“In some ways. But I think it made it easier for me to adapt. Toronto has a lot of immigrants, but I went to school. I had to learn English quickly in order to survive. Sink or swim. I swam.”
And Mark hadn’t.
He pursed his lips. “You’ve left your position there, though. Where are you off to next? Back to Canada?”
It was as if he’d read her mind. “I’m not sure yet. I haven’t thought that far ahead.”
Her parents were there. And yet the last thing she wanted to do was face her and Mark’s old apartment. She’d have to, though, even if just to pack up her things. His belongings were long gone. Mark’s mom and dad had been tasked with the heartbreaking job of sorting through everything and deciding what to do with his personal items. She’d spent the week in a hotel to give them some privacy. That had been many months ago, but the sharp sting of those days still remained.
“I understand how that is.”
His arms dropped to his sides, his posture opening up as if he really did understand her uncertainty.
Glancing over his shoulder, he said, “I think dinner is probably just about ready. Are you okay with eating out on the back deck? It should be cooling off outside by now.”
“Outside sounds wonderful.” She hoped her tone didn’t give away how relieved she was they were not to be seated at opposite ends of that enormous table.
The right side of his mouth kicked up in a way that said he was just as glad. “Good. Then if you’ll get the plates out of that cabinet by the sink, I’ll get the pan out of the oven.”
Opening the glass-fronted cabinet, she pulled down two ornate pieces of china, giving a quick wrinkle of her nose that she hoped he wouldn’t see. Maybe their conversation would be a little less brittle than the dinnerware. Maybe they could even put that awkward first meeting behind them and get off on a better foot. For as long as they both were here.
She grimaced at how close that was to another sentence. If Mark had lived they would be married. But he hadn’t. And they weren’t. And Lea had no plans to leap into another romance anytime soon.
Right now she just needed to focus on putting that painful period in her life behind her. While she never would have wished Mythelios’s earthquake on anyone, it had served to take her mind off herself and focus on doing good for those on the island. Didn’t she always tell her patients that giving back to others was a great way to derail self-pity? She should have taken a page from her own book months ago. But she hadn’t been ready to let go of the apartment which was a last connection to her fiancé.
She took a deep breath and accepted the steaming plate Deakin handed her with a murmured thank-you.
One thing was for sure, though. She was never getting involved with another man who carried a truckload of baggage. If she dated again, she was picking someone fun. Someone full of sunshine and light.
No brooding. No past trauma.
She gave a mental pinky-swear...to herself.
Happy, cheerful, and an eternal optimist. That was the best prescription she could think of.
And what better place to start than with herself?
“WHY DIDN’T YOU tell me you were arriving yesterday, Deak? Cailey and I would have picked you up. Did you fly in or take the ferry?”
Theo stood in the doorway to the exam room his patient had just exited, his frowning countenance not fooling anyone. His friend was glad to see him.
“I flew. It was a pretty bumpy landing. I guess they’ll resurface the runway eventually. My aunt said it got damaged pretty badly.”
“It was cracked in half. They did what they could to get it up and running again.” He grinned. “I’m glad you could finally join the party.”
Setting his laptop on the counter top, he walked over and gave Theo a quick brotherly slap on the back. “From what I’ve heard you’re doing quite a bit of partying. I didn’t want to disturb your love-nest.”
Theo was one of the few people he’d never felt judged by. As kids he, Chris and Eri had never ogled his scars, but they hadn’t tiptoed around them either. They’d accepted them, just like they’d accepted him—something his parents had never seemed able to do after the fire.
He’d never told them the whole truth. It wouldn’t have helped the situation and it would have just made life harder for Ville, whose home life had been a million times worse than his. At least Deakin’s parents hadn’t hit him. They’d just frozen him out emotionally instead.
“Love-nest? Really?” He paused. “Cailey’s pregnant. I wasn’t sure if you’d heard.”
Deakin’s brows went up and he slapped his friend’s back again. Hard enough to make Theo grunt this time. “No, you conveniently omitted that fact during our first phone conversation.”
“Well, since it happened sometime after that call...” He chuckled. “Oh, you’ve met Lea Risi, haven’t you?”
Deakin picked up his laptop, setting it on the table near the door. “She’s living almost under my roof, so it’s kind of hard to miss her. Another thing you cleverly omitted to mention.”
“We can move her somewhere else if having her there bothers you. Cecilia kind of insisted when the hotel was evacuated. I could always check with Cailey and move her into our house.”
“No. I’ll survive. It’s not like I’ll be here for a year or anything.”
“You never know.”
His chest tightened. “Oh, I know.”
Better change the subject before they got into it. He and Theo had already gone round and round enough times on this particular subject.
“So, what about this whole fundraising bachelor auction thing Cecelia has told me about? I don’t have to do anything for it, right?”
“Well, since I’m out of the running, being an expectant father and all...”
Deakin made a sound that was half-grunt, half-laugh. “You must have wanted out of that auction really bad.”
“Um...no. That’s not quite how things worked. I never expected to meet someone and... Well, anyway, now that you’re here you can take my place in the auction. The earthquake decimated our funds. And our CT scanner is on the fritz. It has to be repaired or replaced.”
“Not interested. I already did that freak show of a calendar. Besides, I wouldn’t bring in enough for a photocopier, much less a CT machine.”
The thought of standing on some stage having people bid—or not bid—on his “worth” gave him the heebie-jeebies. Or, worse, having some little old lady place a pity bid on him that had him scrubbing her kitchen sink or something.
“I’d also appreciate it if you’d ask Petra to take down that calendar hanging in the reception area. At least for the month of July.”
“Ha! That would be a negative, since that calendar has already brought in several thousand euros. If you want it down, you ask her.”
And risk getting on Petra’s wrong side? Although it might be worth it this time. Deakin’s picture on the calendar was for the month of July, which was just over a week away. He didn’t want anyone seeing that snapshot, especially not Lea.
He wasn’t sure why that thought bothered him more than having other people see it. Maybe because he’d grown up on this island and they all knew him—knew his history. She didn’t, and he didn’t want her asking anyone about the incident which had seared a roadmap of scars