Page 45

Christos

BACK TO BOSTON

“How are you feeling?” I ask. We’re almost at the house I’ve rented for her parents.

“Excited. I know it’s nonsense because I talk to them on the phone, but my mom and dad are all I have in the world. My real family—what’s left of the biological one in Boston—other than the cousin I told you about, Madeline, I don’t give a damn about them.”

She said she was related to the Boston Turners. I had the misfortune of meeting the aunt she mentioned, Adley, at a gala dinner for charity a few years ago. She’s insufferable and arrogant and acts as if the universe should be grateful that she breathes the same air as the rest of humanity.

“They are well,” I say, referring to her parents.

“I know, and I’m very grateful for that.”

“Don’t you understand, after all we’ve been through, that there’s nothing I wouldn’t do to make you happy, Zoe?”

I’m not kidding, and I think she notices, but after a quick glance at me, she changes the subject. “The streets look like the ones on a TV show. The apocalypse, as if we were the only survivors. ”

“Anyone who has the privilege of being able to work from home is being conscientious.”

We drive around in the car, and my attention, which was entirely on her, shifts to checking what she said. Rarely does a car pass us by.

“Many have lost their jobs,” she says.

Everywhere we look, the few people on the streets are wearing masks.

The news that the first vaccine will start to be manufactured within a month surprised even my mother, who is an optimist by nature. Odin, once again, was right.

However, even if people start getting vaccinated, the world will never be the same.

I believe it will take a long time for them to feel safe. Maybe it will never happen again. Only from the next generation onwards. My kids will probably only talk about it as a bad time in history, but it’s a new reality for us.

Kids ? Where did that come from?

Despite being something I wish to have in the future, I’ve never found myself thinking about my descendants as I do now.

“Have you noticed that even if they keep their distance, people still stop to greet each other?” she asks as we enter the family neighborhood where her parents are living.

“I think most people miss talking to other people, especially those living alone. Not everyone is lucky enough to be locked up with a supermodel.” I look at her, hiding a smile just in time to see her rolling her eyes.

“And me, with a Greek CEO. Lucky for me; other people’s loss.”

“What other people?”

She looks at me quickly but turns away again. “It’s none of my business. I spoke without thinking.”

“I haven’t slept with anyone else since we met in Barcelona. I’m not guided by my dick. When I want a woman, it’s just her I want, but it usually doesn’t last.”

“I don’t want to hear about it,” she says, sounding pissed at me.

“But you do because I know you feel insecure. I’m with you, Zoe, not because we have to be locked up in the house but because I want to be. If I was just after sex, a phone call would solve my problem. I want more .”

“Can you stop the car for a moment? It makes me nervous to fight while you’re driving.”

“Are we fighting?”

She doesn’t respond, but as soon as I find a place to pull over, she gets rid of her seat belt and gets into my lap. “I’ve never been good at interpreting subtext.”

“What?”

“Are we together for real? Like diving headfirst into the possibility of a future?”

Her hands cup my face so I don’t look away.

There is no need. I don’t want to stop staring at her when I answer. “Yes, we are together for real. Are you ready for this?”

My heart beats almost painfully in my chest. Even though she’s told me she loves me, a thought takes over.

What if the opposite is true, and she’s only with me because she has nowhere else to go?

“Ready for what? Words, Christos. Give me literally what you want from me. From both of us.”

“I want everything. A future. No more running away, physical, or mentally, Zoe. I want it all.”

She looks at me like she’s trying to know my every thought. Her expression turns smug, then she pulls me into a kiss that makes me forget where we are, and I want to bury myself in her body.

“As much as I like the idea of seeing your parents again, I’m dying to get home.”

The corner of her mouth turns up. “Do you have to work, Mr. Lykaios?”

“A lot. Inside you, getting deep inside. You’re fully healed from the bruises on your feet and hands, so we can fuck with less care.”

She turns red. I’ve noticed that whenever I act like I really am, without using nice words to say what I want, she blushes, but she also gets aroused .

“Does that mean that, so far, what we’ve done has been careful?” She looks breathless.

“You’ll find out later.”

“If there is one good thing in the midst of so much death and fear, it’s people paying attention to their loved ones again,” her mother says.

We’ve been talking outside the house for almost two hours, and unlike most people I live with, I don’t feel like leaving.

Socializing for me is usually unnatural. I do it in moderation. Zoe and I have that in common, but in my case, it’s not because I’m shy; it’s just a lack of desire to talk. Her parents, however, are very interesting, and Scott raised a debate that I had already considered: even when the vaccine starts to be manufactured, it won’t eradicate the disease due to the mutations of the virus. We are more likely to take it for the rest of our lives, like the flu shot.

“I was like that too,” I say, a little embarrassed. “I barely had time to eat. I rarely ate lunch and was always involved in a thousand commitments.”

“And what has changed?” Zoe asks.

“I used to watch you from a distance; now I’m obsessed with doing it up close,” I say, much more seriously than joking.

I don’t know how much she’s told her parents about the two of us, but they both start laughing while Zoe blushes.

“My private stalker.” She recovers and faces me.

“You can bet on it.” I kiss her hand. “But now, I see things differently.”

“Like what?” Scott asks.

“I want to help people. I’ve always donated generously to various causes, but I want something more effective, like building good hospitals that are more accessible to those who can’t afford good insurance.”

“Yes, unfortunately, that is one of the illnesses in our country, son. Access to healthcare for all citizens, including the less privileged ones, is still a dream. Even before this situation we are experiencing, some people got sick and refused to seek care for fear of getting into huge debt.”

“I have some ideas,” Zoe says.

“About helping people?”

“Yes. I have always been concerned about humanity’s future, but my attention is mainly focused on children and elderly people.”

“Both ends of the spectrum,” I say.

“Exactly. The elderly deserve a dignified end of life and often don’t have any family members close by. I’ve been researching in my spare time for the last few weeks, and I’ve imagined recreation centers. A sort of free club where they can get together to play games, chat, have a meal if they’re hungry.” She pauses to breathe for a moment. She’s beautiful at any moment, but watching her defend her ideas so passionately makes me horny. “I thought that, when everything went back to normal, we could look for volunteers willing to give an hour of their day to just listen to them in this center. Sometimes, all a person needs is a friendly ear. Loneliness can be as lethal as a physical disease.”

I offer my hand, inviting her to my lap. “Each time I think you can’t fascinate me any more, you prove me wrong.”

She smiles, embarrassed, perhaps because we are in front of her parents, even though she has no reason to be. Scott and Macy received the news that her marriage is invalid with relief, and my lawyers are already making sure that Zoe is never associated with that jerk again.

“I’m glad to hear you have plans to help humanity, Christos. I hope other entrepreneurs like you are aware. Maybe the world needed that break.”

I silently agree.

We lived so fast, thinking we were immortal—or at least that we had a lot of time to live—and suddenly, God came and proved to us that maybe our time on this planet is shorter than we thought.

“When are you planning to go to Greece for Zoe’s photo shoot?” Scott asks.

“We need to organize everything to make sure that as few people as possible are needed, but I think that within a month, tops, we will go there. ”

“Enjoy it for me,” Macy says.

“Soon, you will be able to come with us.”

Zoe turns to look at me, and I see a thousand questions on her face. She is so transparent.

“Yes, with us ,” I reiterate.