Page 20 of Footprints in the Sand (Coleman #13)

Chapter Eighteen

E va met the American girls—Valerie, Winona, and Alyssa—later that afternoon when Jean-Paul was at the marble workshop.

Dressed immaculately in crop tops and cute skirts, they meandered through the marble warehouse, checking out jewelry and buying whatever they fancied.

It was clear they came from money, money that Eva couldn’t fathom from her bottom-of-the-barrel social media career.

They were maybe in their mid-twenties, slightly younger than Eva and with nothing to lose.

When they approached Eva’s table, they spotted Jean-Paul’s photograph first and cried, “Oh my gosh, he’s so cute. ”

It was true that Jean-Paul’s attractiveness was often a reason for people to buy his marble sculptures. He was really talented, that was clear. But his handsomeness was the cherry on top.

“These are cool,” Alyssa, the girl with long hoop earrings, said, checking out a big bowl.

“Can you ship them back to the States?” Winona asked Eva.

“We can,” Eva assured her. “There’s a fee, depending on where, but we can arrange everything.”

“Oh my god! You’re American,” Valerie cried. “Girls, she’s American!”

“What are you doing here?” Winona asked Eva, as though she were the most fascinating woman in the world. “Are you half Greek or something?”

Eva laughed. “No. I’m working for Jean-Paul. Social media. But it’s only part-time, till I have to go back to the States.”

“Ugh, you should try to stay here!” Alyssa said. “It’s so dreamy.”

“We’re from LA and we’re so over it,” Winona said.

Eva laughed. She’d never been to LA, but under the glow of these women’s gazes, she felt special and charmed. For a little while, she talked about her experiences on Paros, about how she’d discovered Jean-Paul’s marble workshop, about how much of a master at his craft he really was.

“Oh, you’re in love with him,” Alyssa said knowingly. “Girls, isn’t she?”

Winona and Valerie nodded sagely, and Eva blushed.

“I’m not. I just got out of a really long relationship,” Eva said. “Like eight years. I thought we were going to get married.”

“Oh no,” Valerie said in a small voice.

“We get that,” Alyssa said. “It’s why I don’t want to get married. It’s too much pressure.”

They nodded again. Eva wasn’t sure what to say.

Eventually, the girls bought more than eight hundred euros’ worth of marble sculptures and other wares, a whopping amount that clued Eva even more into their wealth.

Eva put everything aside, marking it to ensure that it was mailed safely to the correct location on the West Coast. As she worked, Alyssa, Valerie, and Winona muttered to one another conspiratorially and then pulled their heads up to ask her, “When are you going back to Paros?”

“We’re staying here for two nights,” Eva said.

“You should come hang out with us at our villa!” Valerie declared. “It’s a fifteen-minute drive from here and so gorgeous. We even have an extra bedroom if you and your man want to stay with us.”

Eva’s cheeks were enflamed again. “He’s not my man,” she said, feeling silly.

“Well, invite him or don’t invite him,” Alyssa said, waving her hand. “We want you to come over and hang out. We want to hear more about your wild life in Greece!”

“Please,” Winona said. “If not tonight, then tomorrow?”

Eventually, Eva exchanged numbers with them and promised she’d see what she could do, if she could slip away.

Privately, she wasn’t sure if she even wanted to.

She was here in Naxos to spend time with Jean-Paul, to help him with his career, and to explore an island she’d never been to before.

Just from the ferry, she’d been amazed at how different Naxos seemed, bigger and wilder and more jagged, and it made her ache with curiosity about what else these islands had to offer.

But when Jean-Paul returned from his workshop, he had news. “My class was so popular that they want me to teach another one tonight!” He was smiling ear to ear, pleased with himself in the way he always was after teaching people how to carve marble.

For a moment, Eva was caught up in his joy, before realizing that it put a damper on what she’d sort of thought tonight would be: dinner with Jean-Paul, strolling the streets of Naxos, and maybe a glass of wine after sunset.

She’d sort of wanted a romantic expedition. But it was a work trip, through and through, and she had to remember that.

Jean-Paul said the workshop would run from seven to ten and that he’d be exhausted afterward. “I’ll head to the hotel to sleep when it’s over.”

“I met some American girls who invited me to their place tonight,” Eva said, surprising herself. “It’s just up the road.”

Jean-Paul nodded. “Very good. You have worked too hard today. You need a bit of relief.” He raised his hand, and Eva high-fived it, feeling like a little girl.

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 the years 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.