Charity had a look of pure horror on her face.
“Cole, I need to go. I love you.”
She pushed her phone back into her pocket, marched over to the edge of the house, grabbed the ladder, and before I knew it, she was heading down.
“How did she do that?” I asked.
Thad handed me my phone back. I mindlessly put it in my back pocket. “Nic’s still on the line.”
“Oh shit!”
“Nic?”
“Thad’s going to help you down.”
Chewing on my lip, I shook my head. “I don’t think I can do it, Nic.”
“Yes you can. He’s going to help you. I promise if you got up, you can get down.”
I took in a shaky breath. “O-okay. I love you.”
“Love you too.”
It wasn’t lost on me I could hear the smile in his voice. He was laughing at me.
“I’m going to go do this now.”
“Okay. Be careful. See you soon.”
Nodding, I said, “Kay. Bye.”
“See ya later, agapiméni.”
I hit End and looked at Thad. “I can’t do it.”
“Yes you can.”
Peeking over the edge, I asked, “Can I just like jump into the bushes. Or maybe you can hold my hands and help me get to them.”
For as long as I live, I would never forget the look on Thad’s face as he stared at me with disbelief.
“You want me to drop you into the bushes rather than help you down the ladder?”
My arms wrapped around my body. “It’s the swinging my leg over. I can’t do it.”
Thad took my hand in his and led me over to the ladder.
“Look at me, Gabi.”
I did as he asked. “I’m going to put your hands on the ladder, and you’re going to hold onto the ladder, but I’ve got a hold of you. Then you’re going to back yourself up and simply slide to the left and step on the ladder.”
My entire body was shaking. I was positive my face was white as a ghost. I did what he said.
“Now move your left foot out and put it on the ladder.”
“You can do it, Gabi!” Charity called out from below.
“Great . . . my own personal cheerleader.”
Thad laughed. My foot felt for the ladder and I started to panic when I couldn’t find it. Once I did, I set it down slowly.
“I can’t move,” I panted out.
Thad looked down below then back up at me. “You’ve got one foot on the ladder and one on the roof. You’re halfway there.”
My legs felt like lead. Pulling my right leg to me, I placed it on the ladder.
“I’m on!” I cried out.
“Now move on down.”
Ever so slowly, I moved each foot down until I was on the ground and in Charity’s arms.
“We almost died! We need to go shopping!”
I laughed at her then realized there was a plethora of people staring at me.
“When did all these people get here?” I asked as I looked around to see the Marias’, cousin Angelo and his wife Christine. Their daughter Marianna was holding out her little camera and taking pictures.
Great. The family documenter.
Aunt Agnes was ushering everyone over to the back of her SUV where she had some food out if anyone was hungry.
Cousin Sophia stood next to Katerina who was informing Mrs. Hawk I had officially moved in with Nic, but there had been no formal engagement.
Pressing my fingers to my temple, I groaned. Thad bumped my shoulder. “It’s not that bad.”
My hands fell to my sides. “Not that bad? Thad, the entire neighborhood is out and your Aunt Agnes is feeding everyone out of her SUV. Where in the hell did she even get all that food?”
He chuckled and Phoebe walked up carrying little Michael. “Man, Kilyn will be so tickled to hear this one.”
I shot her a dirty look. “I’m not babysitting for y’all this weekend.”
Thad jumped into the conversation. “She takes it back! Take it back, Phoebe! Take it back!”
My brows lifted. “I guess someone needs a night out.”
With a sigh, he nodded. “You have no idea.”
The pain of jealousy ripped through my chest. “No, I don’t.”
Phoebe tilted her head and looked at me. When I smiled, she returned one, but I knew she saw the hint of my jealousy.
The next three hours were spent with the entire Drivas clan entertaining my neighbors. At one point, I looked over and saw Charity sitting on a chair chatting to Phoebe as if they were at a damn family reunion.
Finally people started leaving, and the questions about why I was on the roof finally stopped. The only two people left were Katerina and Dimitris.
I stumbled into the house, exhausted from the day’s events. Katerina immediately headed to the kitchen.
“I’ll whip up a dinner for Nicholaus to have when he gets home.” I didn’t have the energy to stop her. I had made fresh pasta this morning for linguini with my lemon pesto sauce, but I could make it tomorrow.