“But nothing!” he shouts. “If you love her the way you say you do, you don’t just walk away from that. It’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing, Markos. If this is the woman who you want to do all that with, you don’t just let her walk away.”

“Dad, I don’t know what else to do,” I tell him, looking at him.

“You show her why you love her,” he says softly. “Every single day that goes by, you never make her question that you love her.” He puts his hands in his pockets. “Even when she throws her shoe at you for telling her that she doesn’t look good in a certain pair of pants.”

“Oh my God,” I say, laughing now.

“Son,” he says softly. “Love isn’t easy, but it’s so worth it. To stand there with your woman by your side,” he says, slapping me on the shoulder and squeezing. “It’s everything.”

I’m about to say something when I hear the door. “Mom said we eat in ten minutes,” Chris says and shuts the door, turning and walking away with his head down while his fingers go crazy on his phone.

“What if she really doesn’t want me, Dad?” I ask him.

“Then she isn’t worth it,” he says and then looks through the window at my mother in the kitchen laughing with Chris. “But …” He smiles at me. “But when you know in here,” he says, pointing at my chest, “you know.”

“Thanks, Dad,” I tell him, and he turns to walk inside. Going straight for my mother, he puts his hands on her hips as she stands at the stove finishing what she’s doing. He leans in and kisses her neck, and she looks at him over her shoulder. It’s a look I’ve seen before, and it’s the same look she used to give me right before her face lit up with a big smile.

I turn and look out into the darkness, and I wonder what it would be like if she was here. I turn and look back inside and see my mother now standing by the stove with her hand on her hip while she says something to my father, and she does not look amused. It’s then the decision is made for me. “Vivienne Paradis,” I say to the universe, “I hope you’re ready because nothing is going to stop me from making you mine.” I say the words out loud, and I’m smiling now. “Let the games begin.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Vivienne

I slip on my heels and look in the mirror, my stomach flipping and flopping around like a fish out of water. I pick up my phone and call Karrie who answers on the second ring. “Yeah,” she says breathlessly.

“Are you having sex?” I whisper.