Greta Again!

  Greta turned around, she couldn’t stand the sight any longer. But Mike grasped her arm.

  “Please stay. I can really explain everything. It’s all for Steve. You’re important to me. We were having such a good time here.”

  “Even if it really were all for Steve – I can’t believe you. You kept me at a distance from you today – more than I ever feared – and not just physically. Again I find you with the woman who stands between us, and again it’s Steve who is apparently responsible for all that you’re doing. Maybe the fortune teller whom I ran into today was really right. She said that the time for us is not yet ripe and that we’ll perhaps meet each other at another point in time. If that’s so, then the time and our destiny will be there for us. Let go of me. And let me go. I can’t bear any more.”

  Mike let go of her arm. Greta turned away and tears ran in streams down her cheeks.

  Chapter 18

  It really didn’t matter to Greta whether he had anything going with the Chopstick-Model or with drugs, or with both. She stood at the Munich airport terminal, in her familiar surroundings, and there was Marcel, the only man whom she could now look at or have in her vicinity. Her beloved neighbor had managed to pick her up. On the way to the airport from Venice she had sent him and Nathalie a message. Nathalie was still in South Africa, still searching for her South African happiness. Marcel had answered right away. I’m off today, will come get you, please bring Bacio.

  Bacios were nougat pralines wrapped in silver-blue foil with a hazelnut in the middle. Greta bought a large box at the airport in Venice and was now very happy not to be alone.

  On the way home, Marcel wanted to know everything in detail and Greta told him. Marcel had few questions, except one or two about Sigi and Greta smiled. She poked Marcel in the side and said:

  “Hey, the guy is taken.”

  “I know, but it’s still the best part of your trip to Venice.”

  “You’re right, Marcel. Somehow everything turned out very differently than I had wished. First the misfortune in New York and now in Venice. It seems that everything that Antonia said is right. I can’t really believe it. Can you understand that?”

  “Sure, my Luv. Life is difficult. You’ll rock. By the way, Theresa is having a mid-season sale and I can get you a few percent off on David Yurman’s last collection. That makes all of this shit a little more bearable, right?

  Greta smiled, even though her swollen eyes hurt a little when she did. She had cried the whole night through. Yes, she thought, that does make it more bearable. But why, specifically, did it have to happen to me again? Once again I’m the one who doesn’t have an answer. And instead, so many questions that don’t have any answers. Am I asking too much? In the end, is it really up to me? But who am I really, to complain and regret? In the end, I’m not alone. It’s true that I feel like shit, but is he worth that? No. Marcel is right.

  “Are you going shopping with me?”

  Everything happens for the best! Greta thought.