One Greek Summer Wedding

Chapter 23

‘Please tell me we haven’t stolen our drinks,’ Cara said as she tried to keep pace with Akis alongside the edge of the marina, water lapping softly at the floating pontoon they had dropped down onto.

‘I will pay Mario when we get back. Do not worry. Ah, here we are. This one.’

Before Cara could say anything else, Akis had sprung on board a motorboat that looked like it could star in a commercial for any exclusive high-end brand. It was white and blue, all sleek lines and glossy paintwork, exactly like something Margot had once turned up on at the docks in Bristol.

‘Please tell me we aren’t stealing a boat,’ she said, watching Akis do something clever with knots on ropes.

‘Come on, Cara, where is your sense of adventure? That thick, width of life you speak of?’

‘I don’t remember saying anything about grand larceny!’

‘I do not know those English words. It is a shame.’

‘Akis!’

‘Relax, Cara, your future maybe begins right here!’

She folded her arms across her chest. ‘My future is not going to begin with getting arrested in a foreign country.’

He turned and faced her then, holding the rope in his hands. ‘How sexy and dangerous does that sound, no?’

She swallowed. It did sound sexy and dangerous. It sounded like it belonged in someone else’s life. Someone without anxiety. Someone who dived at life, not hid in the corner of a warehouse behind suitcases checking Seb’s Instagram.

‘It doesn’t sound like the behaviour of a priest,’ she replied.

‘Then it is a good thing that there are no priests here.’ He held out his hand.

‘I’m not getting on this boat until you assure me we aren’t stealing it.’

‘I promise we are not stealing it,’ he answered a little too quickly.

‘Akis!’

‘I am being honest with you, I swear. Now, give me your hand.’

She didn’t know if she had offered her hand out but suddenly she was being pulled on board and she landed first on the padded seating and then stepped down onto the deck, the vessel swaying a little.

‘OK, let me just find the key and we can get out of here,’ Akis said, opening small doors in the panelling. ‘Ah! Here it is!’

Cara gazed out over the other boats and realised how crazy this was. She was on a speedboat – possibly about to be a stolen speedboat – in Greece, looking at yachts that probably cost more than a substantial-sized home and, for the first time in a long time, Margot had no idea where she was. As the engine of the boat roared into life, she was struck with a pang of guilt. Perhaps she ought to check her phone. Margot might be worrying and she wouldn’t want her to worry. She put her hand to the zip on the small bag that was over her shoulder, but then she had second thoughts. Margot had done something unforgiveable by saying she would sing at this wedding. Maybe an hour or so of wondering would pave the way to resetting some boundaries…

‘Are you ready?’ Akis called to her.

‘You’re making it sound like we’re about to take off!’ Cara said over the engine noise.

‘Ah, well, there is a speed limit in the harbour but after that…’

‘Akis!’

‘Sit, relax, we do not need a high note to bring out the dolphins in Corfu.’

Akis hadn’t driven a boat in so long. Why was he even doing it now? It was as if, with this priest curse hanging over him and ever since he had met Cara, suddenly he needed to grasp at everything he loved doing, like if he didn’t it would all be lost to him. And then there was how Cara felt about life. That mind overworking all the time, the fear that took hold when she dared to place a toe over the line of her comfort zone. For some reason he wanted to show her everything he loved doing too.

He looked at her now, leaning up at the front, the humid breeze blowing through her hair as they rode through the water. This was both luxury and simplicity. It wouldn’t matter to him what kind of boat they were on – this high-powered, expensive one or the smallest vessel with oars – being on the sea was pure escapism.

‘Cara!’ he called to her.

She turned her head, hands still gripping the rail.

‘Do you want to take a turn at driving?’

‘What?’

‘I said, do you want to take a turn at driving the boat?’

‘Oh no, that’s OK. I don’t have a licence to drive boats.’

‘Neither do I,’ he answered, slowing the engine.

‘Are you joking?’

He laughed. ‘Cara, come here. Drive the boat.’

He watched her carefully shift herself backwards until she could stand and then slowly she made her way towards him, until she was standing by the wheel.

‘OK, so, all you have to remember is it is nothing like driving a car,’ he said.

‘I don’t actually have a licence to drive a car either,’ Cara replied.

‘Wow, OK, well, maybe, in this case, it is an advantage for you.’ He drew her forward, positioning her in front of the controls. ‘So, all you have to do is very small movements, like tiny corrections. You keep your eyes in front of you and maintain your course and you make little adjustments with the wheel.’

‘It’s so dark,’ Cara said. ‘The sea and the sky.’

‘But adjust your eyes. Everything else is brighter. The lights from the land, the stars above.’

‘I can’t look at the stars if I have to keep my eyes on our course,’ Cara said, hands gripping the wheel.

‘OK, I will look at the way. You look up at the stars.’

He watched her tilt back her head and look up.

‘Oh, wow,’ she gasped. ‘I haven’t seen anything like that before. It’s like you can see every single star in the universe. It looks like… a map of diamonds.’

He held his breath, remembering he had said something so similar the first night his father had taken him and Cosmos out on his fishing boat. Cosmos was afraid they would catch a shark in the nets and refused to look at anything. Akis, on the other hand, had wanted to look at everything.

Suddenly, Akis realised he’d looked up too and that he hadn’t been watching their direction. Adaptation was needed. He put his hands over Cara’s and gently rotated the wheel a quarter turn and waited for the boat to settle.

‘Signomi,’ he said. ‘Sorry, I was…’

‘Looking at the stars,’ she answered.

And there it was again, that tension beginning in his gut and quickly sliding south. Sexual definitely. But it was more than that. It was something inside him, recognising something inside her. He couldn’t hold her hands any more and as he let go, so did she. He grabbed the wheel and she took a step back.

‘Sorry,’ Cara said. ‘I was a poor co-pilot.’

‘Mate,’ he corrected.

‘Mate,’ she repeated.

The ‘friends’ terminology wasn’t lost on him and he knew it wasn’t the humidity that was making him perspire a little. What he needed was a cold shower. Or…

‘We should go swimming,’ he announced like he was in charge of a tour itinerary. ‘I know a place.’

He didn’t wait for Cara to respond, he simply increased the speed a little and hoped the noise of the engines would drown out his thoughts.