“We try,” I said dryly.

“And I think one of the waitresses is sweet on you. She remembered exactly who you were. She even had the audacity to ask my guy if she could get your phone number,” he laughed. “At any rate, she mentioned she saw you and Jake having drinks with two young women?”

“Oh yeah. They were law students over at USD.”

“Anything I should know more about?” Russell asked with a hint of amusement. “It seems like everywhere you go, the ladies throw themselves at you, son.”

“What can I say?” I grinned. “But no, they were gone before Hunter showed up.”

“Also,” Russell continued, “I’ve had a chance to go over the statements from Hunter Blakeley and his three friends in detail. They are all very similar, and they all point to you being the aggressor in the fight. As things stand right now, it doesn’t look good. I had my people check every nearby bank security camera, traffic camera, convenience store camera, everything we could think of. Nothing is on video. All we have is the word of Hunter and his friends against you and Jake, who, by the way, is a fine young man. After I had Jake come to my office to give his deposition. Rhonda and Brianna couldn’t stop talking about him when he was gone. Those two were drooling over him so badly they needed bibs,” Russell chuckled.

I blurted a laugh, “That’s my boy. Yeah, Jake is awesome,” I shook my head, smiling at the thought. Then I sighed. Back to business. “So, where are we at?”

“Where we’re at is that your court date is in a couple weeks. I don’t think there’s much else I can do besides spend more of your money chasing dead ends. All we can do now is hope that by virtue of some miracle, we can hold our ground in court. I suggest you start practicing your sad eyes for the jury. I want them looking at you like you’re Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol.”

“God bless us, everyone,” I muttered.

“That’s the spirit,” Russell said. “I’ll do what I can, Christos. But there are no guarantees. I’ll be honest with you. This feels like it’s going to be a closer race than I’d like.”

"Thanks, man.”

“We’ll be in touch.”

I ended the call.

So much for celebrating. I’d do my best to keep a game face on for Samantha. My sad face could wait until court.

SAMANTHA

While Christos was on the phone, I grew more nervous by the second. Despite the warm weather, I wrapped my arms around myself to stop from shaking.

When Christos finally hung up and walked toward me, he looked haggard.

“Who was it?” I asked. “Or do I not want to know?” I’d had enough bad news lately. Maybe it could wait.

“I’ll tell you, if you want,” he sighed.

What was love without a few troubled spots along the way? “I may as well know.”

“It was Russell. About the Hunter Blakeley trial.”

“Oh.”

“It’s looking pretty grim,” he sighed.

“Oh,” I sighed with him. “What does that mean?”

“It means I might owe Hunter a pile of money after the trial is over.”

“What’s a pile?”

“The last estimate Russell gave me, which was over a month ago, was anywhere between two hundred fifty K and eight hundred.”

“What?” I gasped.

He nodded.

“That’s absurd! For a broken nose?”

“Hey,” Christos chuckled sourly, “they were asking for more before. Russell has been negotiating with Hunter’s attorney since this started. Russell is trying to settle out of court, have me only pay for Hunter’s medical bills, which are minor, and save everyone a bunch of time and money. Because, let’s face it, I hit the guy. Too bad Hunter and his attorney haven’t accepted any of our offers. I suspect someone working for Hunter’s attorney did some digging and found out my family has more than a few dollars to our name.”

That was an understatement. Between Spiridon and Nikolos, the Manos family had mountains of money.

Christos continued, “I’m sure Hunter’s attorney would like to take a big bite out of the Manos financial pie. He’s probably thinking he can get to my dad’s cash through me. That’s never gonna happen,” he said confidently.

But I could tell a vein of nervousness pulsed beneath the surface of Christos’ bravado. The seriousness of his situation was sinking in. It was possible that he would lose in court this time. There wasn’t a secret surprise witness like me to save the day. All the facts were on the table, as far as I knew. And I didn’t think Christos was holding anything back this time. He might very well lose his case and end up owing Hunter a huge sum of money that I couldn’t even imagine. Christos had said on the low end, it would be $250,000. Gulp. Who had that kind of money? I said, “Can you afford $250,000, or whatever, if things don’t go well in court?”

Christos shook his head, “Not even close.”

“Can you ask your dad for the money?” I asked tentatively. “I mean, if you had to?”

He rolled his eyes. “No. That would be playing into Hunter and his attorney’s hands. My dad isn’t a part of this.”

How lame was it that both of us were having money troubles at the same time?

“If I end up having to pay out,” Christos said, “I’ll figure it out myself,” he said grimly, a far away look in his eyes.

I didn’t like the sound of that. If there was one thing I knew about Christos, when he was backed into a corner, he did whatever it took to survive, no matter how crazy dangerous it was.

Whatever it took.

Gulp.

My celebratory mood was officially dead and buried.

“Anyway,” Christos said resolutely, “fuck all that shit. Fuck Hunter. It’s time to celebrate!” His face glowed with a huge smile. “You finished your first year in college, agápi mou! I’m so proud of you!” He squatted down, grabbed me by the hips with both of his big hands, and shot me up into the air like I was weightless. Despite his crippled financial situation, Christos was physically stronger than ever. I caught air before falling back into his arms.

“Christos!” I shrieked. “Put me down!”

He chuckled and set me on my feet before leaning down to kiss me passionately. I circled his neck with my arm and we kissed for a long time under the San Diego sun.

In that moment, my life was perfect.

I hoped it wasn’t a temporary thing.

SAMANTHA

“What do you think?” I asked Madison, Kamiko, and Romeo as I twirled in front of them in my new dress. It was a black asymmetrical maxi with a slit halfway up my right thigh. It had a blue zippered front and blue straps that crossed in back. I wore blue platform ankle strap sandals to go with.

They all sat on my bed in the Manos house.

My house.

“Wow, Sam,” Romeo said, “I’m going straight.”

I winked at him.

“I love it, Sam,” Kamiko smiled.

“I’m with Romeo,” Madison said. “Let’s have a four way with Sam because she’s so damn hot.”

I grinned at them. “You guys are the best. Are we ready to go?”

“Ready when you are,” Kamiko said.

They were all dressed up too. Christos had given me instructions that everyone had to wear black tie tonight at his gallery opening, including black dresses on the women. I hadn’t seen any of his new paintings because he said they were top secret. I still hadn’t seen the portrait he’d done of me. I was excited to finally see it.

Madison and Kamiko wore sexy black dresses. Romeo wore a black double breasted suit coat with tails. He also had a high white Victorian collar, a black top hat, and his monocle. It wasn’t a tux, but he certainly looked formal enough.

I giggled, “We make those girls on Sex and the City look like fashion disasters.”

We all high fived and headed downstairs to my VW. Spiridon was already at the gallery, otherwise I would’ve asked him to drive us in his Woody station wagon so we could arrive in style.