One Last Greek Summer

by Mandy Baggot

  ‘Fotis said the music was not to his taste but that you had a large crowd dancing and enjoying it.’

  He nodded, wishing now that his mouth was not full of meat. He swallowed quickly. ‘Yes.’

  ‘I am glad,’ Margalo stated simply.

  She was glad? This was new. Still wary, he continued the conversation. ‘You look well today, Mama.’

  ‘I look like a woman in her sixties with bad genes that make her look eighty,’ Margalo answered with a scoff.

  ‘Oh no, Mama,’ Alex insisted. ‘You do not look like that.’

  ‘I am going out,’ Margalo informed matter of factly. ‘I will be late.’

  ‘Where are you going?’ Alex asked, taking a sip from the water glass in front of him.

  ‘You ask me where I am going?’ she queried, her eyes on him now. ‘I did not ask you where you were the whole of last night.’

  That was true. Although he had no qualms about answering. In fact he wanted his mother to know about Beth.

  ‘I was with someone last night,’ Alex informed her, before he changed his mind.

  ‘Someone?’

  ‘A woman,’ Alex continued. ‘Someone I love.’

  ‘Love?’ Margalo scoffed. ‘After one night?’

  ‘No,’ Alex said. ‘After many nights. For a long time.’

  ‘She is Greek?’ Margalo asked.

  ‘No, she is from the UK.’

  ‘Aleko…’

  ‘Mama, I am not stupid. She has plans for her future and so do I…’ He hadn’t quite meant that to spill out. He re-phrased hurriedly. ‘With helping you and… the goats.’

  ‘I cannot tell you how to live your life,’ Margalo said. She put down her fork and spoon. ‘I know I have tried to. I know I have behaved like you are a child and not the good man you have grown up into. I also know that if I continue to shout orders and issue demands you will disappear from my life entirely and then I will be left with nothing.’ She sniffed. ‘I do not want that. That is my worst fear.’

  ‘That will not happen, Mama. You will always be in my life.’ But ultimately, he knew he still wanted Ibiza.

  ‘I am saying,’ Margalo carried on, ‘I do not want the life we have now to be the life we have forever.’

  ‘I know and I am trying…’

  ‘I know you are, Aleko. I see it every day and I do not want that life for you.’ She coughed a little but then recovered. ‘I have a plan.’

  ‘You have a plan?’ His mother had a plan? What sort of plan? It seemed he wasn’t the only one who was keeping secrets. Was this connected to the money he had found in the barn? Or something to do with Julius? He hadn’t liked the look of that man and he was still suspicious of the vet story and Milo’s damaged ear.

  ‘I do not want to say yet. There is a little way to go before things… reach their full potential.’

  ‘Mama, you can tell me anything,’ Alex said.

  ‘I know,’ she answered. ‘But I am the mother. I should be the one to be providing more than I have been these past years. And soon I will.’

  ‘Mama…’

  ‘No more now. Later,’ Margalo said. ‘Enjoy your food and then practise your music before tonight.’ She dug into her bowl with gusto then paused before the food made it to her mouth. ‘How much do you earn for the playing of records in Sidari?’

  ‘Fifty euro,’ Alex answered. ‘I will bring it home for the electricity bill.’

  ‘No,’ Margalo said, shaking her head. ‘You keep it, Aleko. Buy something nice for your UK girl.’

  Fifty-Three

  Paralia View, Almyros Beach

  ‘I am still unhappy with you here!’

  It was Stathis the builder, yelling from his position at the top of a ladder where he was fixing plasterboard to the kitchen ceiling. Currently there was a pen hanging out of his mouth, earlier it had been a cigarette, before one remaining smoke alarm started beeping. Once he was bored with the pen it would probably be a food item – he’d already devoured half a loaf of bread, eating it like a banana and peeling off the crust as if it was skin and dropping it on to the tiles.

  ‘We know!’ Heidi called back. ‘We can still hear you.’ She was busy fashioning her hair into a funky up-do in the one twin room that was plastering-chaos free. Although Stathis had issued a warning – when he hadn’t had something in his mouth – that they were not to splash any water around (?!) or use anything that involved steam…

  ‘Do you think it’s going to be OK staying here tonight?’ Beth asked as hammering recommenced. They had the window wide open and it was providing the bedroom with a much-needed sea breeze. The waves were crashing a little this evening too, white spray carrying on the wind and filling the air with the scent of sea-salt, sand and driftwood. It was a whole heady mix of holiday and it was as uplifting as it got.

  ‘We have nowhere else to go,’ Heidi reminded. ‘Although Elektra did say I could stay at her parents’ house with her, but it seemed to involve shinning up an olive tree and climbing into her window.’ Heidi picked up the can of hairspray from the dressing table. ‘And I know we’re living like we’re twenty-one but there is no way I am doing any shinning in this dress.’

  Heidi did a twirl, spraying the hair lacquer at the same time as she performed a three-sixty turn, showing off her very tight neon yellow dress with the tiniest pattern of squares on it. Now the whole room smelled of Pantene.

  ‘Is that a new dress?’ Beth asked her.

  ‘I may have visited that sells-everything shop while you were picking up more supplies from Diellas.’

  ‘I like it,’ Beth said.

  ‘And you look incredible,’ Heidi remarked, eyes looking Beth up and down.

  Beth felt incredible. As ridiculous as it sounded, she hadn’t felt like this in years. She was wearing one of her favourite dresses she had bought on impulse from Primark a few days before they flew to Corfu. Somehow the electric blue had spoken to her across the store and she had answered. It was very short, sitting on her upper mid-thigh with a little flare to the skirt that helped to synch her waist. The top of the dress brushed over her breasts and torso, complementing her natural curves like it had been specifically designed for her body. She didn’t own anything else like this any more, it had been all corporate tailored suits and even tailored jeans for so long. One summer resolution was definitely ‘be more Primark’. She had left her hair natural, its waves soft and loose round her face, but had tied a neon blue bandana, she had found in one of the Acharavi tourist shops, through the middle, to give it a touch of ‘nightclub’.

  ‘Anyway,’ Heidi said, looking at herself in the mirror and still preening. ‘I’d rather suffer the plaster dust than spend another night in Charles’s villa that I wasn’t impressed at all by.’

  Beth couldn’t help but sigh. She had had a text from Charles an hour ago with just one word. Sorry.

  She knew there would be things to discuss with him when she got home from this holiday, concerning her resignation from the company, but that was now all they had to talk about and hopefully now he really, really knew there was no going back. He needed to move on – with or without Kendra, but definitely without Beth.

  ‘Sorry,’ Heidi said, as if reading her mind. ‘I didn’t mean to kill the vibe.’

  ‘You didn’t,’ Beth said with a smile. ‘Nothing is killing my vibe tonight.’ She took a deep breath, standing behind her friend and looking into the mirror’s reflection with her. It seemed crazy that they were here again, about to spend the night at a Sidari club where Alex was DJ-ing. The thought of it was completely exhilarating. She smiled into the mirror at Heidi. ‘We are going to have the best time, like we used to, dancing, laughing, drinking too many shots…’

  ‘I’ve been so good all day so I can go a bit crazy tonight,’ Heidi interrupted. ‘Elektra picked oranges off an actual tree and squeezed them for juice this morning.’

  Beth laughed. ‘An actual tree. We do have actual trees in England too.’

  ‘Not many or
ange ones… unless easyJet suddenly start a garden centre business.’

  Beth squeezed Heidi’s shoulders. ‘This was the best idea you’ve ever had.’ She took another breath. ‘I really needed this break.’

  ‘I know,’ Heidi answered, putting her hands on top of Beth’s. ‘I’m your best friend. I always know what’s best for you.’

  ‘Agreed,’ Beth said. ‘For now. But say that again at the end of the night. And I’ll let you know if I still agree.’

  ‘Tea?’ Stathis called from the other room. ‘Did you say you were making some tea? I will have coffee. Four sugar!’

  ‘Four sugars!’ Heidi yelled back. ‘Do you know what all that sugar is doing to your body, Stathis?’

  ‘I have very hard job. Always all day I am up a ladder or climbing walls I have built with my bare hands. I need energy.’

  ‘Well,’ Heidi began again, ‘it’s a known fact that too much sugar can affect your… performance.’

  ‘My what?’

  Beth shook her head at Heidi, picking up her mascara wand. She wasn’t going to go over the top with make-up. She planned to be dancing the entire night and that would basically be like a full-on Davina workout with proper sweating.

  ‘With your wife,’ Heidi continued. ‘You know, in the bedroom.’

  There was complete silence. Even the construction work ceased and for a second Beth wondered if Stathis had passed out. Then came the reply.

  ‘Four sugars,’ he repeated. ‘At my age I wish for my wife to perform more in the kitchen than in the bedroom.’

  Heidi clapped a hand over her mouth and Beth held her stomach to try and stop herself from bursting out laughing.

  Fifty-Four

  Madison Bar, Sidari

  Alex thought he was doing an amazing job at appearing both chilled and confident. The sun was just starting to go down and that was when Sidari really came alive for the night. He may have the early 11 p.m. slot at The Vault but it was a Saturday night, it was going to be busy from the very beginning. By 11 p.m. even the Greeks had eaten their meals and would be looking for more alcohol and somewhere to kick back. The tourists would be more than ready and Sidari in July had plenty of holidaymakers looking for the best club to spend their Saturday night in.

  He adjusted his sunglasses, looking out over the golden sandy beach and the sea as the sky began to turn pink, his hand wrapped round a glass of Diet Coke.

  ‘You are not fooling me,’ Elektra stated, sucking on the straw that was poking out of a glass of ouzo with water and ice.

  ‘What?’ Alex asked, his fingers moving to wipe condensation from his glass.

  ‘You are scared shitless. I see it in your eyes through those sunglasses.’ She stirred the ice round with the straw. ‘You are going through each one of the songs you are planning to mix and working over the transitions in your mind.’

  He swallowed. Of course she was right. He wasn’t sure about moving from ATB to Sigala. It had the potential to be both inspired and a disaster. It was a risk. This was his first proper gig in so long, was it the right time for taking risks?

  ‘You worry too much,’ Elektra stated. ‘Last night, with no time to think, you performed a set that everybody loved. Most people said to me that you were better than the DJ they paid.’

  He shook his head but smiled. He hoped it was true. He wanted it to be true. But most of all, tonight he wanted to put on a good show for Beth. She was going to be there, dancing on that sunken floor at The Vault, like time had been turned. It had been a time when he had felt truly alive and he wanted more of it.

  ‘Everyone is coming, you know,’ Elektra added.

  ‘What do you mean everyone?’ Alex asked, sitting forward on his chair.

  ‘I forget you are old and don’t have Facebook,’ Elektra said, slipping her phone out of the back pocket of her jeans. ‘People have been sharing old videos of your sets from way back on the event page.’

  He had never had the need for Facebook. Suddenly he was terrified by it. He was only the support act. The warm-up. All he had to do was make sure the feel-good music didn’t stop. He didn’t have to do anything extraordinary. Except the thought that he could was urging him on to take a few of those playlist risks.

  ‘Don’t show them to me,’ Alex said, waving away Elektra’s offered phone.

  ‘Alex, seriously, come on. Have some of this or let me get you one.’ She pushed her ouzo glass across the table. ‘We should be celebrating. We are on the edge of something special with Kalm Life, I feel it. First, we get into the hotel for the wellness promotion, then we reach for the stars.’ Elektra blinked. ‘I am thinking, maybe I should delay my plans for university.’

  ‘What?’ Alex exclaimed, his hand on the glass of ouzo.

  ‘I believe in the products. I have spent the past eighteen months with them. I do not think I am ready to give them away.’

  ‘But, Elektra,’ Alex said. ‘We agreed. The business was always to set up, achieve initial success, then to sell on to fund our real dreams.’

  ‘I know,’ Elektra breathed. ‘But… dreams can change.’

  Hadn’t he said the very same thing to Beth at the start of her holiday? Except that hadn’t been true. Music was still where he wanted his ultimate end-game to be. But his cousin was younger. And her interests weren’t a mile away from an underground laboratory.

  ‘You want to keep the business?’ Alex asked her. ‘You want to grow it and…’

  ‘Eventually take on a team to help with more product development. There are some brilliant minds on this chemistry forum I’m part of.’

  ‘You will need a lot of investment if you want to keep the business going long-term,’ Alex said. ‘Or to make it international.’

  ‘I know,’ Elektra replied. ‘I am hoping my dad will give up his mad idea of being part of a rock band and that other crazy thought of building another garage premises and invest in Kalm Life.’

  ‘All that would mean telling him what’s been going on.’

  ‘I know,’ Elektra stated with a shrug. ‘But maybe, once we are established at the Dassia hotel we can come clean about who are the brains behind it. People are interested in people. We need to capitalise on that. We need a Facebook page and an Instagram account… who knows? Maybe a picture of a kumquat can earn more likes than the world record egg!’

  Alex smiled. Elektra’s enthusiasm was bouncing round as much as her hair. ‘I think you need to make this all about you, Elektra. You are the brain behind the science and the science is what customers are buying into.’

  ‘But it was your idea,’ Elektra reminded him.

  ‘Because I knew you could create it,’ Alex said.

  Elektra sighed. ‘Well, to me, we are partners. Equal partners. I just want you to think about maybe not selling out so soon and letting me take the growing of the business on.’

  What could he say? It seemed like the perfect solution.

  ‘You’ll think about it?’ Elektra asked again.

  Alex nodded. ‘I’ll think about it.’

  Fifty-Five

  En-route to Sidari

  ‘How did it get so late?’ Beth asked, looking at her watch as Heidi careered the Suzuki round the Corfiot bends.

  ‘It was fucking Stathis,’ Heidi answered, seemingly more worried about the effect the wind was having on her hair rather than how she was steering the car. ‘Telling us about his non-existent love life and the way his wife makes yemista. I actually now really want to eat the yemista. Do you think we’ll have time to have some food before we go to the club?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Beth answered. ‘It’s almost ten. I can’t believe it’s almost ten. Alex is on at eleven and I wanted to see him before he performs.’ She had texted him, just before they left the house. She had said she was on her way and wished him all the luck in the world. But it felt like it wasn’t quite enough. She knew exactly how important tonight was for him and she really wanted to be there already, sharing every single second.

  ‘W
hy didn’t we eat beforehand?’ Heidi asked.

  ‘We did have crisps. Professional ones so the brand said. Chilli and salted.’

  ‘That’s not going to be enough to soak up all the alcohol I intend on drinking.’

  ‘We’ll grab a gyros,’ Beth suggested.

  ‘Oh God, my good intentions for this holiday completely scuppered.’

  ‘Who cares?’ Beth answered.

  It took Heidi a mere second to respond. ‘You’re right! Who cares? It’s two weeks out of our life. I can go to extra yoga classes and sign up to another Graze box when I get back to London… waaaaaa!’

  Beth was thrown forward, hands hitting the dashboard as Heidi stamped on the brakes with the full force of her espadrilles. Were they close to a ravine again? Was Heidi going to be able to stop this time? Death couldn’t come now… not before she had seen Alex perform like he used to…

  ‘Fucking goats!’ Heidi exclaimed angrily. ‘Literally hundreds of them all over the road!’

  Beth raised her head from almost between her legs and looked out of the windscreen. The scene stole her breath. On the track in front of them was a sea of fluffy kid goats bouncing around like they had springs attached to their hooves. They were all colours – russet, russet and white with black splodges, grey and furry, long haired with black faces, some with stumps for horns. They would be all kinds of cute if they weren’t in a rush to make it to Sidari.

  ‘What’s going on?’ Heidi demanded to know, already out of the Jimny and strutting towards the flat-bed van that looked like it should have the goats inside it. ‘We’re trying to drive here!’

  Beth hurried to get out too. She wasn’t sure shouting at the situation was going to get Heidi the result she wanted.

  ‘Ow!’ Heidi exclaimed as a goat jumped up and landed on her toes. ‘Bloody thing!’

  ‘Heidi,’ Beth said, reaching her friend. ‘You like animals. You sign petitions so they can run free. And here they are, running free.’