Join the club, he thought as the memory dimmed. But her admission didn’t sound right. He recalled how often she frolicked around the gardens at night when she didn’t think anyone was watching. She had been fearless and free.
“Is it okay if I hold on to you?” she asked as she curled her arm around his.
“If you have to.” Turmoil churned inside him as he broke out into a cold sweat. He didn’t want to be touched. He needed to keep his distance but he couldn’t deny Jodie’s request.
“It’s kind of dark in this kitchen, don’t you think?” Jodie carefully turned them toward the door. “Can you take me back to the main room? I would feel better sitting by the fire.”
He remembered the campfire his captors had gathered around every night. It was the only thing that held back the dark wilderness. But he had always been far away from the campfire and didn’t get to enjoy the heat or the light.
Stergios silently walked Jodie to the main room. He was very aware of how her body brushed against his arm. Only she wasn’t leaning against him. She felt strong and confident.
“I guess my problems with the dark—with nighttime, really—happened early on.” Jodie’s voice was soft and soothing. “I think it started at my first boarding school. It was an eerie place and the older girls told us ghost stories.”
Jodie’s voice went in and out but her hold on his arm remained firm. His tension diminished when he saw the glow from the fire. There were still too many shadows and dark corners, but he was able to guide Jodie to one of the sofas.
“Thank you. Would you sit with me?” she asked as she patted the cushion next to her. “It would make me feel safer.”
He reluctantly sat with Jodie even though he knew it was a bad idea. She didn’t know what he was like in the darkness. It could take some time before the lights came back on.
“I got kicked out of that school a few years later,” she continued as she curled up on the sofa, her dress riding up her thighs as she tucked her legs underneath her. “They had given me several chances but I wasted them all. The next school I went to was horrible. I didn’t last long. Maybe a month?”
Stergios didn’t look at her. He silently watched the fire as he tried to push the memories away. It had happened years ago. Some of his recollections were blurry and some were just an intense, overwhelming feeling. But there had been some moments that were razor sharp no matter how much he tried to forget.
“The school in South Africa was nice and I made some great friends there. Now, looking back, I should have tried harder to adapt.”
She fell into silence. He didn’t like that. He wasn’t following every word but he clung to the gentle rhythm of her voice.
“You purposely got kicked out of every boarding school,” he said gruffly. “Why?”
Jodie shifted uncomfortably in her seat as if she was embarrassed. “The letters and phone calls from home had stopped,” she told him. “I didn’t see either of my parents during the school breaks. I was being left behind and I couldn’t let that happen.”
The woman was so afraid of becoming invisible. He didn’t understand it. She grabbed attention wherever she went. She hadn’t been in Athens for years and yet her name was still on everyone’s tongue. “So you did everything you could to get your parents’ attention.”
“I broke every rule I could think of. I cheated on tests even when I knew the answers. I snuck boys in my room just to get caught and I planted liquor bottles where they could be found. I did whatever would require a call to my parents. Or better yet, be sent home.”
“It didn’t work,” he murmured. Her stays at the Antoniou estate were brief and rare.
“No, it didn’t. My actions had the opposite effect.” There was a hint of regret in her voice. “The more stunts I pulled, the less my parents wanted anything to do with me. They sent me to places so far away that I couldn’t visit home. It was as if they didn’t know what to do with me. I felt abandoned.”
Rejected, Stergios thought. So she pulled stunts that would create more attention.
Jodie was lost in her thoughts as she stared at the fire. “I often wondered what would have happened if I had run away from one of those schools. Would my parents have looked for me?”
“Of course they would.” His response was automatic.
“You would assume that, Stergios,” she said with a soft chuckle as she patted his shoulder. “But your family was different than mine. They always wanted to keep you close,” she said with a longing sigh. “You knew all your relatives would do everything in their power to find you.”