by HC Michaels
She undressed and climbed into the tub, too impatient to wait until it was full.
It was cold in the bathroom, and she shivered, lying down as she willed the tub to fill. She’d lost even more weight lately and was feeling the cool nip of Melbourne’s autumn earlier than in previous years. Her ribs would ache from it when even the slightest breeze brushed over her. She wasn’t doing it on purpose. She’d lost her appetite, for life as well as the food on her plate.
Paul tapped on the door. “Elvira.”
“I’m taking a bath,” she called out, glad she’d thought to lock the door.
“Can Millie have some ice-cream?” he asked through the thin wood panelling.
She rolled her eyes. “I don’t know. Can she?”
Stuff him! Amelia was just as much his daughter as hers. Couldn’t he make a decision for once in his life without asking her opinion first? If he wanted to give Amelia ice-cream then just do it, like any normal father would.
She heard him sigh from the other side of the door, followed by his retreating footsteps.
The warm water rose high enough to lap at Elvira’s thighs and her dream from the night before came back to her. She’d woken in a sweat and hadn’t felt right all day.
She’d had the dream a few times lately and each time it had disturbed her with how vivid it was.
Amelia was drowning in a swimming pool, sinking below the water, her tiny body deprived of oxygen until she floated to the surface as a lifeless doll.
Elvira was trapped on the sidelines, unable to move or speak, locked in silent terror. She was helpless to save her little girl, forced to watch while Elvira’s brother, Tino, stood beside her laughing.
He was laughing. And her baby girl was dead.
She hated Tino in her dream. And she hated him in real life. Any love she’d had for him had long ago vanished.
As the water in the bath filled to cover her legs, she leant back and closed her eyes, waiting for it to swallow her torso. Not for the first time, she wished she had the strength to let it swallow her whole.
Her dreams were tapping into her fears. She didn’t want to lose Amelia. Not to Tessa and not to anyone. She’d had enough heartbreak to last the rest of her life.
Tessa took a breath, still naked and beaded with sweat from her morning with Kosta, as she tried to work up the courage to break the news.
Better to do it when Kosta was in a nice old fashioned post-coital mood. Not that she’d ever seen him in any other kind of mood. Perhaps that was because they’d always just had sex. If not, then they were about to…
“I have to return home.” She turned her face, not wanting to see his reaction. If he was happy, then she’d know he didn’t care about her. If he was sad, then she’d know he did.
Either way would hurt.
“To London?” he asked.
She snuck a glance at him as he sat up in bed, folding his arms behind his head, his expression neutral.
“No, to Melbourne.” He really didn’t know her at all. She might still have her accent, but she hadn’t called London home for two years now. It made her wonder when she’d started thinking of Melbourne as home. The moment she’d laid eyes on Millie probably.
“When do you leave?” he asked.
“Soon. Millie’s fretting for me.” She’d told him a little about her job, but still paused to wonder if he knew who Millie was. “You know, the girl I look after. Her mum wants me to come home.”
“I thought you were going home soon anyway.” He yawned, not seeming to be in the slightest bit affected by this news.
“I was.” Tessa tried not to let disappointment seep into her voice. This relationship—if she could call it that—had led her imagination in many directions, but none of them were pointing to any kind of longevity. Why had she let herself get carried away? “But I was thinking of changing my ticket to give me a bit more time here.”
“Sweet.” He reached out and tweaked her right nipple.
“Ouch!” She slapped his hand away. “That hurt.”
“Kiss it better?” He leaned in.
Tessa pulled up the sheet. “Do you ever think about anything else?”
“Hmm. No, not really.” He laughed as he settled back on the pillow.
“Now that you know I’m leaving, why don’t you tell me something about yourself,” she suggested, deciding she wanted to know at least one detail about him before she left the island. Something other than how much he liked having sex.
“What do you want to know?” His eyes were dripping with lust, despite their morning activities.
“Tell me about your family.” She imagined sitting at a table with his big Greek family all staring at her with Kosta’s dark eyes.
He got out of bed and turned his back to her, pulling the curtain aside to look out the window, despite his naked state.
“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” she asked.
He shook his head without turning around.
“Are your parents still…alive?” she tried.
He nodded.
The only guy she’d ever met who made one-word answers look verbose. She decided to try something a little more open-ended. “Where do they live?”
He turned to look at her and a darkness crossed his face, an indication he’d told her as much as he was willing.
“Are they on the island?” she asked before the moment was lost. She half suspected he lived with them, which was why he’d never taken her back to his place.
He sighed as he slipped back into the bed and pulled the sheet over himself. “Yes, they’re on the bloody island. Now, enough of the interrogation, okay?”
“One more.” She held up her index finger. “Do you ever go back to Australia?”
“Come back here next summer if you want to see me,” he said, ignoring her question, but knowing exactly what she was asking.
“Do you want to see me?” She hated herself for fishing like this, but knew he wasn’t the sort to hand out sentiments without a little encouragement.
“I like seeing you. There are particular bits of you I especially like seeing.” He uncrossed his arms and slid a hand up her thigh.
“Why did you and your parents run away from Australia?” She pushed his hand away, only for him to return it to exactly where it had been.
“Who says we ran?” he asked.
“Me.” There was just something not quite right about what he was telling her.
“Maybe this is where we came from,” he said.
“Oh.” She hadn’t thought of that. She knew quite a few Europeans had left Australia and returned home once the war was far behind them. If you came from a place like Mykonos, returning home would be somewhat of a no-brainer. It was so beautiful here.
“Leave the questions.” He pulled her to him and pressed his lips to hers, his fingers tickling as he slid them higher up her thigh.
She tried unsuccessfully to suppress the delicious tingle his movements were sending racing up her spine. “Do you ever take a rest?”
“You just told me you’re going,” he said against her lips. “I have to make the most of it.”
“I’m sure you’ll find someone else after I’m gone.”
He kissed her without making any denials. Sometimes fishing didn’t always bring in your supper. With a man like Kosta you had to be content just sitting there with your line in the water.
He slid his tongue to her ear and bit her on the earlobe.
“Ouch,” she complained. “Stop hurting me.”
He could be so rough with his lustmaking. She was going to be covered in bruises by the time she returned to Melbourne. She’d have a hard time explaining to Millie how she got them.
“Let’s go for a walk.” She pulled away from him. They hadn’t spent a lot of time together outside her villa. The routine they’d slipped into involved him sneaking into her bed in the morning for her wake-up call, followed by him sleeping the day away while she went to lie on one of the beaches. She’d retu
rn in the afternoon to set the routine in reverse—she’d wake him up and they’d spend some more time in bed before he went home (wherever that was) to get ready to work the night shift at one of the bars on Paradise Beach.
She’d been to see him at his work a few times but had quickly gotten annoyed by the mostly male clientele ogling Kosta. Had it really only been two weeks ago that she’d been the one to stand at the bar with a coupon for a free drink clutched in her hand as she’d openly stared at the gorgeous bartender? That was before he’d taken the voucher and laughed, telling her it was fake, which was weird given she’d found it underneath the door of her villa only that morning. But he’d given her the drink anyway and, as a result, she’d given him her number.
“I don’t want to go for a walk. I’m wrecked.” He scowled, looking exactly like Millie when she wouldn’t let her watch television. “I’ve been working all night.”
“You didn’t seem so tired a minute ago.” She slid off the bed and stooped to pick up the blue cotton sundress she’d been wearing during her call with Elvira. She’d never been the sort to mind her own company, but it would be nice to spend some time with Kosta behaving like a semi-normal couple before she went home.
“Be like that then.” He turned his back to her. “Have a nice walk.”
She’d normally have dived back into the bed and tried to placate him, but not today. It was bad enough waking up to Elvira’s guilt trip. She didn’t need Kosta sulking like an overgrown toddler. She’d already listened to Millie having a tantrum today.
Poor, sweet Millie. She didn’t know any better. Kosta most certainly did. Or at least, he should.
She found her bikini and put it on. It was still a little wet from the day before and she winced, not enjoying the sensation of the cool fabric against her skin. Without giving Kosta another glance, she pulled her sundress over her head, slipped her feet into her sandals, and slung her beach bag over her shoulder.
It was a beautiful day outside and she paused on the front step, squinting as she shuffled in her bag for her sunglasses.
The door opened behind her and Kosta stepped out, wearing the clothes he’d arrived in.
She gasped as pleasure flooded through her. She hadn’t expected him to come after her. She should’ve told him she was going home a lot sooner.
He leaned down to kiss her on the cheek. Her stomach flipped in the same way it had that first night at the bar and she cursed herself for letting him win back her affections so easily.
“Safe travels,” he said directly in her ear, before giving her a sharp slap on her bottom. He walked off down the smooth concrete path away from the villa.
She knew she should say something, but, instead, stood gaping at him. She hadn’t had her line in the water for Kosta. She was the fish on his bloody line, dangling at his mercy while he decided if he’d take her home or throw her back. He had all the power.
He’d had it since her first night on this bloody island when he’d laughed at that stupid coupon and handed her a drink with that glint in his eye. She was a little rusty with men, but she hadn’t forgotten what that glint meant. He’d called her as soon as he’d finished his shift and appeared on her doorstep with a gentle knock on her door. That was about the only thing he ever did gently, she thought, rubbing her behind.
“Creep!” she called out, fully aware it was too late for him to hear. He’d already gotten on his black Moped, his eyes firmly on the road, not her.
Not wanting to face the crowded beaches or her lonely room, she opted instead for the guest pool. She needed a swim to wash the scent of Kosta from her skin. The cool water would feel good.
The dozen sun lounges were already taken up by a line of tanned muscle clad men in Speedos. One of them looked like Ricky Martin, another like Leonardo DiCaprio.
She sighed. They were divine. The whole lot of them.
And she was invisible.
It was perfect. A place where she could be completely alone while in the company of others. These men would no more hit on her than they would a two-hundred-pound gorilla. Truth be known, the gorilla might have more chance.
The pool was empty, serving more as a scenic backdrop than anything to be actually used. It was a waste.
Mykonos was a hilly island and the group of villas she was staying in were nestled up high, looking out across Mykonos town. The downside of this was having to trek down what was little more than a goat track to get to the main shopping precinct and bus stops. The upside was the view. It was nothing short of spectacular.
White houses crowded the barren land like frosting on a cake. Churches with blue domes and large bells hanging from archways were scattered amongst the houses, and a row of windmills sat in the distance, their thatched roofs contrasting with the miles of ocean that hung beneath the horizon like a shimmering curtain. Cobbled laneways spilling with pink bougainvillaea twisted their way through the town like the world’s most beautiful maze.
She could never get tired of looking at it, like Kosta had clearly gotten tired of looking at her.
She dropped her belongings onto a plastic chair, pulled off her dress and launched herself into the pool.
The shock of the cool water washed thoughts of Kosta from her mind for a few blissful seconds, surfacing only as she rose to draw air into her lungs.
She wasn’t going to cry. She’d always known this was a holiday fling. Maybe it was easier this way. Instead of pining for him when she returned home, she could channel that energy into hating him.
Although, somehow, that seemed like it would take up even more energy.
Loving and hating were such similar emotions. Both were overwhelming. They could consume all your thoughts, make you sick or make you cry. People had killed for both.
Was it better to hate loving someone or to love hating them? Both sounded exhausting.
Right now, she didn’t love Kosta, nor did she hate him.
She just felt like a fool. She should’ve stuck to her original plan of island hopping. Or returned to London with her parents and spent some more time with them.
She could’ve gone to see Darcy and Darcy, who were still on the island somewhere. The fact that her brother had married a woman with the same name as him never failed to amuse Tessa, until right now when nothing seemed funny anymore.
Although, the two Darcys were over the other side of Mykonos in Fokos Beach and had made it very clear to all who’d attended the wedding that they wanted to be left alone. Why invite everyone to come with you to the island to celebrate your wedding, only to turn your back the moment you had the ring on your finger? They would’ve been better to get married in London like normal people and then run away to Fokos their brains out.
Oh well, she thought, swimming to the other end of the pool. She couldn’t change how she’d spent the last fortnight, but she could decide how she’d spend the next one.
She’d fly home tomorrow as planned.
Millie would be so happy to see her. Elvira would too, only in a different way. And Paul of course, if he was home. They’d missed her.
Kosta wouldn’t miss her.
And she wouldn’t miss him, either. She’d miss having sex with him maybe, but she wouldn’t miss the rest of him. She didn’t even know what the rest of him was like. He could be the president of Greece for all she knew.
She returned to her villa to see two policemen leaning on their motorcycles in the driveway. First, Ricky and Leonardo at the pool, now Taylor Lautner and James Franco at the villas. Was the universe torturing her like this on purpose?
She thought of the policemen she’d seen in Melbourne or the bobbies back in London. They didn’t look like this. How did Greece do it? Was looking like a god a prerequisite for entering the force over here?
As she was putting her key in the door, a woman came out of the neighbouring villa. Tessa had noticed her before, mainly because she was one of the thinnest women she’d ever seen. Even thinner than Elvira if that were possible. She shook her head when
she saw the police as she adjusted the straps of her dress as they desperately tried to cling to her bony shoulders.
“What’s going on?” asked Tessa.
“Oh, it’s horrible,” the woman said in an accent Tessa couldn’t quite place. Somewhere from northern Europe maybe. “A girl in one of the villas down there was murdered. Awful.”
“Oh my god.” Tessa’s jaw fell open as she looked to where the woman was pointing and saw more policemen gathered. “That’s terrible. When?”
“I don’t know,” the woman said. “A few days ago, I think. They only just found her as the people in the next villa complained about the smell.”
Tessa blanched. How horrible to think something so awful could happen so close to where she’d been sleeping. Not to mention all the other things she’d been doing.
“Be careful, will you?” The woman went to touch her on the arm but seemed to change her mind before she made contact.
“I’m leaving tomorrow, anyway.” Tessa tugged at the strap of her bag.
“Just as well,” the woman said. “Be safe.”
Tessa nodded her thanks and watched the woman walk off down the driveway, hoping that wherever she was heading it was to have a good meal.
Leaving the island was definitely the right decision. After dreading her departure all week, now she couldn’t wait for it to arrive.
That girl being murdered was an omen.
It was time to go home.
11 Days Before The Break
Elvira knew she was dreaming but somehow that didn’t make it any less real. She tried to drag herself awake, but the images kept coming, just as they always did.
“Look at me,” Amelia cried to her uncle.
Tino’s dark Italian eyes twinkled as he watched Amelia jump into the pool, demonstrating another pose in her never-ending repertoire.
“Well done, bella!” he said, using the Italian word for beautiful as he clapped enthusiastically. She really was beautiful, her mane of black curls refusing to be held down by the water, bouncing back to their halo-like form the moment her head broke the surface.
