A Greek Affair

by Linn B. Halton

  ‘I thought Rosie might like to take a swim,’ she says good-naturedly.

  Daniel looks at me, raising an eyebrow and I nod.

  ‘That would be lovely. She’s a very good swimmer and Thanos told us to come prepared to enjoy the pool.’

  Daniel carries my bag through to a vast open-plan room at the rear of the villa. As we descend three steps to the lower level the vista in front of us has a shock of blue as the backdrop. From the deep, almost turquoise water of the ocean, to the warm blue of the sky, it’s a vision. Wall-to-wall glass doors concertina back and the floor extends out seamlessly, right up to the edge of the pool.

  ‘Bella will show you where to change, Rosie.’

  I dive into the bag Daniel has placed on the floor as he turns to walk across to what I assume is the kitchen area. Nothing at all is on view, everything is hidden behind handle-less doors. The shiny white surfaces reflect the dazzlingly blue glow coming from outside, as the sun catches the ripples when the breeze stirs the water.

  Rosie seems happy enough to go off with Bella to change and I’m left, facing Daniel’s back and thinking that this can’t be real. I want to pinch myself and I also badly want to take a photo. Standing here amid the luxury of this unbelievable setting with a guy who doesn’t seem to realise the effect he’s having on me, is like a scene from a film. If they ever make The Holiday 2 and Jude Law is otherwise occupied, Daniel could easily stand in for him. Okay, I’m fantasising here, but this tops anything I experienced during my stay on board the cruise ship.

  ‘I make a great cappuccino if I say so myself. Or do you prefer tea?’

  I cough, clearing my throat and forcing myself to stop daydreaming.

  ‘Cappuccino would be lovely, thank you. No sugar.’

  The coffee machine behind one of the ‘press and slow release’ doors is worthy of a restaurant. It takes no more than a single touch of a button and mere seconds for the tantalisingly rich smell of roasted beans to reach my nose. He expertly froths milk in a jug and deftly ladles it into the cups, finishing off with a shake of chocolate powder.

  Daniel places the two cups on a tray, then pushes the door, which closes as softly as it opened, with a whisper. Everything is shiny, sleek and simple. I find myself wondering where the sink is but Daniel is now walking ahead of me.

  ‘Let’s have this out on the terrace so we can keep an eye on the girls. It’s great when they’re proficient swimmers, isn’t it? Kids and water can be a dangerous thing and I think it’s important they learn to swim at an early age.’

  He’s so relaxed and I’m so on edge. I could sit and watch him all day long; something about him is mesmerising. Come on, Leah, you’re here for a reason and this isn’t a date.

  ‘So, you’re a travel blogger?’

  Daniel sets the tray down on a large glass-topped table, mercifully shaded by a large, cream umbrella. He indicates for me to take a seat as he flops down onto the chair opposite me.

  The girls are running towards the pool, laughing and giggling. I see that Rosie has dipped into my bag and retrieved some of her freebies. This time it’s a selection of handheld games designed to be used in a pool. Rather cleverly, they are based on being able to navigate items through a maze, which involves a lot of tilting and manual dexterity.

  ‘Yes. I’m here to review the hotel so this is a lovely surprise. I had no idea they owned two villas as well.’

  Daniel passes me a cappuccino and I notice there’s even a chocolate-covered bean nestling on the saucer, too.

  ‘If you walk over to the other side of the pool and crane your neck a little you can just glimpse the other villa owned by the Fotopoules family. I’m one of a team of four people on secondment here and we’re working on a new dig. I opted to stay for the entire year but the others come out every couple of weeks. In between times the other three rooms are let to people working out here on a short-term basis doing field work. Most are lecturers at different universities back in the UK, although we’ve had a few students working on their PhDs.’

  Please don’t stop talking; I could sit here listening to you forever. So, he’s a doctor of archaeology. He has the palest blue eyes I’ve ever seen and he’s so laid back I envy the sense of being at one with himself that he projects. I’d say he is early to mid-thirties, at a guess.

  ‘Work isn’t a chore when it’s something you love doing, is it? That’s quite a thing, though, to put your life in the UK on hold for a whole year. Obviously, it is a work trip and I’m assuming your daughter is only here for the summer?’

  He drains his cup and replaces it on the saucer. I find myself studying his hands; they’re large and sturdy. The nails are tidy but he has a few nicks here and there, consistent with digging amongst the ruins, I suppose.

  ‘It hasn’t been easy but it’s nice to have Bella here for a little visit. It’s only for a week, sadly, and then she flies home. Are you happy to leave the girls out here while we do the tour of the villa? Iliana, the housekeeper, is around and I’ll ask her to come out just to keep an eye on them.’

  ‘Perfect, thank you.’ I savour the last of my coffee while Daniel disappears back inside.

  He returns with an older Greek woman, who is wearing a dark grey dress with a white tabard over the top of it. He introduces her but she isn’t fluent in English. As I don’t have any Greek other than to wish her a good morning, we simply nod and exchange smiles.

  As Daniel leads me back inside, Iliana walks towards the edge of the pool. I catch her words, ‘You like drinks?’ to which she gets an enthusiastic response.

  I follow Daniel up the curving staircase, my fingers lightly holding onto the carved wooden bannister. Glancing back down onto the hallway it’s grand but in an understated way. It’s not overly ornate but crisp, clean lines with no fussiness.

  ‘I love the style,’ I comment, worried that Daniel will wonder why I’m so quiet. But it’s hard to walk up the stairs behind him and not study his back profile. If Bella is about a year or so older than Rosie, then he probably had her in his mid-twenties.

  ‘If you have any questions, please fire away.’

  We step up onto an open, oblong landing with a massive, lantern-style glass skylight above it. He swings open the first door set into the adjacent wall, standing back and indicating for me to enter.

  ‘All four bedrooms are en-suite and have views but only three of them have direct views of the ocean. This is the fourth bedroom and it looks out over the rear garden area. You can get a glimpse of the sea from the far end of the balcony. The en-suite is through there. All of the rooms share the wraparound balcony.’

  The décor throughout is very similar. The off-white marble floor tiles run seamlessly from room to room, making the space feel even more luxurious, light and airy. Splashes of colour are limited – a deep grey, lime green and a vibrant, burnt orange. It doesn’t overwhelm or distract from the calming ambience. We walk past a separate bathroom and a communal shoe closet, which is a surprise. He apologises before he opens the door to it and explains it’s full of dirty boots as that’s where all the guys stow their working gear.

  Turning the corner, we are faced with another two doors along the back wall which lead into similarly appointed rooms. And the final, master suite is on the far side of the landing. It’s large enough to include a sizeable seating area with two comfortable double sofas and a coffee table. The fourth side of the oblong is taken up with the wide galleried landing that looks out over the sweeping staircase and the hallway below.

  I notice that only two of the rooms have personal items in them.

  ‘It must feel almost empty with just the two of you here, at the moment.’

  Daniel smiles at me with his eyes, rather than with that full-lipped mouth, and I can see he’s weighing me up.

  ‘It’s quiet, I will admit but I have two other colleagues who come and go. George sleeps here most nights but Aiden is away for a couple of days. There are times when it’s been crazy, though and we’ve had a few peop
le sleeping on inflatable mattresses.’ He looks across at me with interest. ‘You know, you’re not at all what I expected,’ he comments without any hint of reservation at all.

  ‘Really? What were you expecting?’

  ‘Some hardened hotel inspector, I suppose. I thought you’d maybe strip back the duvets and check that the linen was clean, or wipe a finger around the work surfaces.’ He laughs and I realise he isn’t serious.

  ‘I don’t need to do the finger test, although I have done it a few times in some of the budget places I’ve stayed in. But at the other end of the market it’s more about doing it justice and making it come alive for my readers. How do you describe perfection?’

  I’m not necessarily talking about the villa now but Daniel doesn’t know that.

  ‘How, indeed?’

  The eye contact is like a game of virtual tennis going on between us.

  ‘Let’s wander back downstairs as Iliana will be keen to begin preparing lunch,’ he suggests. ‘We can have a quick wander around the TV room, the laundry, the library and the formal sitting room. Then I think we will have earned a little drink and I don’t mean a coffee.’

  A guy after my own heart. ‘Sounds like a great idea to me. Do you mind if I take a few photos throughout the day? I’ll make sure I don’t get people in the frame and if I do, then I won’t use them on my website.’

  ‘Fine by me. Thanos and his family have very kindly rented out the villa to us at a massively discounted rate while the project has been ongoing. People don’t realise the amount of work still involved in uncovering the yet-to-be-discovered treasures that lie beneath the city. His family are great supporters of the project I’ve been working on. I’m honoured to be a small part of that and staying here has been a marvellous experience. But all things come to an end and I’ll be back home lecturing again in September.’

  As we finish the tour, our chatter continues and eventually we end up back where we started. Iliana gives us a nod as she turns to go back into the villa and we stand watching the girls for a moment. They’re out of the pool and sitting on a grassy area beneath a gazebo, playing a board game.

  ‘Take a seat. It’s nearly twelve and officially almost lunchtime. Red or white wine?’

  ‘I’m easy.’

  Fleetingly, I wonder where Daniel’s wife is as I watch him walk back up to the house. I sit here, soaking up the vibe of this ocean-side retreat for a moment or two, before getting up and wandering over to the girls.

  ‘Who’s winning?’ They’re engrossed in what they’re doing but both look up at me with a smile. The bottle of spray sun protector that Rosie is testing lies discarded on the floor next to them. I’m delighted all the drilling I’ve done about making sure she doesn’t burn is sinking in.

  ‘Yes, we both used the spray, Mum, and Bella thinks it’s great, too. This is the deciding game because it’s one-all now,’ Rosie informs me. ‘Bella was ten in April. She lives with her mum, in York.’

  Kids can’t see anything wrong with asking lots of questions when they meet someone new. And they tend not to hold back on their answers.

  ‘That’s nice. York is a lovely place, lots of history there. We visited once, when you were a baby, Rosie. We must go there again sometime.’ Why did she say she lives with her mum? Oh, maybe while her dad’s away on secondment. Of course.

  ‘You could come and visit.’ Bella looks up at me, squinting as the sun is behind me. ‘We don’t have a pool because we live in a townhouse overlooking the park. Dad doesn’t live there now, of course. He lives up near the campus.’

  I’m conscious that Daniel could return at any minute and it might sound like I’ve been quizzing her about him. So, her parents don’t live together – hmm, interesting.

  ‘Ah, I see. Are you girls hungry? It will soon be lunchtime.’

  ‘I’ll ask Dad if we can have a picnic under the gazebo. It’s nice and cool here.’

  Well, at least changing the subject worked. I nod, beating a hasty retreat back to my seat. Kids are always hungry so that was a no-brainier. If Bella has been talking about her parents, I wonder what Rosie has told her about us. I hope this doesn’t have an unsettling effect on her but there’s not a lot I can do now that we’re here. At home, everyone knows our situation and it’s probably several years since anyone asked her any questions about it. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, after all.

  A Surprising Turn of Events

  Daniel steps back out onto the terrace carrying two very large glasses in his hands with a couple of inches of red wine in each.

  ‘Don’t let the posh glasses fool you,’ he jests as he approaches the table. ‘It might look like an expensive wine and it is mellow and fruity, but it was plucked from the local supermarket shelf. Everything looks very different when it’s presented in the right way, doesn’t it?’

  ‘Absolutely,’ I murmur taking the glass from his outstretched hand. I take a sip while Daniel settles himself back down into the seat opposite me. ‘Presentation is everything; that’s especially true in my line of work. It’s the blue skies and the vibrant colours of the flowers that sell a holiday destination. I don’t think I’ve ever posted a photo where it’s pouring down with rain because it’s all about first impressions.’

  We hold up our glasses in a silent toast.

  ‘To that all-important first impression. So, how come you’re here alone with Rosie? Doesn’t a working trip like this allow you to bring your husband along? Or is that against the rules?’

  I noticed his eyes checking out my left hand just now and probably clocking that I don’t wear a ring. A little frisson of excitement stirs in the pit of my stomach. If he doesn’t live with Bella’s mother then maybe he’s divorced.

  ‘My husband and I are separated; it’s been seven years now. Rosie and I are used to being on our own.’ My voice sounds surprisingly upbeat and I hope he doesn’t think I’m being blasé about it.

  ‘I’m sorry to hear that. Bella’s mother and I parted ways three years ago. It was always an off-on, fiery relationship from the moment we moved in together. We were both in our early twenties when we first met. If I’m honest, Bella was a wonderful, if unexpected, surprise. Money was tight, though, as I was studying and away a lot on field trips.’

  ‘That must have been difficult. Having a baby turns life upside down,’ I admit.

  ‘In fairness, Tricia had to establish a routine where I wasn’t a constant factor in it. At first, I thought as time went on having Bella would maybe heal the growing rift between us, but it didn’t. Tricia resented the passion I had for my work but I saw it as guaranteeing us a living for the future. I thought I was working for us as a family and that one day we’d get married. I seem to have been the only one labouring under that impression, though.’

  The kids are well out of earshot and I nod sympathetically in Daniel’s direction. It’s nice to be able to talk candidly with someone in a similar situation.

  ‘Children don’t mend a relationship if it’s broken; they only add another layer of pressure. Rosie hardly slept until she was about three years of age. If I sat still for more than five minutes my head would droop, literally.’

  He laughs, his fingers twirling the stem of his glass as it stands on the table.

  ‘It’s a relief to hear someone else acknowledge that. I’ve always felt a bit … unfair, thinking that way. Don’t get me wrong, life without Bella in it would be lacklustre at best. She reminds me all the time that life shouldn’t just be about work, which is why this secondment has hurt a little. But it’s an exciting time to be working here and support for the project has never lost momentum.’

  Iliana carries a tray down to Rosie and Bella, who are still underneath the gazebo. I hear some excited chatter going on and both Daniel and I turn to watch them.

  ‘Kids are born survivors, aren’t they, but that doesn’t ease the guilt.’ His words have a sad ring to them.

  ‘It’s nice that you and Tricia are both still in Bella’s life. My h
usband just disappeared one day and we’ve had no contact from him ever since. Rosie was nearly two, so she didn’t really miss him at first. Then she started school and one day when I picked her up she asked why she didn’t have a daddy. That was a tough one.’

  Daniel frowns. ‘What did you say?’

  ‘I said that some people need time to be alone with their thoughts. That doesn’t mean they don’t think about us, or that we aren’t loved. What was important was that he knew we were happy and that Rosie didn’t only have me but she had her grandparents, too.’

  He draws in a sharp breath.

  ‘That took a lot of thought on your behalf, I’m sure. And a lot of forgiveness. Are her grandparents a part of her daily life?’

  His interest isn’t intrusive and I like that he’s a man who feels he can speak his mind.

  ‘Yes, and I know I’m very lucky. In a situation like mine you learn to live in fear of the questions your child could ask you at any time. Being caught off-guard the first time makes you understand how important it is to get the answers right. And to be prepared. Especially as there is no right answer other than, in our case, the stark truth that he let us down. I’m still dealing with the fallout from that if I’m being totally honest.

  ‘Thankfully my parents have been there for us, every step of the way. We couldn’t have gotten through it without them.’

  ‘And how about Antonio’s family?’

  ‘His parents live in Italy. They, too, have had no contact with him. It took a while for Zita and Guido to feel comfortable enough to reach out to me and Rosie. They assumed I’d be bitter and they were embarrassed by his behaviour. But every now and again they send Rosie a parcel and we arrange a chat via Skype. We’ve been over for a visit on several occasions and it’s enough to keep our link alive. They were devastated, though, and they feel they have lost their only son.’

  ‘It’s probably as traumatic for them as if he actually died. And have you moved on with your life, or is that a question you’d prefer not to answer? I wondered, because you don’t wear a ring.’