The Summer House in Santorini

by Samantha Parks

  “You’re absolutely right,” Anna said. “I don’t want to hurt you guys. You’re the best friends I’ve had in a long time.”

  This time, Elena did step forward, but she still didn’t reach out for Anna. “You’re a good friend, too,” she said. “But you’ve got to make up your mind what you’re going to do, or you’re not going to have options anywhere.”

  Anna nodded. “I know. I will.”

  Elena reached out and put a hand on Anna’s shoulder. Then someone knocked on the door, and a couple of seconds later it opened, and Nikos walked inside.

  Anna couldn’t stop her heart from surging at the sight of him. She knew he was probably on his way to meet Maria, but that didn’t stop her from being glad to see him.

  “What’s going on?” he said, seeing Anna crying and rushing over. He wrapped her in a hug, and the tears started to come harder and heavier. She leaned into his chest, feeling the wetness spread on his shirt, damp against her cheek.

  “Anna’s just having a little crisis,” Elena said from behind him, her exasperation with the situation clear from her tone.

  “Well, we’re here for you,” Nikos said. Anna looked up to see Elena rolling her eyes.

  “That’s okay,” Anna said. “I think I have to figure this one out alone. But thank you.” She pulled back from Nikos.

  “Well, I have some good news that might cheer you up,” he said. “Grab your phone and check your email. There should be one from Xenia.”

  Anna walked over to the table and picked up her phone, opening up her emails. The top one was from Marcus, just a series of question marks. She had gotten nearly a dozen of these over the last week, begging her to accept the prize. She flicked that one away to archive it. The next one was from Xenia, with the subject line “FWD: European Commercial Photography Awards.” She tapped on the email to read it, nearly dropped the phone as she did.

  Dear Xenia,

  We wanted to contact you about the photography featured in your recent marketing campaign for the Kamari Sands Resort. The photography was discovered and nominated by a member of our committee. It was a last-minute addition to the ballot, but we are pleased to inform you that the photos have been selected as the winning campaign for the “Hospitality Photography” category and shortlisted for the overall European Commercial Photography Award. The €10.000 prize for this category is to be split equally between you and your photographer, so if you would be so kind as to send through his or her details as well as your own, we would love to arrange the payment.

  Also, for being shortlisted for the €100.000 grand prize, you are to be invited to London for the award ceremony next month on Friday the 6th of September. Your hotel will be provided for the night of the ceremony, along with dinner and breakfast. Once we have your photographer’s contact information, we can send through the event details.

  We look forward to your reply.

  Kind regards,

  James Bennett, Chair, European Commercial Photography Awards

  “What is it?” Elena asked, craning her neck to try to read over Anna’s shoulder.

  “I won an award,” she whispered. “For the pictures of the resort.”

  “That’s amazing,” she said, and she actually smiled. “Well done, Anna. Those photos were incredible. You deserve it.”

  “Tell her about the grand prize,” Nikos said, raising his eyebrows.

  “What grand prize?”

  “It seems I won for the hospitality category,” Anna said, “but I’ve also been shortlisted for the European Commercial Photography Awards overall category.”

  Elena was definitely smiling now. Maybe things weren’t so irreparable between them after all. “That really is amazing,” she said, wrapping her arms around Anna for a moment. “Congratulations.”

  “Thank you,” she said, but she could barely get the words out with everything that was going through her mind. Her cheeks were still damp and her throat sore from crying and fighting with Elena. She needed to get some air. She needed to be alone.

  Anna looked up at Nikos. “Did you come just for this?” she asked. “You should probably be on your way to meet Maria.”

  Nikos shook his head. “I cancelled that,” he said, not making eye contact. Anna felt herself relax just a bit. “I actually came to get Elena.”

  “What? Why?” Elena asked. “Is everything okay?”

  “Yeah, fine,” he said. “But when I talked to Xenia, she seemed pretty desperate for someone else to work the bar, and you weren’t answering your phone.”

  “I’ve been a bit busy,” she said, catching Anna’s eye. “But, yeah, I’ll go.”

  “Sounds good,” he said. “It looks great in here, by the way, Anna. You’ve made a really lovely home of this old place.”

  Anna laughed softly. “Thanks,” she said. “Too bad I’m always working, and you two are the only ones who get to appreciate it.”

  “Well, then, you should have a party,” he said. “Have everyone from work and town over. Christen the place.”

  “Isn’t that what you do with boats?”

  “Meh, we’ll crack open a bottle of champagne on the patio,” he said with a wink. “It’ll be just as exciting, though admittedly less breezy.”

  “Sure,” Anna said after a moment. “I think that sounds like a great idea. I should have everything done by this weekend.”

  “Great, I’ll spread the word!” He started to walk out the door.

  “Hope you’re able to wrap everything up before then,” Elena said, holding Anna’s gaze as she gathered her things off the table. Then she followed Nikos out the door and pulled it closed behind her.

  Anna knew what she was saying. She was giving her an ultimatum. Anna needed to figure her shit out by the weekend, or Elena was out. And probably Nikos with her.

  Anna sat down on her new sofa and leaned against her new throw pillows. She really did love this place. It had started out as wanting a creative outlet, and then it was about carrying out her dad’s vision, bonding with him as she did. But somewhere along the way it had started to be for her and only her. Every detail was chosen and curated carefully. She loved every inch of the home she had created. She had put so much money into it, and even more time. She had fallen in love in this house, both with the island and the people who lived on it. When she thought about going back to a cramped studio apartment or house share in New York, she felt terrible. Between her friends and her house and her photography business, she had everything she could need here. She didn’t want to leave.

  And yet, she couldn’t shake the feeling that she should follow her father’s advice and cut ties. If she wasn’t one hundred per cent sure she could stay forever, then it was probably better for her to get out now. She may not have all of this back in New York, but she did have the possibility of the career she had always dreamed of, that she had wished for every day she sat behind a desk in the gallery staring up at photos she knew were no better than hers.

  She wished, not for the first time and probably not the last, that she could talk to her dad about everything. So she did the next best thing and picked up another of his letters. This one was thicker than the others, and as she opened it she saw why.

  It was actually two letters, and, instead of being to her mother like all the others, they were for her and Lizzy.

  Anna glanced briefly at Lizzy’s, curious about what it might say, but she quickly decided to put it aside and save it for her sister. She took the two pages meant for her and went into the bathroom, where she could see the sky changing color through the window. She sat down in the tub, as she’d taken to doing, and began to read.

  My dearest Anna,

  I’ve started letters to you every single year for the last nineteen, but this is the first time I’ve been brave enough to finish one and send it.

  I don’t know what your mother’s told you about me. I don’t know what you think of me. But one important thing is true: I love you. I always have. And I never betrayed you.

/>   If your mother has actually told you anything, you might have known that five years ago I had a heart attack. Well, I’ve actually had a few more since then. Eight, actually. They’ve all been pretty small, but they worry the doctors. I never let it worry me – it’s their job to worry, after all – but I had a pretty scary check-in today, and I knew that I had to write to you.

  Today is your twenty-fifth birthday. I can’t believe that you are a real, bonafide adult now. Every day I imagine what you look like, what you sound like, what you do… I’m not hoping for any certain thing. I just hope you’re happy. That’s all I’ve ever wanted for you and your sister.

  I have written plenty of letters to your mother, begging her to let me see you, and they have all come back unopened. I have no reason to think this will make it to you either. But after all these years, not knowing how many I have left, I know I can’t sit on what I have to say. I have to try.

  I can’t imagine what you think of me. If you believe what your mother has undoubtedly said, you probably hate me, and that’s fair. I guess that would be the worst-case scenario. But even in the best-case scenario, I’m a stranger. While you always have a home in Greece should you want it, even if just for a few days, I’m not writing you to beg you to come see me. I’ve done enough of that in my lifetime. No, I just wanted to tell you that I know you’re incredible and strong and passionate, and I am so proud of you. You always were so smart and so creative. Wherever you are in life, whatever you are doing, I know you’ll be doing what you love. I know you’re happy. I just know it. It is the greatest sadness of my life to not know you as you are now, but it is the greatest joy of my life that you are out there somewhere making me proud.

  I love you so much, Anna. It’s hard to know what to say after all these years to make you believe that, but I trust that if you ever get to read this letter, you’ll believe it. I have always loved you, and whatever happens after this life, I’ll be loving you then, too.

  Love,

  Your father

  In the middle of the island of Santorini is a village called Exo Gonia, the hills of which hide a bright yellow summer house that looks like it’s straight out of a story book. The quaint cottage was built by a man full of hopes and dreams for his future, but love and fate were unkind to him. When he died, the summer house was left in disrepair, broken and run-down. Hope had abandoned it long ago

  Until, one summer, the man’s daughter came to the island and found a home within the summer house. She mended it with her own hands, taking her father’s vision and bringing it to life in its walls and windows. And as she built and repaired and created, the hope and passion he had lost began to fill her as well. She chose each detail with great care, filling the home with love and laughter and good food. Her plan had been to create this oasis for another, but as she settled into her father’s footsteps and built upon his foundations, she began to wonder if it couldn’t be her home, after all.

  20

  A knock on the door shook Anna out of her reverie as she stared out the bathroom window over the island she had fallen in love with these last few weeks. She dried her hands and walked to the door, opening it to Nikos, who was standing on the stoop with a large, flat present.

  “Well, hello,” Anna said. “You should come around like this more often.”

  Nikos laughed. “Just a little housewarming gift, now that the place is done.”

  “Do you want to come in?”

  Nikos pointed over his shoulder. “It’s so nice outside. Should we just sit outside for a bit?”

  Anna nodded and pulled the door shut behind her. They walked over to the porch swing that had been installed the day before.

  “The patio looks amazing,” he said, raising his hand to the trellis running over them as they sat. “I can’t believe you did all of this in the last three days.”

  Anna had been very busy indeed. The porch swing had been easy compared to the trellis, which had been a walk in the park compared to the flat pack desk she had ordered. But now everything was finished, every little detail put together. She had wrapped things up, as Elena had said.

  Elena seemed to be giving her the benefit of the doubt that she would make a decision by tomorrow, offering to help with the last-minute party preparations. But Anna had wanted to finish the other things herself.

  “Yeah, it took me all night last night to get it finished. But now I just need to decide what to do with the wall over the desk.” She looked through the window at the blank white space.

  “About that,” Nikos said, handing over the gift. “Maybe this will help. It’s from Elena and me.”

  Anna unwrapped the present carefully, excited but not wanting to seem like a child on Christmas morning. When she peeled back the paper, she saw her own face staring back at her. And not just hers, but her father’s as well. Tears welled up in her eyes.

  “Nikos, this is incredible.”

  “Kostas’s girlfriend did it,” he said. “She takes commissions for people, so we sent her a picture of you, and she painted your dad from memory. We thought it was about time you had a picture together, even if it is just a watercolor.”

  Tears fell on the protective glass as Anna looked at the painting. Her dad looked so much older than she remembered him, which made sense. She had missed nearly twenty years. But yet, somehow, he seemed just right, too. Finally, she had a picture of him.

  “We weren’t sure for a while if it was a good idea, based on how you felt about him when you arrived, but we thought maybe things had changed.”

  “They have,” she said quietly. “Everything has changed.”

  For a short moment, Anna and Nikos sat silently on the swing, rocking back and forth, just enjoying each other’s company. The last few weeks had been hard on both of them, but they had come out the other side. They were alright. Anna knew that whether they would stay alright probably depended on what she chose to do, but she had decided to embrace just a little bit of hope. She scooted a bit to the left, closing the gap between them, and lay her head on his shoulder.

  First, she felt him stiffen for a moment, caught off guard by the advance. Then he relaxed, moving his arm to the back of the swing so her head came to rest on his chest. A few moments later, she felt him gently kiss the top of her head. They stayed like that, cuddling on the swing, until the sun set.

  They headed inside, and Nikos cracked open two beers from the fridge, handing one to Anna. The simple domesticity of the evening made her smile. Something had changed when she had read her father’s letter to her. She saw Marcus’s offer for what it truly was: an excuse. It was the easy way out to go with what she had always thought was right for her – status, clout, recognition. It was much harder to admit that she had been wrong.

  Now she knew what she wanted to do. What she needed to do. She just hoped Nikos still felt the same way.

  “What’s all that food in there?” Nikos said, gesturing toward the very full refrigerator.

  “Eirini brought it,” Anna replied, her voice shaking a bit. “She’s making a ton of food for the party tomorrow. I think that’s about half of it. I have to cook it all in the morning.”

  “I can’t believe there’s more to come. If she brings this much food again tomorrow, I feel like we could feed the island until—”

  “You were right,” Anna interrupted. As Nikos looked up at her, she felt her face go red and her breathing go shallow.

  “I usually am,” he said, taking a couple of tentative steps toward her. “About what exactly this time?” He was trying to play it cool, but she could tell from the way his brow kept knitting together that he knew exactly what she was saying.

  “Everything,” she said, smiling, and she felt like she was going to start crying. “About my dad. About this place. How I feel about it. How I feel about…” she trailed off, gulping as she started to tear up.

  He stepped closer still. “About what?”

  Her response came out in a whisper. “About you.”

  He was
standing in front of her now, toe to toe, both her feet firmly in this future. This opportunity. He put a hand on her waist as he lowered his forehead to hers. “Are you sure?” he asked, and she could feel how shaky his break was.

  “No,” she said honestly, the tears starting to fall. “At least not about anything else. I never have been. I could fail at my dreams just as spectacularly here as I did back home. But I am…” He met her gaze as she paused, and she felt certain of what she wanted, not just in that moment but every moment after. “Nikos, I—”

  “I love you,” he blurted out, and immediately his eyes went wide, as if he’d shocked himself. She laughed softly.

  “I love you, too.”

  Almost before she could even get the words out, his mouth closed around hers, and he was kissing her. He was kissing her, and he was pressing against her, and he was pressing her against the kitchen cabinets. She reached behind herself and put a hand on the counter, jumping up so that her face was even with his. She wrapped her legs around his waist as his hands grabbed at her back, at her sides, at her clothes, fistfuls of hair and fabric and flesh.

  He lifted her up and carried her to the bed, and she wrapped around him as tightly as if her life depended on it. And she felt like it did. Like everything had been hinging on this, and as they came unhinged together everything else was falling into place. Her hips rose to meet him as they kissed, his hunger for her evident in more ways than one. She sat up as he peeled off first her shirt and then his. She pressed up against the skin she had been admiring all this time, feeling his warmth seep into her. He kissed down her neck and her belly, unbuttoning her shorts as he reached them. He brought himself back up to her face and kissed her lips gently.

  “Are you sure?” he asked again, and this time she knew there was no turning back. But she was done going back. There was only forward. Only him. Only her. Only now.

  “I’m not sure about anything but this,” she said, kissing him back. And as he made his way back down her body past the point of no return, she sunk her head into the mattress and smiled.