I laughed, sitting down on the grass in the shade of the giant sycamore tree in my backyard. “I’m sure you have been. How’s Greece?”
“I don’t really know.” She giggled. “We didn’t see much of anything for the first few days because we were holed up in the hotel.”
“I’ll expect to have a new student in my school in about five years and nine months, then,” I said, chuckling as I imagined what any child of Teddy’s would be like.
“I hope so,” she replied. “Although we did venture out a bit today. I’ve got to say that from what little we have managed to see of Athens so far, I wouldn’t have minded staying longer. Don’t get me wrong, I would’ve loved that B&B outside Rockdale that you and I found for the honeymoon, but Scott and I are definitely benefiting from Reece’s and Colt’s competitive streaks. You should see this hotel Reece put us up in, and tomorrow, we’re off on that cruise around the Mediterranean Colt booked for us. We might just decide to hold off on the baby making for a while so we can really enjoy all of this.”
“He booked you on a cruise around the Mediterranean?” I asked disbelievingly. “I missed that part. I thought he’d just gotten you a week on the islands to counter Reece’s week in Athens.”
“That was the original plan,” she said. “At the last minute, he let us know that he’s booked us on a cruise instead. We’re considering coming back to Athens at some point after on our own dime, just so we can see everything we missed out on. It’s gorgeous here, Em. You’d love it.”
“Yeah?” I asked quietly. “Tell me about it. The parts you’ve seen, I mean. Not the other stuff.”
She giggled some more, then launched into a detailed description of everything from the view from the air before they landed, to the airport itself and the road between it and the hotel, all the way down to the patterns on the tiles she saw on a staircase earlier today.
“That does sound incredible,” I said when she finally fell silent. “What about this cruise? Where will you be going?”
“It’s so exciting. We’ll be seeing parts of Turkey, Israel, Cyprus, and Croatia. I’ve been looking up the ports and there are the most amazing things to do and see around them. We’re also staying the night in places like Istanbul, Dubrovnik, Santorini, and a few others. I don’t have the itinerary in front of me right now, but we’re going to be seeing so many places I never dreamed of getting to visit.”
“I’m jealous,” I said, idly realizing that it was a little bit true. “You guys deserve a wonderful break and it sounds like you’re getting one.”
“We are,” she agreed enthusiastically. “I would put up with the stress they put us through ten more times if this is the way they make up for it. Athens is so gorgeous, but the food is just as awe inspiring and the lifestyle would suit me down to a tee. I can’t wait to see what else is out there and to experience more of how these people live. We’re also going to be taking a few cooking classes onboard the ship. By the time we get home, I fully intend to be able to cook the way they do here.”
As she spoke, my mind conjured up images of blue seas and sandy bays, white buildings and exotic dishes. Travel had never been much of a possibility for either of us, and because we’d never had it, it hadn’t been something we could miss, but I was starting to wonder if maybe I’d been wrong for not making it more of a priority.
“How do you feel about being gone for so long?” I asked tentatively, not wanting to upset her but curious about her feelings on the prospect of leaving home for a couple of months. “Aren’t you homesick yet?”
“Not yet. I’m a little worried about taking two whole months off work and so is Scott, but we figure we’ll never get this chance again. It’s been wonderful having a little bubble around us to just be with each other. I think that’s helped a lot.”
“Isn’t it intimidating, knowing that you’re packing your bags tonight and you don’t know where you’re sleeping tomorrow night? Travel has always sounded exhausting to me, but you’re making it sound like such an adventure.”
“It is an adventure. I have to admit that the travel itself was a little rough. All those hours on an airplane got old real fast after the initial rush subsided and then we were so worried about making it on time for our connecting flight.”
She paused, her tone becoming more contemplative. “Once we arrived, adjusting to the time difference was hard and so was getting used to the food. It’s amazing and the Greeks eat so much better than we do at home, but the food is different to what we eat and sometimes, all you want is comfort food, you know?”
“Definitely.”
“The wine is pretty awesome, though, so that made up for a lot of things.” Teddy perked up again. “Now that we’re here and the jetlag is over, the stress of the flying was so worth it. I also think that if we flew a little more regularly, it wouldn’t have been so stressful to begin with. A lot of the other passengers were super relaxed and I’ve watched some of the tourists at the restaurant in the hotel where breakfast is served. It seems the trick is to embrace the local cuisine instead of comparing it to what we have back home.”
“So what you’re saying is that you’ll just need to travel more often?” Surprise washed over me. “Wow. They’re not joking when they say the bug bites fast, are they?”
“That darn travel bug bit me at hello.” She laughed. “Seriously, though, it really is an incredible experience so far, and it’s only been a few days. All those bad parts I mentioned aren’t even really so bad. It just takes an open mind and the right mentality. We had our passports and boarding passes organized. We should’ve been in a better frame of mind about the flights, but we’ve learned that now.”
“It sounds like you’re really enjoying it,” I said thoughtfully. Teddy was the one person I knew who loved Rockdale as much as I did. Hell, she’d even turned down a partial scholarship at the school in New York to come back home after she graduated.
She’d had a taste of the big-city life and she’d made no secret of the fact that she’d spent every minute there wishing it was over so she could come home. If she loved traveling this much, then maybe I would, too.
“We’re enjoying the heck out of it,” she replied happily. “The only thing that would’ve made it better was if we were meeting up with you sometime during our trip. I miss you.”
“I miss you too, but you and Scott will have a blast together.”
“We already are,” she assured me. “You’re remembering to water the plants, right? Scott has been so worried that we’re going to arrive and all those green babies he’s been nurturing are going to be gone.”
“Colt has been remembering,” I said without thinking. “He’s still here, so he’s taking care of it. You can tell Scott he has nothing to worry about. His green babies are in good hands.”
“He’s still there?” she asked, surprise ringing clear as a bell in her voice. “I thought he’d have headed out by now. In fact, I distinctly remember him saying that his flight was on Sunday night.”
Oh crap.I shouldn’t have said that.Backtracking as fast as I could, I chuckled. “I’m sure he’ll be leaving soon. You know how he is. He probably just wanted to stay a few days more than Reece so he could claim that he checked up on everything after the wedding to make sure all the rented stuff was returned and the deposits repaid.”