It was the wrong thing to say. His eyes turned into two black blocks of ice.
His voice was every bit as cold. ‘When are you going to understand? I am not Theo. The man you love is dead.’
‘No.’ She shook her head desperately and gave a last roll of the dice. ‘No. Theo’s still there. He’s a part of you.’
But she might as well have been talking to the leaves on the trees.
‘Nikos will be here in a couple of hours to take you to the airport,’ he said, turning away from her and heading back to the villa.
No, no, no, no, no. It couldn’t be over.
But the stiffness in his frame told her that it was.
He stepped through the patio doors without looking back.
* * *
Was it possible to hear someone’s heart breaking?
Theseus sat with Talos, discussing a new company he’d discovered that had the potential to be a good investment, but all he could think about was Jo.
He had the impression Talos was only half paying attention too. He’d announced his engagement to his beautiful violinist and it was clear his mind was on how quickly he could get back to her. And Helios had stayed at their meeting for all of five minutes before staggering out, saying he had stuff to do.
Even in the depths of his own misery Theseus could see something was badly wrong with his elder brother. Usually it was Helios who was the sunniest of the three Kalliakis brothers, while Talos normally walked around with a demeanour akin to that of a bear with a sore head. The switch between them would have been startling if Theseus had been able to summon the energy to care.
He’d assumed Jo would be happy to leave, that once it sank in that she had her freedom back she would grab Toby and speed away to the airport, singing, ‘Freedom!’ at the top of her voice.
She’d been like a wounded animal.
There he’d been, giving her a way out, handing it to her on a plate, and she’d refused to take it. He’d had to force it.
She’d said she loved him.
How could she love him? It wasn’t possible. He’d done nothing to earn it, nothing to deserve it. He’d lied to her, impregnated her... Yes, she’d lied about being on the pill, but if he’d had his wits about him he would have seen her inexperience and not used her for his own selfish needs. He’d forced her to give up the job she loved, to give up everything, and she said she loved him?
Theos, he missed her. He missed her sunny smile at breakfast. He missed resting his head on her breasts while she stroked his hair.
‘What is wrong with you?’ Talos demanded, breaking through his thoughts.
‘Nothing.’
‘Well, your “nothing” is getting on my nerves.’
‘Sorry.’
Talos shook his head with incredulity. ‘Get up.’
‘What?’
‘Get up. You’re coming to my gym. You need to work your “nothing” out. You’re no good for anything with your head in Oxford.’
Theseus jumped to his feet. ‘What would you know about it?’ he snarled.
Talos folded his arms and fixed him with his stare. ‘More than you think.’
* * *
Her coffee had gone cold.
Oh, well, it was disgusting anyway.
The coffee Theseus’s staff served had ruined her palate for anything else.
At least it was only her taste buds. It wasn’t as if the coffee had ruined everything else. No, Theseus had done that all on his own.
She’d been back in England for a week. A whole week. One hundred and sixty-eight interminably long hours, spent doing little other than trying not to wallow in front of Toby.
His preschool had taken him back with open arms so she had a few hours each day in which to bawl and rant and punch pillows. He was a resilient little thing, and his resilience had been helped when her landlady had let them move straight back in as she’d not yet relet their flat.
It was as if they’d never left England in the first place.
Their whole time on Agon might as well have been a dream.
Except no dream would have had her waking with cramping in her chest and awful flu-like symptoms.
She was thankful she’d never told Toby they were moving permanently to Agon. She’d figured it was best to just take things one day at a time. Having achieved his dream of meeting the King—his great-grandfather—and with the promise that he could go back and visit his daddy soon, he’d been happy to return to England and see his friends and his aunt, uncle and cousin.
At a loss for what to do, she stood at the window and looked out over the bustling street below. All those people going somewhere in the miserable spring drizzle.