Forever and a Day (13 page)

Xander looked up as Evie came up to the sink and washed her hands, “Evie, if I ever had one last meal in my life, I would ask for your Giouvesti! Thank you for making this.”

She dried her hands and gave Xander a proud look, “Go put your electronic toys away in your office and wash up for dinner.” She ordered and shooed him away from the simmering pot.

Xander tried to steal a kiss and she poked him with the wooden spoon then shook it at him, “I’m trying to finish dinner, now go!” She encouraged his exit with a prod at his chest with the spoon.

“Ok!” Xander smiled. He turned to leave then quickly spun around and tried to grab her waist, but she was ready and gave his hand a smack with her spoon. Damn that was fast he thought as he grabbed his hand as it stung from the hit.

“Ha, ha! That is my Greek karate, don’t mess with a woman in her own kitchen!” She shook her spoon at him again, “Out!” She turned away, disinterested at Xander’s feigned look of dejection. He frowned and turned to leave.

“Ouch!” Xander yelped grabbing his bum from Evie’s spoon against his backside.

“Hurry! And tell Athena to come set the table!” Evie smirked and pointed the spoon menacingly towards the kitchen exit.

“I’m going!” Xander said holding up his hands and backed away from Evie and her spoon. He gave her his own devilish smile, “Payback…” He laughed and quickly headed to his office.

Evie returned to finishing dinner and reminded herself of what her mother had told her when she was a little girl: ‘The road back home is always good cooking.’ That Skeela, Halo Raines, probably scorches water when she tries to cook. Try to buy my family? She seethed at the thought of Halo Raines and her check as she stirred the pot, wishing she could smack the pretty off that Halo Raines and all the other skinny actresses with her spoon.

“Evie, I think that was one of your best, it was wonderful!” Xander smiled happily at his wife from across the kitchen table and pushed his plate away.

“Yeah Ma, that was really good.” Athena added.

“Efaresto.” Evie nodded in thanks and cracked a small smile at the compliments, “Xan, more Retsina wine?”

“Ah, no thanks, it’s starting to hit me.” He rolled his eyes and grimaced. He pulled out Halo Raines letter and held it up, “Here is Halo’s letter. Want me to read it to you?”

Athena jumped out of her chair, went and stood next to her father as he pulled out the letter from the envelope. He could not help but notice Evie’s indifferent look.

“Read it already.” Evie replied tersely.

He handed Evie the check then with a sidelong look at her, he read the letter to them both.

“Dad! She thought your performance was impressive! You really must have nailed it!” Athena patted her father’s shoulder with enthusiasm, “You should frame that!” Athena said pointing at the letter.

Xander saw Evie shoot Athena a look, and Athena went quiet, “Nah…” Xander smiled and gave Athena a quick surreptitious wink. He turned to his wife, “Evie, how about you take Athena shopping and get both of yourselves something nice.”

“Ma!” Athena exclaimed with a hopeful smile, “There is a big fall sale going on a Macy’s! Let’s go tomorrow!”

“Maybe, we’ll see how much your father spent first.” She replied with a dose of sarcasm.

“Evie, there is more than enough leftover, trust me! Get yourself and Athena something nice, please?”

Evie rolled her eyes upward looking at the white paint on the ceiling shaking her head. That Skeela is trying to interfere, she grumbled to herself.

“Come on Ma! It’ll be fun!” Athena prodded.

Evie held her hands up in surrender, “Fine! We’ll go tomorrow after work, happy now?”

“You bet!” Athena replied cheerfully, went over and gave her mother a big hug and then one to her father, “I’ll be in my room, I have some homework to finish up.”

“Take the plates to the sink.” Evie charged. Athena nodded and grabbed the dishes then quickly left her parents alone.

“Gee, Evie. I wish I could make you happy like that.” Xander said quietly.

“I am not a little girl, Xan.”

“Hey, I just want you two to go have some fun together.” He met Evie’s dark brown eyes and held her gaze, “Evie, do you want to talk about yesterday morning?”

“No.”

Xander leaned towards his wife and set his hands together on the table, “What can I do to make you happy? If you want me to just listen, I will.”

Evie sighed and rubbed her forehead with both palms of her hands, “Endaxi! Ok!” She took a deep breath and looked down at her dinner plate, “If you get the part you will be gone far away with a superstar actress, ok? Like I told you, I am trying to deal with it. Mom is trying to help, but I dunno…” Evie shrugged and continued, “I want to blame someone for how I feel, and since “She” might hire you and take you away from us, I want to be mad at her. I can’t help it, but I’d rather be mad at her than you.” Evie reached out and patted his hand.

“I get it, Evie. I’m sorry I am causing you grief.” He leaned forward, brought his wife’s hand to his lips, and gave it a soft kiss.

She smiled at him and quickly got up, “Let’s go. We have Saturday’s business to finish.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him out of his chair.

“Oh!” Xander replied a little dazed at the idea of some attention as he thought he would have to wait until the following Saturday.

Evie held onto his hand as she pulled him up the stairs to their bedroom. Once there she shut the door behind them, locked it and pulled Xander over to the bed. Drawing the curtains, she began to undress in the nearly pitch black room.

Xander stripped off his clothes and knew better than to come up to her until she was ready. He felt her body heat as she edged shyly close to him. He reached out to her and found her hand, pulling her tenderly close, he came in for a kiss. Normally she would turn away, as she did not care much for kissing, but to his surprise, she met him with her lips to his. He kissed her lightly, ran his hands slowly and gently down her arms and felt her quiver under his touch.

“Xan, how do you want to?”

“Shh, let’s just see where this business leads, Koukla.” He whispered softly into his wife’s ear.

Xander opened one eye and saw his wife standing over him next to the bed, “Xan, wake up. I let you sleep in a little. Xan! Are you awake?” Evie repeated, shaking his shoulder.

Xander rolled onto his back and rubbed his eyes, “I’m up.” He answered groggily.

“Good, I made some breakfast for you. It’s downstairs. Nola is expecting you after ten this morning, so you have plenty of time.”

“Breakfast?” Xander said sleepily and yawned, “Thank you, Koukla.”

“I’ll take Athena to school, so get up and go eat.” Evie pulled the covers off him and saw he was naked and she quickly pulled the sheet back over him enough to cover his privates.

Xander smiled and chuckled, “You know better than to do that in the morning.”

Evie shook her head at him with a sour look, “Breakfast! Get up!” She commanded and leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on his forehead, “S’agapo.”

“Love you too.” Xander waited to get up until Evie left the bedroom and closed the door behind her. He headed to the bathroom in a hurry. When he came out, he was wearing his faded Star Wars T-shirt, black running shorts, his running shoes and was carrying his gym bag. He quickly made the bed and cursed at the multitude of decorative pillows Evie required as he set them up the way she insisted.

He headed downstairs and found his breakfast on the kitchen table covered with plastic wrap. He downed his breakfast and hurriedly cleaned up his dishes. Grabbing his keys, phone, and ear buds, he hurried out to the garage.

The sister vehicle to Evie’s gray Dodge Grand Caravan waited for him. This one was different from Evie’s as there were no middle seats. His van was equipped with a motorized ramp and room for two wheelchairs. On cue and with a shake of his head he said to no one, “God damn tin can…” and stabbed at the garage door opener button. When the door was up, he started up the van and pulled out onto the street, “Woo hoo… soccer dad is on the move, watch out world.” He grumbled aloud as he steered the van towards the gym in the nearby city of Tualatin.

Xander pulled into the nearly empty parking lot in front of the gym. Grabbing his gear he got out and swiped his keycard and went in, “Oh shit.” He breathed as he saw Brooke staffing the desk.

Brooke was the epitome of the over-excited personal trainer, she was fit and attractive as well. He had wondered if she even topped five percent body fat. He joked to himself that if she never worked out again, her mouth would burn enough calories to keep her lithe forever. Hoping she would not notice him, he ducked his head and picked up his pace towards the men’s locker room.

“Good morning Xander!” Brooke called out excitedly to him, “You gonna hit the weights like a beast this morning?”

Dammit, he muttered to himself and turned to her, “You bet!” He said with a wave and began to turn away when she called back to him.

“Hey, what muscle groups you working on? I can help…“ Her desk phone rang and Xander saw her look down at it then back up to him and pointed at it and whispered loudly, “Phone, I’ll talk with you later.”