Lisa Maraventano — novel — $6.99
"Greece will Change You. You will Never Be the Same." —Aunt Chris
On Mount Olympus, a quarrel was heating up. "Is love required?" Zeus thundered in response to Hera.
Zeus sat once again accused by his wife of millennia of being in love with another woman. He claimed it was preposterous. He had never loved another woman. Love didn't enter into it. He was outside of love. He was the god of heaven and she was his queen. Love had little to do with it.
Hera sat on her throne beside Zeus. "Love has everything to do with it. If it were not for love, I would have declared war against you eons ago. The love I bear you and the love I bear the world stays my hand."
"You would declare war on me?" Zeus shouted, reaching toward the lightning bolt.
"I would. If I did not love you, husband." Hera was unflappable.
"And do you?" Zeus roared.
Hera, who in her current manifestation was identical to a young Lana Turner, rose and went to sit on Zeus' lap. He looked like Ernest Hemingway. Hera draped her delicate white arms around his bullish neck. "I've always loved you and well you know it."
Zeus grunted and grabbed her to his chest. Instantly they were alone in their bedchamber.
The Pantheon shrugged as Hera and Zeus disappeared. But their conversation still echoed in the immense hall. "Is love required?" Athena repeated her father.
"Of course not, idiot!" Ares shouted. "Strength is all that matters."
Aphrodite darted him a glance.
"Really?" Athena laughed as she watched her brother melt before the goddess of beauty and love. "What do you think, dear Aphrodite?"
"It would be the death of me to say love was not required, wouldn't it? I exist because of love, and am beautiful because love is beautiful. I believe love is required. Without it, the world would be a very hard place indeed." Aphrodite timed her slow walk across the white marble floor in her gossamer gown, her perfect body's undulations alternately shadowed and revealed by the fabric. She walked behind Ares, dragging her fingers across the back of his shoulders on the words "very hard."
"Love is not required!" yelled Artemis as she strode across the room. "I tell you, man and woman can have perfect contentment in solitude!"
"Ah, but for how long?" Demeter asked. "They must have children. And love, making love—these are parts of the process of keeping humanity alive."
"To the casting board!" cried Artemis in her guise of Katharine Hepburn. All the gods and goddesses gathered around something like a white marble billiard table. Each held a stone which represented them. On the table, those who said that love was required built a mound of pearl, emerald, obsidian, amethyst, topaz, gold. Those who said love was not required for happiness piled moonstone, opal, ruby, peridot, jasper and garnet.
"Is love required?" Hera asked the casting board. "This is our question. Is love required?" Hera waved long, delicate fingers over the tabletop. The table's hard surface dissolved in mist and then resolved into a framed picture of earth below. "Who shall show us if love is required?"
Apollo pointed to a sailor out in the water near his birthplace. "That man. His name is Alex. I propose him as one of our players. I have watched him since he was a youth."
Assent was given.
"And now to the other player," Zeus commanded. "Who shall it be?"
The whole of Greece was now within the scope of the frame. Athena waved her hand across it and the focus narrowed to the deck of a cruise ship near the island of Kapsáli. "There."
"A New Yorker."
Nodding their agreement, the bet was placed. Is love required? This was the time to find out.
On the pool deck of Royal Caribbean's Jewel of the Seas, one of the innumerable dance parties was going on. They were playing the "Cupid Shuffle" and Hope Sanders found herself forced by her friends into line. She held her drink in her right hand as she kicked and shuffled to the right, to the right, to the right, to the left, to the left. Her friends Julia, Stephanie, Kenneth and Felipe were on all sides of her. She took another sip of her margarita and just had fun. That was why she was here, after all.
The song ended and the group of friends returned to their poolside lounge chairs. It was the end of the afternoon on their sea day which meant they had done very little except eat, lie in the sun, read, hop in the overcrowded pool and dance once. But tomorrow, they would finally get to their first Greek island. And it would be Hope's fortieth birthday.
Hope was reading a book her boss Charles had given her called The Art of Living by Epictetus as she sat on the chaise and tried not to stick to the plastic. Charles was really her partner at the location scouting company but he'd started out as her boss and she still tended to think of him as quite bossy. Take this book he had given her and how presumptuous the title was. According to the subtitle, the sage wisdom contained within the hundred pages would refine her virtue, happiness and effectiveness. She had her doubts.
However, Hope was very grateful for the people who cared for her enough to take her on cruises and give her philosophy books. She didn't have much family. She had been the only child of divorced alcoholic parents. Her mother had died ten years ago and her dad spent his days gambling in Reno. When Hope had first moved to New York City after college, she had thrown herself into her work.
It was formal night on the cruise. Hope was ready quickly since she kept things simple. She wore a long black evening gown that traveled well. It had a high neckline and a daring-to-there back. With nude lipstick and black eyeliner, her dark brown hair in a twisted knot and high-heeled strappy sandals, she had plenty of time for a glass of the good rosé she'd discovered they had last night at the wine bar.
Soon Kenneth in a red and black Chinese silk tuxedo jacket joined her. He ordered a glass of albariño and sat back in the blue velvet wingback chair next to the large window. The sea slipped by below them as the sun began to set. "God, this is beautiful. Am I a genius or what?"
"You are a genius," Hope agreed, toasting him with her glass.
— 30+ more chapters inside —
Life Left — $6.99
A novel of love, mythology, and self-discovery set across the Greek islands. The gods place a bet. A woman turns forty. A beach waiter watches.
→ buy the complete novel