by Mandy Baggot
‘Yes,’ Sonya answered.
‘You should go on,’ Tess stated. ‘I’ll be right behind you as soon as my moped driver turns up.’
‘Are you sure?’ Sonya hiccupped. ‘Sorry.’
‘Yes, go and put the kettle on or open some more wine.’
‘Ooo, I bought some baklava bits in the supermarket, we could have those with it.’
Tess nodded. ‘Good idea.’
‘We are ready?’ Babis asked Sonya.
‘We are ready,’ Sonya replied, putting her hands on his hips.
Throttling up the bike, Babis span the moped around the circular drive, showering the surrounding vegetation with pebbles as he zoomed out of the property, Sonya’s squeals breaking through the warm air.
Tess let out a sigh. What was she supposed to do now? Andras had said he was ready to leave, she and Sonya had made their way to the front of the house, and now she was just waiting, on her own in the dark, the only sound the bugs in the trees and some faint barking of dogs. Her skin prickled in response to something – perhaps the balmy air – or the fact she was alone here, in the quiet, black night on the side of a Greek mountain. There were no street lights here or the hum of traffic, just perfect, calming tranquillity. She wasn’t used to it. She wasn’t sure how to be in it. What did you do when there was nothing to do? Even just for a minute?
She quickly reached into her bag and took out her phone. There was signal: 4G and phone signal allegedly. Looking at her access to the world, she wondered what app she should look at first. Dating? Facebook? Work email? Instead she found her finger hovering over the photos icon. She pressed and up came the selfie she had taken earlier with Sonya. After the so-sweet dessert they had walked across Isadora’s grass to the very edge of the land. Stopping at the tiny fence meant to prevent a fall down the cliff side, they had carefully positioned themselves so the rapidly disappearing sun was visible behind them, together with the shimmering sea, and the beautiful flora and fauna of the mountain, then adopted their best poses. Tess smiled at the picture now. Sonya looked happy, almost worry-free. She knew that wasn’t truly the case, but perhaps this mad, ridiculous dinner party had been a tonic for her friend.
Tess swiped left and her breath caught in her throat. There was the photo she had snapped with Andras on the boat earlier that day. Those eyes! That smile! He was utterly divine to look at. And she didn’t look too shabby either. Ideally she would have reapplied some lipstick or lipgloss at the very least before the picture but she looked OK. She flicked her vision to the top of the phone. It was still showing 4G. Maybe now was the time to post this photo of her new squeeze. It had been far too long since she’d posted coupledom on Facebook. She pressed the icon to share … and then stopped. She took a deep breath, thumb still hovering. What was she waiting for? She hadn’t posted a couple’s picture since Tony at the Radisson. He’d positioned two croissants over her robe-clad chest and made a comment about them being moist and buttery. She’d edited the photo so it was just a headshot. Her hair had looked nice and Tony’s tan looked more teak than mahogany.
‘Tess, I am sorry.’
Andras’s voice made her jolt for the home button. She stabbed at it and dropped the phone into her bag in one motion. She turned to face him, shoes crunching the stones a little.
‘I was trying to get away and then Spiros, he is drunk, he is trying to talk to the donkey and my mother is warning him he will go the way of Uncle Dimitri and …’
Tess smiled. ‘It’s fine.’
‘No,’ he said, stepping closer to her. ‘No, it is not fine.’ He sighed. ‘Nothing about tonight was fine.’
‘Well,’ Tess began, ‘I thought the food was very nice.’
‘I am ruining your holiday,’ he stated softly. ‘You came here to Greece to see Greece, not to get involved with a complicated family and spend your break being insulted.’
‘If I’d wanted that I could have auditioned for Coach Trip.’
‘What?’
‘Sorry,’ she smiled. ‘You did promise another day out and a large device.’
‘A what?’ he asked.
‘A laptop,’ she replied.
‘After tonight, somehow it does not seem enough,’ he stated, those dark eyes fixed on her.
Her stomach revolved, the flirtatious answer already on her lips. ‘That depends how many inches it is.’
She watched him react to her reply. He was unmoving, just holding her gaze, his chest rising and falling underneath his shirt, torso still. Sonya was halfway down the mountain. Andras didn’t do dating. This would be just physical connection pure and simple. She tilted forward slightly, her shoes scuffing the stones. And then Andras took a step back.
‘I should get you back to your apartment.’
She quickly reached for the strap of her handbag in a weak show of play-acting. ‘Yes. Babis rode off with Sonya a good five minutes ago.’
He passed Tess her helmet. ‘Then shall we?’
Thirty-three
En-route to Kalami Cove Apartments
This time, Tess was relishing the moped experience. Her dress was still way up over her thighs, but in the dark, with Corfu taking on a whole different look as they meandered around the tight twists and turns of the mountain road, she felt more relaxed. She held on to Andras, trying to lean into the corners like he’d instructed her to and mould herself to the machine. So, it wasn’t exactly a throbbing Harley Davidson underneath her, but the hot engine vibration, the wind whipping her hair and Andras’s body beneath her hands were all sensations she could get used to. Except she wasn’t sure a moped in London – in the rain, next to a double-decker bus pumping out exhaust fumes – would be quite as exciting.
She closed her eyes and let the warm air caressing her cheeks connect her with the moment. She was in Greece, on holiday, she was going to sort out Blackberry Boudoir, she was going to get Sonya and Joey back on an even keel, she was going to …
Before another thought could make its way into her mind the moped began stuttering, and it was all Tess could do to prevent herself from falling off. Her eyes snapped open, she clung on to Andras as finally, with a skid and a squeak of the brakes, they came to a halt.
‘What happened?’ Tess gasped, her hands moving to her helmet as if to expect it not to be there. ‘Is there something wrong with the moped?’
‘I do not know what to do with him!’ Andras exclaimed, dismounting. ‘Everything I do is never enough!’
Tess clung on to the moped as it rocked side to side until Andras kicked the stand down. She watched him then, moving into the dark alongside a rather craggy-looking verge.
‘Andras,’ she hissed. ‘Don’t leave me on my own here.’ There was no light nearby, just a few pinpricks of gold and yellow over the side of the ravine, deep beneath the trees. Trees that could house plenty of Greek critters, or worse. Didn’t Sonya say something about a large spider inhabiting Corfu? ‘Andras!’
There was only one thing for it. She eased herself off the moped and tentatively made steps into the night after him.
‘Andras!’ she said again. ‘What are you doing?’ Her foot twisted as it came into contact with something slightly stick-like. She hoped it was a stick.
‘We will have to walk,’ Andras called.
‘Walk?’ Tess exclaimed. ‘Down the rest of the mountain?’
‘No,’ he answered. ‘Just a few metres.’ He appeared then, out of the shadows, something in his arms. What the hell was it? Suddenly there was a groan like the Earth’s core was being uprooted and Tess let out a scream, jumping back.
‘What is that?’ she questioned, tentatively. ‘In your arms there?’
‘This is Hector,’ he stated, holding the tortoise up and out.
‘Don’t bring it any closer!’
‘This is the tortoise who was trying to eat the contents of the restaurant fridge this afternoon.’
‘You mean, that was really a thing?’ Tess said. ‘I presumed it was an excuse your mother made up
to get you to leave Sonya and me on the dock.’
He smiled, shaking his head. ‘No, not that time.’ He held Hector out again. ‘He is real. See.’
‘I can see quite well from here, thanks.’ She eased herself back a little more. ‘What are you going to do with it?’
‘Him.’
‘What are you going to do with him?’ Tess corrected.
‘Take him back to my house and think of a way to make him stay in his pen.’ He smiled at her. ‘It is not far. Come.’
‘How can you see where you’re going?’
Andras grinned into the darkness as he made the final turn to the driveway of his home. Hector was a weight in his arms but he did not envy Tess walking any distance in those shoes she was wearing. ‘In Corfu we are used to village life. Not city streets lit up all of the time. You become accustomed.’
‘Like with the lack of Wi-Fi.’
‘Ne,’ he agreed. ‘It is just up here.’
He heard her sigh. ‘You’ve been saying that since we left the moped.’
‘I will let you see my fifteen inches,’ he called, another smile forming on his mouth. What he wouldn’t give to see the expression on her face right now.
‘Promises, promises,’ came the reply.
He pushed opened the gate, trying to keep a firm grip on Hector whose legs were wiggling in resistance. ‘We are here.’
‘Oh, really?’ Tess responded, catching up to him. ‘That wasn’t too far.’
‘Now there are just fifty-nine steps up that way.’ He pointed skywards.
‘Fifty-nine?’ Tess breathed.
‘Yes.’
‘It’s a good job I’ve got abs like Joe Wicks.’
Andras began to mount the steps, Hector planted against his hip. He was sure this animal was getting bigger by the hour.
‘Wait!’ Tess called. ‘Not quite so fast.’
‘My laptop is at your service in only fifty-nine steps.’ He smiled to himself as he heard her footsteps quicken ever so slightly.
‘I’m sure the views are incredible but who seriously builds a house on the side of a mountain like this?’ Tess panted.
‘Actually, I did,’ Andras answered.
‘You built a house.’
‘Yes.’
‘With your actual hands and bricks and wood.’
‘And glass,’ he answered. ‘There is quite a lot of glass.’ He readjusted Hector in his arms and took the final steps two at a time.
‘You must have had help though? I mean, you run the restaurant … when would you have time to build a house?’
He felt his core tighten up at her question. What could he say?
‘When I was not working.’
‘Late at night? During the winter?’
He moistened his lips. ‘I did not sleep.’
Work was all he had done after Elissa left. Running Georgiou’s and building the house. Anything to stop himself from thinking too hard.
He moved forwards across the grass and his motion activated the exterior lights, flooding the area with a golden glow. He hastened to put Hector back in his pen, ensuring the lock was latched up.
‘Wow!’ Tess exclaimed, moving on to the rough expanse of lawn and turning her head left and right as she took it all in.
He didn’t respond, just watched her, first looking out over the mountain below them – the clear view of a dark sky and a moonlit sea – then to his part-finished home. He watched her take steps towards the house.
‘You built this!’ she exclaimed.
‘Ne,’ he answered. ‘Yes.’
‘By yourself?’
‘Yes.’
‘It’s amazing,’ she said, looking over her shoulder at him. ‘It’s like something out of Fantasy Homes by the Sea.’ She drew in a breath. ‘It’s all wood and old stone but sleek and … look at the view. Even in the dark, it’s spectacular.’
He swallowed. No one had called his house ‘spectacular’ before. His mother hated it. She thought when Elissa left he would either move back home or live in the apartment above the restaurant. But he was never going to do either of those things. Moving back home would have been saying not only was his marriage a failure, but his life too. Things might not have worked out with his wife, but giving up on everything and letting his mother think he regretted any of the decisions he’d made would have been a terrible idea. He would have been entrapped – he might have ended up having to create a fictitious girlfriend to get out of a family arrangement. He shook his head. At least here he had some space, far enough away to seek solitude when he needed it. And, in the back of his mind, there was always the thought that if things got tough with the business, or with his family, this house could be his nest egg.
‘Can I see inside?’ Tess asked.
‘Yes,’ he said quickly, his mind returning to the moment. ‘Of course. I will get you the computer.’
Thirty-four
Andras Georgiou’s house
‘This part of it … it is not finished,’ Andras remarked.
Tess was now standing in a shell of a building, nothing like she had seen from the outside. There was a makeshift kitchen and a tired-looking wooden table and nothing else but grey cement and dust. It was a little reminiscent of Isadora’s dark home they had visited earlier.
‘I have not had a great deal of time to work on this section yet.’
‘So I see,’ Tess remarked. ‘What are your plans for it?’
‘Well,’ he began, moving into the room and motioning with his hands. ‘My idea is that everything in the house makes the most of the situation, the views. The most sensible place to put the kitchen sink would be against this wall.’ He walked forward, placing his hands on the rough bricks.
‘But there wouldn’t be a sea view when you’re washing up.’
‘It will have a dishwasher, of course, but no … so I have to work out a way to integrate a central island and a table where every seat has a view.’
‘You’re expecting a lot of guests?’ she asked, looking at him.
He shrugged. ‘You know I have a big family.’
‘What’s through this way?’ Tess asked, walking forward.
Just like outside, lights began to automatically come on as she moved through the building. Hardwood flooring met her shoes and she was immediately overwhelmed by how different this room was to the bare walls she had just left behind.
There were two cream sofas with patterned orange, green and yellow throws over the back of them, matching cushions and a large olive-wood coffee table supporting an open file of paperwork, a laptop and two half-finished mugs of something. To the right was a wood-burning stove, a light-leafed tree in a white urn that almost reached the ceiling, and a wicker chair suspended from the beams by a chain, a comfy-looking cushion at its centre. But Tess was immediately drawn to the windows, the lights outside now turned off. It wasn’t the pitch-black view she had expected. Slowly, as her eyes grew accustomed to the lack of light, she could clearly see the cypress tree outlines, falling away down the mountain and finishing at the sea, the sky, and the mountains of Albania across the water. She could only imagine what this looked like during the day.
‘You like the room?’ Andras asked, moving next to her.
‘It’s amazing,’ Tess admitted, looking up at him. ‘I’ve never seen anything quite like it before.’
‘No?’ he asked. ‘Not even in London?’
‘London is a city,’ she reminded him.
‘But it has great views, no?’ he asked. ‘Big Ben. Buckingham Palace?’
‘My apartment has a balcony with a view of a takeaway pizza place and a taxi rank.’
She watched him smile. There was something she had been itching to ask him all night but every time it crossed her mind her heart started to palpitate like a warning shot. It wasn’t any of her business really but …
‘Who is Elissa?’ It was out this time before she could check herself.
A long breath left him and he folded his arms across
his chest as if he was having to protect himself from something. She waited, just watching, wondering if he was going to answer.
‘She was my wife,’ he replied.
‘You were married.’ She didn’t know why she had felt the need to clarify it. Wife was quite clear enough.
He nodded. ‘Yes.’
‘What happened?’
‘We are not married any more.’
It was a straightforward answer but his unwillingness to elaborate spoke volumes. Should she push him further? What was the protocol for a fake girlfriend when talking about previous real relationships?
‘It was a long time ago.’
A slightly awkward silence descended into the beautiful open-plan space. And then he stepped away from her, moving to the coffee table and picking up the laptop. He held it out to her. ‘Here.’
‘I can take it back to my apartment?’
‘After tonight, it is the very least I can do.’
Thirty-five
Kalami Cove Apartments
Isadora bringing up Elissa tonight had thrown him, but standing in the house he had built for the both of them, and telling Tess about her had felt even more awkward, and he didn’t really know why. Perhaps it had been Tess’s reaction to his hard work, the appreciation she had shown for what he had achieved, that had set him a little off balance. Tess had stood in the hollow would-be-kitchen and seen potential; all Elissa had seen was a disaster zone.
He stopped the moped outside Kalami Cove, turned off the engine and dismounted quickly.
‘Take the laptop a second?’ Tess said, holding out the computer she had cradled to her body with one hand all the way down the mountain.
He took the computer then held his free hand out to her. ‘Take my hand.’
‘It’s OK,’ she breathed. ‘I have done this several times tonight. I can almost do it without looking like I should be performing in a strip club.’
He couldn’t stop himself from looking as the hem of her dress rose up and she manoeuvred herself off the pillion. At the last second, her heel caught and she fell forward. He caught her quickly, steadying her as she regained balance.
