Joey could tell Leo really wanted her to be happy, and she was, with either plan. “Ooh, really happy!” She kissed his cheek. She considered broaching if the money aspect was really fine but then decided to avoid the topic. “This is such a nice surprise!”

“Do you want to change into comfy shoes? It’s a pretty far walk.”

“No, I’m fine. Oh, I’m so excited!”

They arrived at Taverna Salto. Joey soaked it all in—the string quartet, the crisp linen table settings, the enchanting garden vibe, the hideaway location.

Most of all, Leo, who was wonderful and hers.

A few moments of bliss, and then Leo’s eyes went strange. And all of Joey’s happy went poof.

*  *  *

They fled the taverna, with Leo pulling Joey along in some baffling race of his life. When they finally stopped, the taverna out of sight, Joey’s heart was racing, her nerves all screwy. She tried to meet his gaze, but Leo’s eyes skittered around, anywhere but at her.

Leo, come on. Please tell me the truth.

I have a headache. That’s all.

They walked in silence back home, with Joey berating herself for not turning around, for not having seen what Leo saw. But maybe she was inflating things? Leo was tight on money, after all. Maybe he just hadn’t quite anticipated the prices. Maybe it wasn’t such a big deal.

When they returned to the hallway with both their apartment doors side by side, there was a terrible moment when Joey didn’t know if Leo was going to invite her in. But then he turned his key in the lock and, without meeting her eyes, said, “Coming, Jonesey?”

She followed him down the dim hall to his bedroom. There, he didn’t switch on the lights, just stripped to his boxers and slipped beneath his navy coverlet. Joey wriggled out of her pants and debated going to the bathroom to rinse her feet. Having walked barefoot across town again to avoid her killer espadrilles, it would now be revolting to skip a good rinse, but Joey knew that Leo would be sleeping, pretend or otherwise, by the time she’d returned. So she opted for dirty.

“Leo,” she started, joining him in bed but not sliding across the invisible barrier between them that had been so quickly erected, “can we—”

“I’m tired, Jonesey. Let’s just go to sleep.”

“But is everything…are we okay?” She squeezed her eyes shut, steeling herself for his answer.

“Yep. We’re fine, Jones.”

Leo rolled on his side to face the window. And Joey just stared at his back, praying he’d wake up in the morning back to normal.

Chapter Fifteen

Joey

Corfu
2004