Chapter 29
I’ve had photo updates from Dimitri over the weeks and I’m thrilled to see the rendering on the rear walls has been completed, and the bathroom finished. There’s a chrome heated rail on the walls, and the towels are neatly stacked on a corner shelf. I can hardly wait to get back there and see it in real life.
The front garden looks inviting too and all of the interior painting has now been finished. I gave a key to Phoebe, who has agreed to take delivery of a huge bed and bedding next week, so at least I will be able to stay there on my next visit.
It’s nice to receive updates from Dimitri, yet I kind of wish he would call me for an actual chat, but maybe he is trying to keep things professional. He also lets me know that the balcony is almost in place and will send me a photo when it is.
After dutifully crossing off the days on my desk calendar every morning, it’s finally time to head over to Corfu for another long weekend, and before I know it, I am hailing a taxi at the airport to take me to Roda. The plane was full of holidaymakers, and I wonder how the builders are getting on in their summer jobs down at the harbour. I’m looking forward to the holiday vibe of the summer season, as I did when I was growing up. It excites me to think that next time I come out, it will be with Mum and Dad to reveal the holiday home to them, so that they can make use of it later in the year too.
Climbing out of the taxi, I pay the driver and realise this will be the first time I will be spending the evening in my house rather than at the holiday apartment.
I text Dimitri and inform him of my arrival, although I expect he will out on the boat with the tourists. En route to the villa, I call in at Thea’s bakery, and grab myself a slice of feta and spinach pie and she greets me with a hug and a wide smile.
‘I am so excited the house is finished. Are you looking forward to spending your first night there?’ she asks, sliding my lunch into a paper bag.
‘I really am. I can hardly believe it.’
‘Oh, and I have a housewarming present for you. I hope you like it.’
She reaches beneath the counter, before presenting me with something wrapped in lilac tissue paper. It’s a black-and-white framed photograph of the village harbour in days gone by.
‘It is a copy of a photo my grandfather took when Roda was a small fishing village. I hope you like it.’
‘Thea, it’s perfect! Thank you. I can already see it on the white walls of my house, it really is so thoughtful.’
Passing the village green near the church, I notice Dimitri getting out of his car, parked just off the main street. He opens the passenger door with a smile, and a young woman with tumbling dark curls steps out. It definitely can’t be his older sister, as even from here I can see that she is the wrong age.
My appetite suddenly deserts me, as I head towards my house.
‘Claudia, you are here.’
Phoebe appears as soon as I walk up the path, interrupting my disappointed thoughts.
‘You are okay? Sorry, are you okay?’ She smiles.
‘What, yes, I’m fine.’ I plaster a smile on my face. ‘How are you?’
‘Good, fine. Yesterday, I stayed with my granddaughter overnight. I have just come home.’
‘Oh lovely, are they well?’
‘Nai, very good. Jason, he grows up so fast.’ She smiles again as she mentions his name. ‘I am sure he grows every few weeks in between my visits.’
As I search for my keys and invite my first visitor inside, I think of how I am a short walk away from my own parents, yet Phoebe’s granddaughter has almost an hour’s drive from her village, as she is unable to purchase a house in the area she grew up in.
Even in the space of a few short weeks since I last visited, the temperature has soared, and now, at the end of June, it’s a warm and balmy evening.
I glance up at the steps leading to the bedroom, noticing the balcony is covered in blue plastic sheeting. I’m about to head up and take a look, when my phone rings. It’s Dimitri.
‘Claudia, are you at the villa yet?’
‘I’ve literally just arrived. I’m about to remove the blue plastic from the balcony.’
‘Wait there, I will be over in two minutes. I want to see your face as you see it.’
‘Right, okay sure. I’ll head inside and make a brew,’ I say, gesturing for Phoebe to follow me.
It feels so good now that the gas and electricity are connected. It feels almost like a home; it’s just awaiting some furniture and finishing touches and it really will feel like a second home.
‘Come.’ Phoebe guides me upstairs, and flinging the bedroom door open there is my bed, assembled and waiting, complete with crisp white bedding.
‘You’ve assembled the bed! I was kind of expecting to sleep on a mattress this evening, and then spend the day putting it together tomorrow.’
‘You think I did that?’ She laughs. ‘No, it was Dimitri, he has the muscles.’ She lifts her arm and touches her biceps. ‘But I help with the bedding.’
A few minutes later, Dimitri arrives. Alone.
‘Claudia, hi, how are you?’ He squeezes me in a hug, and despite trying to deny having any attraction towards him, I feel my pulse quicken.
‘I’m fine, thank you, thanks for coming over, and for putting the bed together. I really did not expect you to do that, you have gone above and beyond.’
‘It did not take long.’ He shrugs.
‘Are you not busy at the harbour?’ I ask.
‘I have taken a few tourists out today, but the last trip has finished. I have just returned from taking a friend somewhere.’
So the striking brunette was a friend?
‘It’s good to see you,’ I tell him.
‘You too. And before we reveal your balcony rail, take a look at the garden,’ he says, heading downstairs and out towards the rear of the house.
Phoebe tells me she will finish making the tea, and Dimitri leads me to the back garden. The rendered walls of the house are gleaming as bright as snow in the sunshine. I notice two new pots against the wall. To my surprise, the white wall has a centrepiece of a blue shuttered door at the centre, which, when opened, reveals a mirror.
‘Oh my goodness, who did that? It’s beautiful.’
‘I found it in a reclamation yard, and thought it would look good, so I bought it for you. I think it looks like a real Greek garden now.’
My eyes fall on two pots sitting on the floor against the wall, one a terracotta pot filled with a thriving rosemary plant, the other a coloured heather in shades of mauve and yellow in an amber-coloured glazed pot.
‘And the plants?’
‘A gift from me also. I think the garden looks perfect.’
I can imagine sitting on the bench in the morning sipping coffee and listening to the sound of birdsong.
‘I couldn’t agree more, it looks wonderful! Thank you so much, Dimitri.’
I want to kiss him on the cheek, but something stops me.
The grey concrete stairs leading to the bedroom have been whitewashed, and I follow Dimitri as he leads the way to the top of them. The original rusty handrail has also been spruced up and painted black, much to my delight.
‘Are you ready?’ He can’t seem to keep the smile from his face as he places his hand on the blue tarpaulin sheet.
‘Ready. Although I feel as though we ought to have a bottle of champagne or something.’
‘To smash against your beautiful new balcony?’ He frowns.
He removes the sheet with a flourish, and I stare at the intricate, black metalwork of the balcony. It looks even more beautiful than I could have ever imagined, even though I had been shown a photograph. In between the curls and patterns are one or two tiny birds.
‘It’s wonderful,’ I say, almost holding back a tear as I slide my hand along the metalwork, and gazing out at that distant sea view. It’s everything I have ever dreamed of.
Downstairs, Phoebe has made tea and set out fruit loaf, which she spreads with butter, and it’s so delicious I ask her for the recipe. I think about the old recipe book in the drawer then.
‘So, it would seem that my work is here is done,’ says Dimitri later as I walk him outside.
‘It is, and I can’t thank you and the team enough for your hard work.’
‘You have paid us well,’ he reminds me. ‘And the Metaxa went down really well with my father.’
‘It was nothing, I’m glad he enjoyed it.’
We hesitate for a moment, neither of us seeming to want to leave, unless it’s just me who feels that way.
I want him to say something, as I can’t believe that’s the end of our time working together, but the fact is he was hired to do a job. After hesitating, I decide to bite the bullet and ask him over for dinner.
But as I am about to do so, his phone rings.
He covers his phone with his hand for a second, before wishing me all the best for the future.
‘No doubt I will see you around,’ he says, before quickly shaking me by the hand, and then he’s gone.