all the food and tea had been consumed, they wrapped up their trash and Derek stowed it away with the empty thermoses in his backpack.
There followed the most wonderful afternoon of Athena’s life to date. They lay side by side on the blanket, looking up into the trees while she quizzed Derek about his music. Passionate about the subject, he went on at length to his attentive audience, his husky voice accompanied by soft quacks from the ducks in the pond.
The play of emotions across his face was mesmerizing, and Athena couldn’t get enough of looking at him. Since he was so caught up in telling her about how he’d learned to play guitar and the groups he’d been part of since he was thirteen, she was able to gaze at him without interruption. She’d never seen anyone so beautiful in her life. Even the tiny scar she discovered almost hidden by one eyebrow seemed perfect to her. He had a very expressive face, and she could have watched the play of muscles under his skin for hours. That little half smile that appeared with frequency did strange and wonderful things to her; every time she saw it her stomach knotted with bursts of pleasure and her heart performed acrobatics in her chest.
A sudden gust of wind stirred the leaves above them and lifted a corner of the blanket, depositing it across Athena’s feet. Derek broke off in the middle of an explanation about the different ways he tuned his guitar for different songs, and frowned up at the sky.
“I guess it is going to rain after all.” He sat up and ran a hand through his hair. “I was hoping the sun would be out all day.”
“It was nice while it lasted,” Athena observed, leaning forward to flip the blanket off her feet. When she sat back up and turned to Derek, she found him just inches from her face as he reached for his backpack.
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