He paid the tab, and we left the pub, stopping to kiss every so often on the way to his house. When we walked up to the front door, he put his hand on the side of my face. “I want to be with you, Pia. But if it isn’t something you want…”
“I do, Mylos.”
We laughed as he fumbled with his keys. “I’m a little nervous.”
“Me too.”
He was about to stick the key in the lock when the door opened.
“Miles!” exclaimed his father. “And Pia! What are you both doing here?”
“I’m sorry about this,” Mylos whispered to me after he explained what had happened to his parents and how we both ended up in London.
“I’m just happy to be with you,” I whispered back.
His arm around my shoulders made me feel safe, protected, like I could always rely on him. When he told me the reason he wanted to join the military was to protect the innocent from harm, I knew it was the exact right thing for him.
“So,” said his mother after we finished dinner. “Sleeping arrangements?”
“Mum,” groaned Mylos, and his father laughed.
“Let them be, Margaret.”
“Pia can stay where she is, in my room. I’ll take the sofa,” Mylos offered.
I saw his mother and father make eye contact. Even if they hadn’t said a word about where we would sleep, I would’ve felt uncomfortable sleeping with Mylos in his boyhood home with his parents in the room next door. When—if—we ever made love, I wouldn’t want it to feel like we were sneaking or doing something we shouldn’t be.
“Feel like going for a walk?”
“I’d like that.”
Instead of making love, Mylos and I walked around London, talking, laughing, and kissing until the sun came up.
We returned to his house with just enough time to grab my bag and get to the airport.
“These were the best twenty-four hours of my life,” he said when he walked with me as far as airport security would allow.
“Mine too.”
We kissed again and then again after that.
“I don’t know whether I’ll be able to get leave while I’m at Sandhurst, but I’ll write, Pia.”
“I’ll write too, Mylos.” I kissed him once more and then took a step back. “I have to go.”
“I know.”
“Goodbye, Mylos.”
“Arrivederci, Pia.”
5
Grinder
Two Years Later
Sandhurst, England