“I should have known what kept you going—it was your usual naked ambition, and your supercompetitive nature,” she said. “It’s you against nature or it’s you against the elements, the dust storm, the flood, the rain, whatever. So far you’ve always won. But someday, Jack, someday…” She choked. Someday he wasn’t going to make it and she was not going to be around when it happened. She’d had enough. No more heroics. No more Jack.
“Enough about me, Olivia,” he said. “What happened to you?” A small worry line crossed his forehead. “I thought you’d make it, but…I wasn’t sure.” His gaze held hers for a long moment. Just briefly she thought he might feel the same intense connection she did, that invisible thread that had joined them once. It was so strong they thought it would last forever. Now she knew that nothing lasts forever.
He scanned the room and the thread snapped. “Everyone else got here okay?”
“Yes, yes. Everyone’s fine. It’s just…I…You were the only one missing. People worry. People care about you.” The truth was no one else was as worried as she was. No, because they weren’t his wife.
“That’s good to know. You know me so well. I’m never late for dinner. Unless the boat goes down. Otherwise I wouldn’t miss the souvlaki or moussaka. I’m starving. Where’re you sitting?”
She pointed to the table in the corner just as the word went around that Jack was there. Before he got to the table, everyone got up to hug him, pat him on the back and congratulate him on escaping the burning ferry boat. Not that they’d had any doubts. Jack was a superhero. He was tough and he was charming. It was up to her to resist that charm…all summer long.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw him deep in conversation with Dr. Robbins, who looked vastly relieved to see him. Perhaps he had realized he was getting too old for this kind of adventure.
The rest of the evening progressed as if the boat sinking and their rescue were just the first glitch in the summer program. There would be others, but once you’ve been on a dig, you almost expect them, and you cope. Olivia knew that. She just didn’t know how to cope with Jack at the bottom of the Aegean. Not anymore.
The food kept coming, the bouzouki music began and the dancing started. Olivia managed to relax enough to nibble on a crisp spinach-stuffed spanikopita, and make conversation while Jack made the rounds of the room to speak to everyone in the group as well as some other tourists who’d apparently heard he’d been missing. She was once again struck by his boundless energy, his ease in handling a crowd and his confidence no matter what got in his way. Confidence or not, if he thought he was going to talk her out of a divorce, he was mistaken.
It would be better for her determination to end the marriage, to forget his attributes and focus on his flaws. Like his single-minded pursuit of his career. So single-minded he’d left her behind as soon as he’d gotten the offer from California to be department head. And, of course, there were her flaws, which Jack had enumerated for her in no uncertain terms.
A few of the older group members, like Robbins, were going off to the quiet stone bungalows tucked behind the pines and olive trees. Exhausted and emotionally drained, Olivia sneaked away right after them and checked at the front desk of the hotel to find out where her room was.
“Ah, Mrs. Oakley,” Elena, the young woman at the desk said, “we’ve put you and your husband in room 203 upstairs.”
“What? Oh, no, I really need a separate room.” Certainly Jack did, too. “We…we’re really not together. No, not at all.”
Elena gave her a puzzled look. Olivia didn’t blame her. They had the same name, and legally they were still married. Should Olivia have to explain why she was separated from Jack? Why they’d drifted apart? Surely it happened everywhere, even in Greece. Not everyone lived happily ever after. Not every couple with the same last name wanted to share a room.
“I’m sorry, someone in your group mentioned that you were married and said you wouldn’t mind sharing. I’d like to help you,” Elena said, “but we’re overbooked tonight because of the ferry boat accident. Some people are still missing. Everyone is sharing, making sacrifices. The students have been placed with families in town, but we just don’t have enough rooms for everyone. We’re trying to accommodate you all. I hope you understand,” she added stiffly.
“Of course,” Olivia said, quickly chastened. She felt as if she’d behaved like a pampered American tourist.
“It’s a very nice room. With a large bath. The hot springs on the edge of town have been routed to several hotels including ours. But if you don’t want the room…”
The thought of a large hot bath made Olivia’s skin break out in goose bumps. “No, of course we’ll take it. Thank you. I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful.” For one night she could put up with anything. Anything for a hot bath. Tomorrow she’d find a room for herself if she had to move out of the hotel. She took the room key, and when she turned to go Jack was standing behind her.
He was so close she got a good look at a long scratch on his cheek and a bruise under one eye. She had to clench her hands into fists to keep from reaching up to touch his face. To smooth the skin, to reassure herself he was really all right. The way an ordinary wife might. One who lived under the same roof as her husband, saw him every day, taught at the same university in the same town.
“I…They’ve put us in the same room by mistake, but it’s just for tonight,” she said, wishing her voice was more steady. How many times was he going to surprise her and catch her off guard?
“I heard,” he said. He wasn’t grinning anymore. In fact, he looked beat. He probably didn’t want to room with her, either. Lines of fatigue creased his face, and his eyes were half-closed.
“Jack, you look terrible. Why don’t you…we go upstairs? At least you have to get out of those clothes.”
It occurred to her he didn’t have any other clothes. Neither did she. Neither did anyone who was on the boat. The luggage had all sunk or had burned up. A shared room. No clothes. It sounded like a recipe for a personal disaster. At least a very personal embarrassment. She straightened her shoulders. If Jack could face it, so could she. Thank God they’d shipped all their equipment ahead.
The room was small with hardwood floors, a hand-painted dresser, a closet and the promised large porcelain tub in the adjoining bathroom. And a double bed covered with a hand-sewn quilt. Well, what did she expect? Greeks didn’t know about king-size beds. They didn’t know any married couples who didn’t sleep together, either.
After a quick look around, Olivia opened the doors to the balcony and inhaled the smell of the sea in the distance and the scent of thyme growing wild below them and tried to put the image of the bed out of her mind. She told herself to calm down. Not an easy thing to do with Jack standing next to her. He was too close. Way too close.
“Go ahead, take a bath,” she told Jack. “It’s a beautiful night. I’ll sit out here.” Sit out there and pretend he was in another room, another hotel, even another country. That way he wouldn’t be able to torture her with the memories of happier times. Of bathtubs big enough for two. Of beds so small they slept in each other’s arms, even their breathing in perfect sync.
“We’ll both sit out here,” he said, dragging two deck chairs toward the railing.
“Aren’t you tired?” she asked desperately. Go to bed, please go to bed.
“Are you?”
“Yes.” She was tired of pretending she didn’t care about him. Tired of pretending she wasn’t worried about spending the night in the same room, in the same bed as Jack.
“Enjoy this luxury while you can. We’ll