by Joanne Walsh
His smile broadening, he rose to his feet. “Ladies, good to see you.”
“Hi!” the two women greeted in unison, and he rose to go forward and kiss them.
“Hey, what have you been up to?” Hannah exclaimed, reaching to rub off the makeup. She held her fingers out to show him.
“Ah. I had a meeting in Paragolis—”
“Well, that shade doesn’t suit you,” Hannah retorted, grinning. “Next time, I think you need something pinker.”
“Very funny—”
“We were just taking Sally through our ideas for monetizing her property,” Frankie chipped in.
“Is this what you have been discussing?” Striding into the room, Dimitri gestured at the papers spread across the coffee table.
“Frankie and Hannah have put together some projections for turning this house into a bed and breakfast or a vacation rental,” Sally replied. “Renting out the house sounds as if it could be the best option for fitting in with my plans.” It felt good to be able to say that to him, to have something that showed she was making moves to take care of this mess herself.
“Excellent,” he said easily, swinging around and nodding his approval. “It’ll be most helpful in our mission to get you back on your feet.” His glittering gaze caught hers. “So, you’ve decided not to leave after all?”
She eyed him back. Now would be the time to stop pretending, but she knew she’d feel stronger if she let him think for just a little while longer that she might be about to up and go. “I’m still not sure yet. The house rental alone won’t pay off my debts, and I have to find a buyer for the store. I guess that, until I do, I need somewhere really cheap to live and a job, and those factors may well take me elsewhere—”
“But those things are just as possible in Agia Kalamaros. I think we would all be happier if you stayed here,” he stated, glancing at Frankie and Hannah.
Sally shrugged. Why would he be happier? Because he really wanted her to stay? She didn’t think so. The only explanation for why he was pressuring her to stick around had to be that he wanted to make himself feel better about being taken for a ride by Manos. “There’s a lot to think about before I finally decide.”
Rubbing at the back of his neck, he let out a deep sigh. “Sally, what Manos did must have hurt you very much. But while running away may seem like the answer, won’t it be harder to heal if you don’t have people around you who care about you?”
Running away? Heal? Instantly, she felt her hackles rise. He didn’t have a clue. Tears stung, as she thought of how it’d really been, but she quickly blinked them away. She refused to cry in front of him or make herself feel vulnerable and stupid again by telling him.
She felt a hand on her shoulder. “Dimitri, maybe we should leave it for now, give Sally time to work everything through,” Frankie said gently. “It must be hard for her to be here and reminded every day of what she’s been through.”
“It is,” Sally agreed, flashing Frankie a grateful smile because what she’d said was true, and it also put Dimitri in his place. “Everywhere I look I am reminded of Manos, and you know what, once people around here find out, I’ll have to go over it again and again, won’t I? Some of them knew him from when he was a boy and they’ll be really shocked. Others will gossip. There’s his family as well. They’ll want to know the whole story.”
“So, Theia isn’t aware of Manos’s, erm, issue?” Frankie queried, referring to his older sister.
Sally shook her head. “I didn’t want to upset her since she already had enough on her plate, looking after her mother. Sophia’s dementia has been getting progressively worse. She no longer recognises Theia, let alone anyone else.”
“You’ve been dealing with this stuff all alone?” Hannah queried. “That must’ve been really tough.”
“Honestly, it’s been the easiest way, not having to explain,” Sally mumbled, sensing Dimitri scrutinizing her again. What was his problem? “I’m sure I’ll get over it with time but, right now, it’s hard.” She forced a smile. “Anyway, thanks so much for all the work you’ve done on my behalf. I’m going to look over it tonight and think about my options.” Glancing around her, she dived for the file of documents she’d assembled earlier and pushed it at Dimitri. “I printed everything relating to the store and my finances like you requested.”
There was a pause as, his brows knitting together, he shuffled the sheets into a neater stack. “Of course,” he replied in a tone that said her dismissal was clearly not lost on him. “I’ll also need to work through these. But before I go, may I ask for some more of your time to discuss a few things?” He lifted his gaze, snagging hers.
“Hannah and I had better be making tracks, let you two talk,” Frankie interjected. “Sal, once you’ve had a chance to mull things over, if you’ve got any questions, call me. Catch you later.”
The two women bade their goodbyes, much to McTavish’s disappointment. He shambled over to the front door as they closed it behind them, whining.
“Shh, McNoisy!” After moving to scoop him up, Sally took him back into the living room where Dimitri stood, one hand holding her document file, the other in his jeans pocket. An apparently casual stance, but she could see the tension hardening his jaw—a jaw which was covered with dark scruff, and which, crazily, she longed to stroke. She drew in a long breath. He was clearly annoyed she hadn’t agreed with him that she shouldn’t run away. After setting McTavish down on his favourite couch, she asked tightly, “What is it that you want to talk about? Something to do with my debts?”
“Yes, in part. But before we get to those, I want to know why you are persisting with your insane determination to quit the village even though there are solutions being put forward now which would allow you to stay. Why are you being so stubborn?” He threw the folder down onto the low table.
His harshly spoken words startling her, she watched the documents shoot out of their holder and scatter. “Stubborn?” she flared. “Because I’d like some space to work out what’s best for me. Which may not be hanging around here.”
“Sally, you’ve suffered greatly for what Manos did. But he’s gone now, and you’re strong. You’ve fought and survived for, what, over five years since he died, and now you have the chance to start putting the financial stress he caused behind you. Why give up and go when you are on the verge of something better?”
“So, you think that dealing with his debts will make it alright? Make me instantly forget that my husband—lovely, friendly, Manos the shopkeeper—was actually a cheating, heartless, lying shit!” She gasped for air after the words had left her mouth.
His head went back, his features pulling into a deep frown, but he said nothing.
“What?” she challenged fiercely. “You know that’s exactly what he was. And yet you insist I stick around to keep on dealing with the crap. I want some peace, Dimitri!” From you, and how I still feel about you too, her overwrought senses added.
His expression filled with concern. “I’m sorry,” he said softly, taking a couple of steps nearer. “I know how much you loved him, how much you love him still. Dealing with his betrayal has to be the hardest thing in the world.”
“You have no idea what I feel,” she shot back, something inside her suddenly snapping. She couldn’t take his misplaced sympathy, his lecturing, anymore. He needed to hear how it really was. “And you’ve got it all wrong. I don’t still love Manos. In fact, I never loved him the way you seem to think I did. By the time he passed away, we were practically living like strangers.”
Chapter Five
“What the hell do you mean?” Dimitri felt himself reel as I never loved him echoed around his brain.
“The marriage died well before he did.” She spoke coldly and calmly now.
“But you weren’t aware of Manos’s gambling until after he passed away. So, what happened? I mean, you seemed to be in love with him when you married him.”
“At that stage, I was fond of him but not in love.” Briefly, she
turned her head away. “It was more like what you would feel for a best friend or a brother.”
“You loved him like a brother?” he said slowly, still trying to process the bombshell she’d just dropped.
“I thought, hoped, it would grow into something deeper. But instead, it began to fade, and then—”
“He started gambling,” he finished for her. “Christo, Sally. I had no idea.”
She swung back around, anguish etching her delicate features. “No, you didn’t.”
“Nobody did.” He inhaled. “You had us all fooled. On your wedding day, both you and Manos seemed so happy.”
“That day, I was happy. He was an attractive guy and I really liked him. I’d been swept off my feet by his proposal of marriage and promise of a new life.” A rueful smile crept to her lips. “You remember the ceremony? When we got married in the little chapel on the cliff at Trapazakia overlooking the sea, me in my white lace dress with orange blossoms in my hair? To a naïve nineteen-year-old, who was estranged from her family, it all seemed so incredibly romantic and hopeful.”
Dimitri felt a stab to his heart just as searing as the one he’d experienced that sunny day in late September when, standing at Manos’s side as best man, he’d watched Sally walk by herself up the aisle of the tiny church, knowing he’d lost her for good. “I remember,” he said gruffly.
“Before the wedding, I was thinking my feelings for Manos would grow. But after a year or so, it dawned on me that I’d made a mistake. It became abundantly clear he didn’t have deep feelings for me, probably never had. And then, well, you know now what came next.” She put her hands up behind her head to tighten her ponytail with a vicious tug.
“So, you’re saying Manos did not love you? If that was the case, why he did marry you?”
“Honestly? In the first few weeks after the wedding, all he could talk about was how I’d chosen him over you, and he was so much better for me. It didn’t take me long to realize I was a trophy, that all that mattered to him was taking me away from you.”
“I see.” Dimitri blinked. He’d long been aware Manos always wanted to win, but he’d never recognised it was him his best friend had been intent on beating. The bastard. He swivelled his gaze away, only for it to come to rest on the framed photo of Manos adorning the mantelpiece. Whatever his motives, Manos had made a good show to the world of being a constant husband. But why, if Sally had never developed feelings for him, and he hadn’t loved her, was that picture still taking pride of place? “Why do you continue to keep that photo on display?” He shot her a sharp glance. “And wear your wedding ring, and his old sweatshirt?”
She shrugged. “It’s stopped others prying and rumour-mongering, saved me from having to bear other people’s shock and disapproval. The picture and the ring, the hanging onto clothes, they’re what people expect, aren’t they? Symbols of a woman quietly mourning her husband. Only nobody realizes they’re hiding a living hell.”
“I see,” he replied, grimacing because he understood the part about village gossip and censure only too well. Was that why she hadn’t called time on the marriage while Manos was still alive? Sighing, he folded his arms. Whatever, it was a mess, and he couldn’t let her jump from that into something possibly even worse. “I get why you want to move on from Manos,” he said carefully, “but why do you need to move away? When it comes to noses in the village poking into what happened, if they do, let them. They’ll soon get bored and move onto something else. Especially if you are successful in building a new life here.”
She threw him a resentful look. “You make it sound so easy, as if I don’t have to begin again from rock bottom.”
“But you don’t. You’ve already got friends and options. Frankie and Hannah have come up with great ideas for making this place pay for itself, and you and I will work out solutions for what else you owe. You’ll sell the Mini-Mart eventually, and meanwhile, you can set about finding yourself a local job. Sure, there may be difficult moments still to come, but we’ve got your back. You’ll soon be on the rise again.”
She swallowed and looked down at the floor. “I need a completely fresh start where I’m in charge of my own destiny. I want to start living and be happy again.”
Biting back his frustration, he stared at her. Lisous! “Why is it so hard to accept that, with a bit of help, you can stay right here and turn it all around? Just do it, Sally, and everything will get so much easier.”
“Because it’s not only about Manos—” she began then checked herself.
“Then, what is it?”
Shaking her head, she thrust her hands in her pockets.
He kept on staring at her. Why did it feel as if she was angry with him? Because he hadn’t realized about Manos? Or was she just mad at him, period? “Okay,” he said wearily, “if you do decide to go, I guess that means we’ll have to find another person to take over the social media and website for the Finding Marco campaign. Do you have suggestions for anybody local?”
“Not off the top of my head, no,” she muttered. “You just need somebody who’s prepared to do a bit of updating, that’s all. It’s not a big deal.”
It was shocking and hurtful to hear her dismissing the campaign that was so dear to his heart, and that he’d once thought was dear to hers too, but he guessed, it showed how far she’d closed her mind to her life in Agia Kalamaros. “Okay, I’d better be going. I’ve got things to do,” he announced abruptly, bending to pick up her documents. “I’ll look at the statements you’ve given me and get back to you. From what we’ve discussed tonight, wherever you choose to be, you’re going to have to keep paying down your debts until the store is sold. So, it looks as if you should try again for an easier repayment schedule. I’ll make enquiries.” He turned to leave, swivelling around when he reached the front door to bid her goodbye and nearly colliding with her as she came up behind him. He found himself staring into beautiful green eyes; a deep sea green that he could drown in. His gaze moved to her shell-pink mouth, so lush and kissable. On impulse he leaned in, watching her pupils dilate, hearing her breath catch in her throat, seeing her lips part—ready to be kissed or to push back? She doesn’t want you, or to be here, his inner voice reminded him. He pulled away, but not before he’d briefly caught the sweet scent of her.
“I just wanted to say thanks for your help,” she said stiffly.
“You’re welcome,” he replied before stepping out of the door and back into the cold place he inhabited every day without her.
Chapter Six
Taking the final piece of almond crème pastry, Sally fed it to McTavish. The little dog wolfed down the rare treat then yapped for more.
“Hey, McGreedy,” she admonished, “that’s all there is!” He started whining, but once she’d administered an appeasing stroke under his scraggy jowls, he settled down again under the café table.
She picked up the cup in front of her and, sipping her coffee, surveyed the quaint buildings edging the far side of the square, and the lusciously budding vines of bougainvillea and oleander that climbed up their pastel-coloured walls. Then she squinted up at the domed bell tower of the two-hundred-year-old white stone church framed by a clear blue sky. Whatever had made her think she might leave all of this behind?
Snatches of yesterday evening’s meeting with Dimitri elbowed their way into her thoughts. Just for a second or two back there, when he’d stood in the doorway ready to leave, she’d had the weirdest feeling he was about to kiss her. But only for seconds because, in the next, he’d departed with a scowl on his face—confusing her and abandoning her to wretched feelings of arousal; it’d been hard afterwards to sleep with that persistent, insistent heat between her legs.
Drinking down the last of her coffee, she banged the cup on its saucer. She was kidding herself. He didn’t care for her, he never really had. Her mind arrowed back to that first summer, and the moment when she’d stumbled on him in Skalos’s olive store locked in an embrace with another girl. Pride had prevented her fr
om ever challenging him about what she’d seen, and he’d never lifted a finger to get her back either. On her wedding day, when she’d walked up the aisle to where he stood, shoulder to shoulder with Manos in front of the altar, his face had borne no sorrow or regret, just apparent happiness that his best friend had got the girl.
Afterwards, she’d tried her hardest to settle into married life, while Dimitri became the serial dater of village legend; every few weeks, it seemed, he had a new girl on his arm. Whenever he visited, Manos would do that guys’ jokey-banter-thing about Dimitri’s hectic love-life, kind of scornful but also admiring, like Manos really wished he could be hot with the chicks too. And Dimitri just shrugged and laughed and carried on pursuing women and all but ignoring her, which only intensified her pain.
Yet here she was, pathetically hot and bothered and regretting that, last night, he hadn’t kissed her, when he’d probably had no intention anyway—
The sudden trilling of her phone made her jump. Huffing out a sigh, she reached for the device. It was Frankie. “Hi, how are you?” she answered, forcing herself to sound brighter than she felt.
“Morning! Sal, have you got a couple of minutes? Hannah and I have another proposition to put to you. She’s right here, so hang on a sec while I put you on speaker.” There was a silence, followed by a couple of hollow-sounding thumps, and then Frankie was back on the line. “Are you still there?”
“Yes, go ahead.”
“Right, Sally Souli, listen up. Hannah and I were kind of upset when we left you last night because we don’t want you to leave Kathos. So, we’ve put our heads together and come up with a proposition for you, which we hope will change your mind. You mentioned getting a job. Well, Ionian Villas is thriving, and we’re looking to take on another team member for three and a half days each week to take care of admin. We’d like to give you first refusal.”
“A job?” Sally squeaked. “Working with you?”
