That's Amore! - Janelle Denison [46]
"It's hard to believe it's the same Aphrodite I knew when you were kids," her mother continued, arranging the fruit Efi cut on silver platters. "That girl had been afraid of her own shadow. Now she's looking to cast her shadow in places she shouldn't."
"I don't think she's that bad," Efi said. She stopped. "Well, okay, maybe she is."
Her mother waved a strawberry at her. "She did the same thing back home, you know."
Efi raised her brow. Gossip was rarely as good as what you heard when it came from back home.
"She broke up the wedding of her best friend. Uh huh. Caught her canoodling with the groom in the back of a pickup truck the night before the wedding." Efi's throat tightened. "She's engaged to him now."
She stared at her mother. "She's engaged?"
Penelope waved vaguely. "Well, from what I understand she was. She found out just yesterday that her fiancé went back to his first bride. They're to be married while she's here."
Efi's head spun with the information. Aphrodite had been engaged to a man once set to marry her best friend. And now she was making moves on Efi's groom.
She met her mother's gaze and they looked at each other for a long moment.
"I think I'd better get back out there."
"I think you'd better get back out there."
They said their thoughts at the same moment, then Efi left her mother to finish up the fruit, passing her watchful aunt Frosini on the way out. Her aunt seemed to look through Efi in a way that made her shudder to the bone.
Sure enough, there was Aphrodite, head thrown back, sexily laughing at something Nick had apparently just said to his koumbaro Alex. Her cousin was draped over the arm of the chair he sat in. A chair Efi herself had helped him pick out.
"Excuse me," she said to Aphrodite, nearly shoving her from the arm, then smiling widely. "Oh, I'm sorry. Here, let me help you over to the couch."
The young woman's eyes flashed as if she understood exactly what was going on. And Efi was more than happy to confirm her suspicions. She was in the right. Nick was her groom and Aphrodite had no right to openly flirt and try to engage him as if he was the only single man in the room.
The music had switched over to old American songs. A slow one came on and she walked over to where one of Nick's younger cousins, Pericles, was holding up the corner, barely having spoken all night. The gangly, shy guy wore glasses that made his eyes look twice as large. Efi smiled at him and led him to where Aphrodite was standing looking miffed, her arms crossed under her ample breasts, in the opposite corner. She motioned for them to dance.
"You think Perry will know what to do with her?" Nick asked, sweeping Efi up into his arms to join the other couple on the dance floor.
"Unlike yourself, you mean?"
He blinked at her.
"Never mind," Efi said, snuggling closer to him, breathing in his subtle cologne, reveling in the feel of his arms around her and his body against hers. She wasn't going to let anything ruin this one moment.
Nick grazed her ear with his lips. "We can lock ourselves in the closet," he murmured.
She laughed softly. "And have half the family banging on it? No, thank you."
"We could sneak outside. My car's parked up the block."
"They'd be on our heels before you could start the engine."
He sighed. "You're right."
"There is some good news, though," she whispered.
He pulled back to look at her. "In two more days there's not going to be anyone trying to keep us apart."
In two days they would be husband and wife.
The thought sent goosebumps shivering up her arms.
In the midst of all that had been going on, she'd somehow lost sight of the light at the end of the tunnel. The reason their families were going to such great lengths to keep them apart. The motivation behind the loud celebrations.
She and Nick were getting married.
Efi watched the slow, wicked grin spread across his handsome face and her breath left