Everyone clapped, me included. Katerina was the woman who had the familiar eyes. She almost looked like . . .
My eyes widened. No. There was no way.
“Since they are all of Greek heritage, I thought we would do a Greek entrée and dessert.”
My head snapped over to Claire as I felt my chest tightening. Oh, holy shit. This is not happening.
I stared down at the food Claire had put out. What in the living hell was this shit?
“Today we’ll be making spanakopita, which is a Greek spinach pie. For dessert, it will be Greek honey cake. We’ll start with the cake so it can bake while we make the spanakopita.”
I’m almost positive I was staring at Claire with a what the fuck expression. When she gave them instructions on how to start the cake, she walked over to me and pulled me to the side. “I’m sorry. I wanted to give you a heads up but you got here last minute, and then when I saw you in the hall, well, it slipped my mind.”
“It slipped your mind! It. Slipped. Your. Mind? Thano’s Greek. He destroyed my heart. Did I mention he is Greek? How many Greek men have I gone out with? Oh, let me think.” Lifting my eyes up, I acted like I was thinking before shooting her a look. “That’s right. There’s only been the one!”
She nodded. “I know this, and that’s why I was trying to give you a heads up. But Katerina called and said it was a group thing. I don’t know what I was thinking. I thought it would be fun to make something Greek for them. Plus, the other people in the class will love this!”
I peeked over my shoulder and watched as Katerina and the other Greek women corrected the other students on how they were mixing the ingredients. “She looks like Thano,” I whispered.
Claire looked at her. “There is no way. Don’t all Greek people look the same?”
I shot my head back and looked at her. “What? That’s so rude!”
“Well, I don’t know! Come on it’s ruder to be over here whispering off to the side.”
I followed her hesitantly. Taking a deep breath, I headed down to see who needed help as Claire stayed at the front and went over the instructions. The next thing I knew, Katerina was up with Claire. She had taken over the instructions and I couldn’t help but laugh when she took complete control over everything.
Standing in the middle of the group of Greek women, I totally forgot about Thano. Which was weird since I was submerged in all things Greek. These women were powerful, strong-minded, beautiful women. And funny as hell.
“So, Katerina, what made you pick these dishes?” Claire asked.
With a huge smile, she replied, “Oh, that’s an easy question to answer. They are my youngest son’s favorite dishes.”
Claire smiled as another girl in the crowd asked the next question. “I’ve heard about Greek men! What’s his name and is he single?”
Everyone laughed, including me. When I looked back up, Katerina was staring directly at me. Her green eyes seemed to be penetrating right to mine.
“His name is Athanasios, and you’d have to ask him if his heart is taken or not.”
It felt as if all the air had been sucked out of the room. The glass dish I’d been holding in my hand slipped and fell to the floor.
Shattering everywhere as I felt my legs go weak and I whispered, “Thano.”
“SO, HOW LONG are you going to walk around pouting?”
Glancing over to my brother, Nicholaus, I screwed my face up. “What are you talking about?”
With a roll of his eyes, he pushed out a frustrated breath. “Thano, it’s been a month since you and your little Irish girl hooked up.”
“Don’t call her that.”
“Is she not Irish?”
Blowing out a breath, I watched as the cold air made it look like smoke.
“So are you ignoring me now, Thano?”
Turning to him, I replied, “No. I thought we came up here to hunt. I haven’t been elk hunting in forever and all you want to do is talk about if Kilyn is Irish or not.”
“Is she?” Nicholaus asked in a hushed voice.
With a frustrated moan, I put my gun down. “Yes. Yes she is Irish, Nicholaus.”
Trying to hold in his laughter, he replied, “Mom’s going to be pissed!”
My heart felt shattered thinking of Kilyn. “I don’t care what Mom thinks. It doesn’t really matter anyway; I fucked things up with her.”
“So, make it right.”
I stared out over the mountains. It had snowed a bit and everything was covered with a light powder of white. It was so peaceful and beautiful. A part of me wanted to stay up here, hidden from everything. “I don’t know if I can.”
“Do you love her, Thano?”
Not even having to think about it, my response was natural. “Yes. I mean, I don’t know how fast you can fall in love with someone, but I know I was falling in love with her. All I think about is her. When I close my eyes I see hers. Hell, I don’t even feel complete knowing I won’t see her each day. It’s like something is missing.”