One Greek Summer Wedding

Chapter 45

Cara felt sick. ‘But you can’t.’

She stood up, not really knowing the reason why she was standing up. She just felt enclosed suddenly and hot, very very hot.

‘It isn’t right,’ she continued. ‘I mean… you can’t do that just like that. Because your family tell you to. What happened to not caring about what other people think?’

She was wringing her hands together now and then she grabbed up a napkin from the table so she had something to hold, tear at.

‘It isn’t that I care about what they think,’ Akis countered. ‘I care about what might potentially happen to them if I don’t do it. Cara, why don’t you come away from the edge? Sit down.’

‘Potentially happen,’ Cara said. ‘There are literally hundreds of scenarios that could potentially happen to any one of us at any given time. Car accident! Boat accident! Unlucky genetics! And you are trading your whole life for a tiny chance that a tale as old as time is true? And… what about your dancing? And the piano? I mean, they are going to have you in robes and make you grow a beard and chant and there won’t be time for, for any of the amazing talents you have!’

‘Cara, come away from the edge, please,’ Akis said, getting to his feet too.

‘I’ve just told you about my trauma with a dog that’s now probably got almost as many riches as this maharajah and you’re going to let your fears govern your decisions and be like, some kind of modern-day martyr! Well, do you know what I think? I think it’s fucking crazy!’

She pointed the napkin at him and then she felt herself lose her balance. Her eyes widened in shock and she tried to right herself but it was to no avail. Before she had a chance to even think another thought, she was crashing down into the sea.

Akis ducked under the rope and jumped into the water too. It wasn’t deep but there were rocks and Cara had fallen rather than slipped in by choice. She was swimming, not far from him, spluttering, obviously drenched and still looking taken aback.

‘Cara,’ he said, swimming towards her.

‘Why did you do that?’ Cara shouted. ‘I can swim! You didn’t need to go all Saving Lives at Sea on me!’

‘Are you OK?’ Akis asked, unperturbed by her reaction. ‘You did not hit any of the rocks.’

‘Just leave me!’ Cara yelled, trying to swim back towards the edge until finally she could stand. ‘Let me be embarrassed on my own!’

‘Cara,’ Akis said, putting a hand on her arm. ‘There is nothing to be embarrassed about.’

‘No? Because everyone having a quiet drink up there is now looking at the insane person who just fell into the sea! And if there’s one thing I hate, it’s being looked at.’ She shook him off.

As if she was proving a point, she took a section of her soaking wet hair and drew it over her face like it was a shield from the diners who were paying them a bit of attention.

‘Come here,’ Akis said. ‘No one is going to look at you, OK?’ He put his arm around her, shielding her from any onlookers until they made it to the side. ‘Come, sit down.’

He helped her onto the rocks and then he sat alongside her.

‘I’m an idiot,’ Cara stated, hair still hanging across her face. ‘And I shouldn’t have said those things to you. I just… I don’t know… it was a shock.’

He nudged her arm with his. ‘But the very first time we met you thought I was a priest.’

‘Because of your clothes!’

‘Ah, and here I am thinking it was my wisdom and understanding.’

She sniffed. ‘Well, you do have that too.’

‘Yes?’

‘Which is why you would probably make a very good priest.’

‘You think so?’

He could tell she was reticent about the statement, was hiding her eyes. He had never wanted to look into them more.

‘I just… reacted from a selfish place. Because, you know, when I go back to the UK I’ll be thinking about all the things we did together – the fish restaurant, the boat, the remnants of the castle – and then all the things we said to each other about what life means.’

‘A width of things,’ he said softly.

‘I’ll be thinking of you as that person. Not as a priesty person.’

‘A priesty person?’

‘And, OK, I admit I might even be thinking of lying on that stage and having you dance on top of me.’

‘Really?’

‘Maybe.’ Her lips edged into a smile.

‘Nothing else?’ Akis asked. He could feel the warmth of her, right next to him, hotter than the sun that was quickly drying their soaking skin.

‘Well… I don’t know.’

He knew what he would remember hardest.

He reached for her then, his thumb and forefinger gently touching her chin, tilting her head into his space, brushing her hair away.

‘I remember kissing you,’ Akis told her. ‘And pretending that I had kissed you to stop you panicking. But, in truth, I was panicking. Inside. Because there was only one reason I wanted to kiss you.’ He took a breath, looking into her eyes. ‘Simply because I wanted to kiss you. Because there has never been anyone else I have felt this connection with and now, it has grown even stronger.’

She was trembling. He could feel it running through her as he held her jaw. He hesitated, kept himself there, not wanting to scare her.

And then she put the flat of her hand to his cheek and pressed her fingers lightly against his jaw. ‘I feel the same.’

He didn’t wait a second longer. He pressed his lips to hers and she moved into his arms, getting closer, kissing harder. Wet hair, wet lips, his heart beating furiously as he held her. The sun prickling the back of his neck, his internal temperature carried on soaring, until finally they both needed to take a breath.

‘Did I just kiss a priest?’ Cara asked, her cheeks a little flushed.

He smiled. ‘A fake one for now.’ He paused. ‘But, you know, I have spent quite some time in that costume.’

‘Oh, Akis, this whole situation is mad,’ Cara said, sighing.

‘I agree. It comes to something when a blessing of snakes is not the craziest thing happening in life.’

‘And I have to sing on a boat tonight,’ Cara said. He felt her shiver, as if the realisation had hit her all over again.

‘You have got this,’ Akis said, taking her hand and holding it tight. ‘But only if you want it.’

‘Yes,’ Cara said, nodding. ‘I know that now.’

‘The song,’ Akis said. ‘That you sang for the contest. What was it?’

Cara sighed. ‘It was something else that hurt me.’ She swept her hair behind her ears. ‘Because I didn’t just sing the song. I wrote it.’

Akis nodded. ‘OK.’

‘OK?’ Cara queried.

He squeezed her hand again. ‘OK, that is the song you’re going to sing tonight.’