the dress. “What do you think?” She held up the dress.
“Try it on.”
Eva did—and feel even more in love with the gown. Showing it off to Alexandra she did a small turn. The sequins picked up the surrounding colors, making the dress appear to shimmer with each movement she made. “It’s absolutely gorgeous! I was kind of expecting something I’d never want to wear again. But this…I’m sure I’ll find plenty of places to wear this again. Do you think Claire will like it? Maybe we should get hers in a different color?”
Shaking her head, Alexandra pulled out a different dress, something with similar silver sequins but with a fuller skirt. “I think this for Claire—if it fits her. And maybe we should pick out shoes to match.”
Eva nodded and went to change. They spent the rest of the afternoon finding shoes to match, and talking about decorations for the wedding. Exhausted, they stopped at a café for tea and milopitakia , an apple-filled cookie that was one of Eva’s favorite treats.
Sitting at the café table, Eva started to tear her cookie into bits, and Alexandra asked, “What is it? Callum?”
Eva threw down the rest of her milopitakia . “How did you guess?”
Alexandra shrugged. “A sister knows. Tell me about it? He’s cute.”
“A cute slave driver. But…well, I keep getting glimpses of someone else.” She told Alexandra about their trip to the Parthenon. “He seemed…so nice then. And the next day it’s back to books, lessons, and more books!” She wrinkled her nose.
“Sounds to me like maybe you like him.”
“Him maybe—the tutor not so much. I…I want to get rid of him.”
“Why not just ask Antonio to fire him?”
Eva sipped her tea and nibbled on a milopitakia . “I thought about that. And about…well, about getting him fired other ways. But when it comes down to it, I’d hate it if Callum ended up in real trouble.” She gave a groan. “Why does it all have to be so complicated?”
Alexandra put a hand over Eva’s. “Sounds to me like you’re growing up, little sister. Do you want me to talk to Antonio about Callum? Or talk to Callum?”
Eva sat up. “No. You’re right—this is my problem. Which means I’m going to figure out what to do about Callum.” She smiled. “Maybe I’ll just become an overnight genius and that will be the end to all this tutoring!”
Chapter 7
Callum stopped at the doorway to the library. Usually when he arrived for Eva’s morning lessons, she was still asleep or lounging by the pool or still eating breakfast. There’d been one morning she was even out jogging. Anything seemed better to her than using her brain. But today she sat in a ray of sunshine, her head bent over an open book. She’d curled up on a chair, her bare feet tucked under her and her sandals on the floor next to the chair. She had the tip of her thumb in her mouth and her hair loose around her shoulders. His heart gave a lurch in his chest. He’d never seen anything so adorable.
Eva looked up and smiled. His chest tightened again and he wondered if he was having a heart attack. She waved her fingers at him and turned back to the book. “Why do you think they make all these rules for math that are just there to be rules?”
Clearing his throat, he walked in. “Okay, either shopping really agrees with you or you’re some kind of pod-Eva who has taken control of the real Eva.”
She glanced up at him. “Am I really that bad?”
Glancing at the book, he raised his eyebrows. “Wow, calculus. I wasn’t going to throw that at you for another month.”
She closed the book and stared at him. “Do you know, I realized yesterday that I’ve never balanced my own checkbook. I don’t have to. I never look at a bill and add up the costs or try to figure out a tip. I just throw down a credit card and let Antonio worry about it.”
He blinked. “Uh…okay.”
Wetting her lips, she looked down at the book and fussed with a corner of it. “But before we