Wish You Were Here

by Victoria Connelly

  For a moment, she thought about the dark-eyed gardener at the Villa Argenti. She didn’t even know his name but she couldn’t help wondering if he was somehow inextricably linked with Stella’s advice.

  There was something else too – an idea which Alice just couldn’t shake from her mind.

  ‘Aphrodite.’ She spoke the name quietly into the silence of her bedroom. It sounded like a magical spell and seemed to weave rainbows in her mind. Lying back on her pillow, Alice closed her eyes. She knew it was ludicrous and impossible but, all the same, what did she have to lose? She would go back to the Villa Argenti tomorrow.

  Chapter 10

  The bus ride up into the mountains from Kethos Town was just as beautiful the second time. Alice had left around mid-morning and had tried to be as casual as possible when Stella asked her where she was going.

  ‘I don’t know yet,’ Alice had said with a shrug. ‘Probably a museum or something. Want to come?’

  Predictably, Stella had declined which was a great relief to Alice who had made her escape into town and was now just about to get off the bus at the stop for the Villa Argenti. This time, a young couple got off the bus with her and they all walked together down the road that led to the villa. They were from Worcester and had just got married and Alice couldn’t help but envy them their new life together. She saw the way that Tim looked so adoringly at his new wife, Janey, and the way that they held hands so tightly. What must it be like to be so adored, Alice couldn’t help wondering?

  There was a little old man by the gate today and he took their money with a polite little nod and Alice watched as Tim and Janey walked hand in hand towards a sunlit bench. She didn’t follow them.

  All of a sudden, Alice wondered what she was doing there and a coldness resembling fear chilled her whole body. It had all been very well imagining romantic scenarios with the handsome gardener whilst in the safety of her bed but Alice really wasn’t the kind of girl to initiate something as wonderful and frivolous as a holiday romance.

  She stopped by a little fountain and trailed her fingers in the cool water and sighed. Perhaps she was worrying unnecessarily. She couldn’t see the gardener anywhere and it occurred to her that he might not be there at all. She couldn’t help smiling at that. The one time she had allowed herself to be a little bit brave and the man in question had foiled her by having a day off. Besides, she had every right to be in the garden, didn’t she? Not only had he invited her to come back but she was a tourist who was simply enjoying a beautiful place. That was all. She nodded to herself and determined that she would let things fall into the hands of destiny.

  It was then that Alice remembered that she hadn’t just come back to the garden in the hope of seeing Milo again but to see the statue too.

  She walked down the neat path which led to the Goddess Garden, passing Artemis, Demeter, Athena and the others but she hadn’t come to see them. She’d come to see Aphrodite.

  Once again, the statue of the goddess of love was in full sunlight and the loveliness of her face made Alice smile. She placed her hand on the hem of the finely-carved gown and felt the magical warmth seep through her skin. What did she have to lose? She closed her eyes.

  Concentrate.

  What did she want for herself that the goddess could grant? What was it the gardener had told her?

  ‘If your wish is for love or beauty, it will be granted.’

  Love or beauty. The two words spun inside her mind until she had her wish.

  ‘I wish,’ she began, her fingers trembling against the warm stone, ‘I wish men would notice me. I wish I wasn’t so invisible to them but that they really really saw me.’

  She thought of Stella for a moment and how much attention she got from the opposite sex. Her life seemed like one long joyous date and she was constantly showered in gifts and spoilt rotten. Just once, Alice wanted to know what that would be like.

  ‘Yes,’ she told Aphrodite, ‘I want men to notice me at last!’

  She stood perfectly still for a moment longer and then she opened her eyes and the sunlight dazzled her before everything settled back to normal. Alice smiled. The world looked exactly the same as before and she felt no different than she had a moment ago. What had she been expecting? It was silly to think anything would change. The statue couldn’t grant wishes. It was just a piece of masonry that had been carved for the pleasure of a few tourists.

  Suddenly feeling very silly, she walked away from the statue before anybody saw her. It was when she was back at the fountain that she saw him.

  ‘Hello,’ he called, waving a tanned hand at her and smiling as if he were greeting a long-lost friend.

  ‘Hello,’ Alice replied.

  His pace picked up and he was beside her in an instant. ‘You left without saying goodbye yesterday.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I had to run for my bus.’

  His eyebrows rose and she could feel herself blushing at her lie. He would know exactly when the buses ran, wouldn’t he?

  ‘I mean, I was scared I’d missed it.’

  ‘I could have given you a lift back. I have a very fine moped,’ he said, his dark eyes twinkling.

  ‘Is it safe?’ Alice asked and then cursed her question. This wasn’t the new, carefree Alice she had determined to be the night before. ‘I mean – that sounds fun.’

  ‘You’d like a ride?’

  ‘Oh!’ Alice exclaimed, taken by surprise at the speed of his invitation.

  ‘It can be arranged,’ he added.

  Alice smiled at the sudden image of her on the back of a moped with the handsome Greek gardener, whizzing along the mountain roads around Kethos, her hands clasped around his waist.

  ‘Okay,’ she said.

  ‘Okay?’

  ‘Yes.’

  The gardener looked as surprised as Alice felt. ‘I – er – I think I’d better introduce myself. My name is Milo,’ he said, extending a hand towards her.

  ‘I’m Alice,’ she said, shaking his hand, and marvelling at how warm and strong it felt.

  ‘So,’ he said, ‘did you come back to make a wish?’

  ‘I might have done,’ Alice said evasively.

  ‘Ah,’ he said. ‘You do not want to say in case it doesn’t come true, yes?’

  ‘Maybe,’ she said and then she did something curiously out of character and winked at him.

  Milo’s eyes widened and he grinned. ‘Listen,’ he said, ‘it’s my day off tomorrow and I was thinking of going to the beach. It’s not far from here but tourists don’t know about it. It has the softest, whitest sand in Greece and the bluest sea in the world. I think you’ll like it.’

  ‘You mean you want me to go with you?’

  ‘Of course!’ he said with a grin. ‘It will be fun. It’s my day off and you are on holiday. It’s bound to be fun, yes?’

  Alice bit her lip but then nodded. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘That does sound like fun.’

  ‘Good,’ he said.

  Alice waited for him to say something else and, when he didn’t, she spoke. ‘You’re not married, are you?’

  He visibly blanched at her question. ‘What?’

  Alice shrugged. ‘I mean, I don’t want to get involved with anyone who has commitments elsewhere even if this is just to be a fun holiday thing.’

  ‘I’m not married,’ he said.

  Alice nodded. ‘I didn’t mean to pry but – well – in your job, you must meet a lot of women and it must be easy for you—’ she paused. What exactly was she trying to say?

  ‘Easy for me to…?’ he prompted her.

  ‘I think you know what I mean,’ she said, ‘and I need you to know – right now – before this day at the beach – that I’m not one of those girls.’

  ‘Okay,’ Milo said, shoving his hands into the pockets of his rather beaten-up trousers. ‘You’re not one of those girls and I am not married.’ He smiled at her and she couldn’t help but smile back. ‘So we’re still on for this day at the beach?’

&
nbsp; Alice took a deep breath. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘We’re on.’

  ‘Good. Shall I come to your hotel and pick you up?’

  ‘Oh – no,’ Alice said quickly, imagining the scene if Milo arrived at their villa and Stella clapped eyes on him. ‘I’ll meet you in Kethos Town.’

  ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘Are you sure you’re not married?’

  ‘No!’ Alice said. ‘I’m not hiding anything. It’s just easier if we meet in town.’

  He laughed and it was a delightfully warm and full-hearted laugh and Alice was instantly at ease. ‘Good. Then I’ll meet you at the harbour front where you got off the ferry.’

  ‘All right,’ Alice said. ‘Is eleven o’clock okay?’ She thought a late morning departure would be less suspicious to her sister.

  Milo frowned. ‘That is so late. Half the day is gone at eleven o’clock.’

  ‘What about ten?’ Alice said, thinking Stella might very well still be in bed by then.

  He nodded his approval. ‘Ten o’clock.’

  ‘Do I need to bring anything?’

  ‘No – no. This is my day to you. I will prepare it all.’ His hands were out of his pockets again and waving about in the air as if conjuring up the day for her right there and then. ‘You need do nothing but turn up, please.’

  Alice couldn’t help feeling charmed by his sweet enthusiasm. ‘All right,’ she said.

  ‘Good. Then I will see you at nine o’clock.’

  ‘Ten!’ Alice corrected him.

  ‘Okay,’ he said, raising his hands in defeat. ‘Ten o’clock!’

  She watched as he sauntered away down the path with a little wave and then disappeared behind a high hedge. Had that all really happened, she wondered? Had she just promised a strange man that she would spend a whole day with him on some deserted beach? She had, hadn’t she? And the thought of it made her feel so excited that she wanted to leap right into the fountain and do a zany little water dance.

  Men like Milo just weren’t interested in someone like her. It was a fact of life that she’d learned to accept years ago and yet he had asked her out. He wanted to prepare a whole day for her and take her somewhere that was special to him, and that really touched her.

  She suddenly felt herself blushing at her forwardness when she remembered asking him if he was married. What had got into her? And where on earth had that wink come from? She’d been behaving like another person entirely and that made her wonder about something.

  Had Aphrodite granted her wish?

  Chapter 11

  It was a perfect spring morning and, when Alice walked out onto the terrace after breakfast, she inhaled the sweet warm air and knew that this day was going to be special. In fact, it was going to be a blue dress day and she skipped back up to her bedroom and grabbed the dress from her wardrobe. She had already worn it once into town but Milo hadn’t seen it yet and she hoped he would like it.

  Looking at herself in the mirror before leaving, she couldn’t help thinking that there was something different about her today. Was it really as simple as putting on a beautiful dress? She doubted it and yet she couldn’t help acknowledging the fact that she felt so unlike her old self. Maybe it was because she was on holiday, but did it really matter? All that she knew was that she was happy to be her and that was a wonderful novelty.

  As she walked into town, an old man raised his hat to her and a teenager on a bicycle waved to her and shouted something in Greek that she didn’t understand. She watched as he cycled on down the road and then he did a double take.

  ‘Just a friendly local,’ she said to herself, putting all thoughts of it out of her mind as she caught her first glimpse of the sea between the steeply stacked houses. There was a row of men sitting on the harbour wall with fishing rods, the backs of their necks already dark with exposure to the sun, and boats bobbed about on the water, the reflected light making magical patterns on their sterns.

  And there was Milo waiting for her at the harbour, his moped standing alongside him. He didn’t see her at first and she had a chance to look at him properly. He was tall and slim with lean, strong arms and a head of dark curls and there seemed to be a nervous sort of energy within him as if it was difficult for him to keep still. His dark eyes were scanning the horizon and, when he turned and saw her and smiled, Alice felt as if she had been blessed.

  Don’t get carried away, she told herself. This is just a bit of holiday fun. Don’t go making anything more of it.

  ‘Good morning,’ she said as she approached him.

  ‘I like that,’ he said.

  Alice looked at him curiously. ‘What?’

  ‘The way you English say “good morning” – as if wishing the day to be good even if it is not so.’

  ‘But today is a good day, isn’t it?’ she said.

  ‘Today is very good,’ he said, handing her a helmet and helping her with the strap. ‘Right. We are ready to begin.’

  Alice nodded, liking the way he phrased things. She was definitely ready to begin, she thought. Looping her bag over her head, she watched as Milo hopped onto the bike. She followed, placing her hands around his waist and giving a little yelp as they took off.

  The speed at which they left the town made Alice feel quite giddy. She hadn’t realised how much power a moped had even when loaded with two people, but it climbed the steep streets of Kethos Town easily and they were out onto the open road with the sea far below them in no time.

  The sky was a brilliant blue above them and Alice felt a huge bubble of excitement inside her and she couldn’t help wishing that her sister could see her now. Stella wouldn’t recognise her boring big sister, would she? Alice had to admit that she barely recognised herself.

  Being on a moped was such a freeing experience and Alice could see why Milo loved it so much. He kept half-turning round and shouting back at her to make sure she was okay which she was, of course. She was so much more than okay.

  It was about twenty minutes and several miles of scarily twisting roads later when Milo began to slow down. This part of the island was a lot quieter. There was only a scattering of houses and there were certainly no tourists. The landscape was rugged and rocky and it was hard to imagine a perfect sandy beach nearby but that’s what Milo had promised her.

  They turned off the twisting main road onto a sandy track filled with enormous potholes.

  ‘Hold on tight!’ he called back as he skilfully negotiated the primitive track. It was obvious to Alice that he’d done so countless times before but she tightened her grip all the same.

  The track was steep and went straight downhill and Alice gasped as she got her first glimpse of the beach. It was a tiny strip of sand between two hills covered with trees and was completely secluded from the world. Nobody but the most ardent of tourists would ever find it. This was a place for locals only and Alice felt honoured to be shown it.

  ‘You okay?’ Milo asked as they hopped off the bike. ‘Not too dizzy?’

  ‘Not dizzy at all!’ Alice said as she took her helmet off and shook her hair free. A wonderful breeze from the sea lifted it away from her face and she inhaled deeply. ‘What a perfect beach!’

  ‘This is my very special place,’ he said. ‘I keep it to myself but – today – I share it with you.’

  Alice smiled and watched him as he unpacked the secret compartment on the back of the moped and shook out a blanket for them to sit on.

  ‘Let me help,’ she said, as he reached inside and brought out two bags of food. Together, they negotiated their way down the boulder-strewn beach before reaching the perfect white sand.

  ‘How did you discover this place?’ Alice asked.

  Milo shrugged. ‘I used to explore a lot. When I got my first moped, I would be gone for hours – just riding the roads and looking, you know?’

  Alice nodded. ‘I used to have a bicycle and do the same thing.’

  ‘And what did you find?’

  Alice thought back to her bike rides around the Norfolk countrysi
de. ‘Fields and woods and lakes.’

  ‘You still ride?’

  She shook her head. ‘No. There doesn’t seem to be time anymore.’

  ‘No time?’

  ‘With work and things. I always seem so tired these days,’ she said.

  ‘But you should always make time for yourself,’ Milo said, shaking out the blanket.

  ‘It isn’t always that easy,’ Alice said. They put the bags of food and drink down and sat on the blanket.

  ‘When I first got my bike,’ Milo said, ‘I couldn’t get away fast enough.’

  ‘What did you have to get away from?’

  ‘A large family!’ he said with a grin.

  ‘You have lots of brothers and sisters?’

  ‘Oh, yes,’ he said.

  ‘I only have one sister and that’s more than enough!’

  ‘Here,’ he said, ‘let’s have some lunch.’

  She watched as he opened the first bag of food and brought out a large white loaf of bread already neatly cut into slices. ‘I made it this morning,’ he said, ‘so it’s very fresh.’

  ‘You made bread this morning?’

  ‘You don’t believe me?’

  ‘Well—’

  ‘I told you I’d give you a whole day and that day starts very early when I get up to make this bread,’ he said.

  Alice smiled. He seemed to do nothing but make her smile.

  Following the loaf of bread was a great hunk of creamy yellow cheese, a container filled with shiny olives, and a bag of glossy green salad leaves.

  ‘I feel so bad that I didn’t bring anything,’ Alice said.

  ‘Don’t feel bad. This was my wish. You are my guest. Now, please help yourself and I will pour the wine.’

  ‘Wine?’

  ‘Of course. You cannot have a picnic without wine,’

  Alice looked up into the sky where the sun was shining so brightly. Sun, sea and wine – this was going to be a sensory overload. ‘I think I’d better put my hat on,’ she said.

  For a while, neither of them spoke but got on with the business of eating good food and drinking good wine. In fact, Alice couldn’t believe how good it all tasted. She’d forgotten the last time she’d eaten really glorious food. The canteen at work might have introduced a few new salads to the menu but most of the food was still school-dinner stodgy and, by the time she got home from work, she rarely had the energy left to prepare herself something wholesome but she promised herself that she would from now on. After all, what could be more simple than a loaf of bread and fresh produce?