In Blue Water

Chapter 5

Filippos pov

I still have two days to spend with Phoebe. I don’t want to let her leave, but I can’t ask her to stay. Our deal was one month, and that’s it, but I don’t want to be away from her.

“Filippos?” my brother put me out of my thoughts. I look at him sitting opposite me in my office

“You ok? I called your name five times.”

“Yeah. What’s up?” I say, running my hands on my face. I hear him sigh

“You want her. Why you don’t say to her?”

“I can’t. Her life is in Chicago, and mine is here. I can’t ask her to leave everything there for me.”

“But you can leave,” he says, and I look at him. I have a proposal to work in the USA, actually one in Florida and one in Chicago. What a coincidence, right?

“You need me here, Mario.”

“You said no a lot of times to them, Filippos. I have Elpida here to help me. If I need help, I will hire someone. We have the luxury now” He leaned on the office, resting his hand

“You have a reason now to go, man. Don’t let it go. Don’t let Phoebe go,” he says, and he stands up. He walks out of my office, and I stand up, go to the window, and look outside. I had made a few conversations and interviews before my father died to work as a professor there, but my father's death left it behind. Year after year, they propose again, but I always say no. Maybe Mario is right? Did I have the chance now to go? Should I talk with Phoebe about that? I have lunch with her later perhaps I will say something.

After a few hours, I’m in the hotel restaurant, and I wait for Phoebe to arrive. I check my phone; she is here any time now.

“Hi,” I hear Phoebe say, and she hugs me from my shoulders. She kisses my cheek, and then she sits down

“Hi beautiful,” I say with a smile

“I’m starving. The swimming makes me hungry,” she says, and I laugh

“That’s true. You had fun with Ashley?”

“Yeah. I did. The beach was amazing,” we ordered, and when I was ready to tell her about my thoughts, her phone rang.

“I’m sorry is my mom. It’s early there; it must be important.”

“Of course,” I say, and I look at her,

“Yes, mom?” when her mom talks, she looks at me sadly

“What when?” She looks worried

“No. I will come earlier, no Mom, I have to be there” f**k, she leaves early?

“Yeah. I will take the next flight. Love you, mom. Stay strong,” she says, and she ends the call. She looks at me, ready to cry

“What's wrong, baby?”

“I have to go earlier.” She chokes

“My dad is in the hospital. Heart attack,” she says, and she stands up. I go close to her, and I hug her. I caress her back until she relaxes a little

“I have to go back and talk to Ashley,” she says, nervous and still crying

“I will find her, and I will send her to your room” She looks at me, smiling

“Thank you. I’m sorry about that. I wanted to spend those two more days with you” I cup her face

“Don’t worry, baby. Now you have more important things to do. That is the matter now. Your dad to be ok.”

“We will be in touch?” She asks

“Of course. We will talk and text each other”

“Ok. I will go pack and book a flight.”

“I will do that. Go pack, and I will find Ashley too” She smiles, and kisses me. She runs away from me to go to her room. I cancel the order, and I find Ashley. She is in the hotel’s bar

“Ashley. You have to go to your room. Phoebe is packing because she is dad at the hospital.”

“s**t! I have to go,” she says and leaves. I go to my room. When I enter, I sit on the bed. f**k, she is leaving now, I check my phone, and I book a flight for her and Ashley. I know there is no way Ashley leave her alone. I texted her there was a flight in two hours for Athens and to Chicago late at night. I walk to reception to wait for the girls to come. I will drive them to the airport. Even a few minutes with Phoebe is heaven.

“You ok?” Elpida asks

“I look ok?” I ask, and she hugs me. Soon the girls are down, and we walk to the car. At the airport, Phoebe was holding my hand. I don’t want to let her go. I will end up moving to Chicago; I know it. But right now, she needs to be calm.

When we arrived at the airport, Ashley left us for a while alone.

“I have five minutes,” Phoebe says, and I see she is sad. Not only for her dad but because I’m going to miss her

“I am going to miss you,” she says. I read her so easily

“I will miss you too,” I say, and I cup her face. I kiss her lips, but I feel her cry again

“Shh, it’s ok. Your dad is going to be ok.”

“No, it's not that. I....” she sob, I caress her cheeks, and I look that beautiful honey eyes wet from the tears. God, I’m sure, there is no doubt. I love her. I love this woman.

“God, I don’t know how to say this,” she says, and she takes a step back

“What is it, baby?” I ask

“I didn’t want to find out like that, like this” I take her hands in mine

“Filippos...”

“Yes, baby,” I say, and she takes a deep breath

“I’m in love with you. And I hate it that I have to leave like that,” she says, and I smile. I kiss her, and I hug her

“Phoebe??” Ashley yells, and I cup Phoebe’s face.

“I love you too, Phoebe,” I say, and she smiles

“Now I know that we didn’t have the time to talk about this” I kiss her again

“Go now to your dad and when is better we will talk about us, ok? I’m not letting you go.”

“Ok,” she says, smiling. I kiss her forehead

“Go now, and we will talk.” She passed her arms around my shoulders, and she kissed me hard. God let the time stop now. She cut the kiss

“I will call or text when I can. Ok?”

“Ok, baby. Go now,” I say, and I'm heartbroken when I see her walk away with me.

After dinner, I went to the hotel. When I left the airport, I went to the beach to go on the second day with Phoebe. She is only a few hours away, and I can’t breathe. She loves me, and I love her too. We must find a way to be together. I stay there for hours thinking about what to do, but there isn’t something to think about. When I fix the things here, I will accept the proposal from the Chicago University. This way, I will be with Phoebe. At first, I will find a place to stay alone, and I don’t want to scare and ask her to live together so soon. And we continue from there that we left it.

“Hey, all good?” My brother asks

“Yeah, she must be on the flight for Chicago right now,” I say, and I sit in the living room area.

“Are you ok?” He asks

“Yes. I will be. I need to talk to you about something” Is it now or never? We have to organize the things here before I leave. I am going to miss my brother.