Four Girls and a Guy - Suzanne Jenkins Page 0,28
models.”
They watched the video together, pleased. The chemistry between them was as clear as day.
“We do look pretty amazing side by side,” she said, laughing. “Be sure to tag me. I want my family in Detroit to see this.”
“Why?” Evan asked when Ollie left the area.
“They think all I do is take money from my mom and dad. I want them to see that I work with other Greeks.”
“Will you have coffee with me?”
A little taken aback, breaks weren’t part of her enumeration package. But hot Greek coffee and a fresh pastry—there was nothing better.
“Of course. I’m ready to faint of hunger.”
“I heard that,” Maria shouted. “Ollie, give the girl something to eat!”
“Sit, sit,” Ollie said, bringing a plate with hot pastries over to the table while Evan got their coffee.
“You two, it is a figure of speech. I’m a long way from starving.”
But the bakery owners had been waiting for this moment. If Evan could score a relationship with a member of the family who had the prospects of money, and was the daughter of a priest, as well, it would be a coup d’état.
After handing her a mug, Evan sat down across from her, smiling, elbows on the table, and grasped his mug of coffee. “I have wanted to sit across from you like this for a while. Without the audience.”
He studied her face, her hair, her neck, the buttons on her white baker’s uniform that strained a little bit across her ample bosom. He thought he saw a glimpse of a flesh-colored bra.
“Today must be your lucky day.”
“You are so beautiful.”
“I’m glad you think so,” she said, sipping coffee. “I probably have flour on my nose.”
“Would you go out with me?” Evan whispered, looking around.
“Of course,” she replied without hesitating. “This is sort of a date.”
“It is. Do you like the Field House Museum?”
“I love it,” she said.
“When are you off next?”
“I’ll have to check the schedule.”
After coffee they checked the work schedule together, and she looked at the school calendar on her phone. They made a date for the following Thursday afternoon, two days away. She liked him a lot and would do what she could to see him as much as possible between school and work.
When Ollie and Maria found out Evan and Samantha were dating seriously, they had a lot to say about it.
“You’ll have a nice lifestyle with a doctor as a wife,” his brother had said, but that truly never played into his decision to get involved.
The summer after her freshman year, her parents, George and Poppy, came to visit, and Samantha brought them to meet everyone at the bakery. He watched the interaction between the father and his daughter, and it was kind and loving, but he thought rather superficial, like he was the tough taskmaster of the church and she was the postulant.
Poppy was Maria’s third cousin, and everyone noted the resemblance, their ancestors from the same island that had been occupied in the fourteenth century by the Ottomans so that they had a little Jewish blood.
“It accounts for the ginger hair,” Maria said. “My sister has red hair. My father was considered a freak because of his.”
“I was considered a freak,” Samantha said.
The family poo-pooed her, but she laughed it off. Evan decided he’d do what he could to try to get her to go out with him.
The first date was great, setting the precedent for a real relationship. Afterward, they went to his apartment, where she didn’t hesitate to strip nude and climb on top of him as soon as he was ready. She swept him off his feet.
They saw each other every chance they got. She studied at his place because as much as Edwin and Alison wanted to study together, they always ended up getting the wine out and talking. So Samantha had to discipline herself to study either in her room with Joan or at the library or at Evan’s. Evan’s was the best, but as hard as he tried not to distract, they usually had to have sex sometime in the evening. She made the rule that they would take care of business first.
“Let’s get in the shower,” she’d say, and they’d take one together.
She’d take care of all of his needs and he, hers, and hopefully she could keep her eyes open long enough to get some real studying done. A few times she made it clear that she had serious work to do and would play house with him as soon as