The Greek Villa: A beautiful and utterly addictive summer holiday rom com

Chapter 35

I keep looking at flights and am almost tempted to return to Greece the following weekend. But I am sustained by video calls from Dimitri, and manage somehow to not allow my heart to rule my head.

‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder,’ my mum reminds me as I have Sunday lunch with my parents. ‘Don’t go running over there every five minutes, you don’t want to appear too keen,’ she continues as she thinks men ought to do all the running. ‘Faint heart never won fair lady, and all that. Besides, you need to have a chance to miss each other,’ is another piece of her advice.

‘Do you think so? Isn’t there also a saying, “Out of sight out of mind”?’

‘Oh, don’t be silly.’ She laughs. ‘You have only been apart for five minutes. Your grandfather went to war you know, and all my mother had for years was letters. True love can survive anything.’

‘Maybe you’re right, but I suppose only time will tell.’

Is it true love? I wonder. If it is, then maybe it really can survive the distance.

I’m halfway through Mum’s delicious apple crumble and custard for dessert, when Mum takes a call from Josh.

‘Oh, that’s marvellous! Your sister is here, do you want to tell her too?’

I take the phone from Mum, who is smiling from ear to ear and Josh tells me that they have had an offer accepted for the house near Manchester.

‘And we’ve had a lot of interest in our place here, so fingers crossed we should be in before the end of the year.’

I daydream of us all sitting around the table at Christmas, little George playing with his toys.

The following week in work passes in a blur, as it is the height of the holiday season and more passports than ever are being processed, along with the usual last-minute applications from people who make daily calls for updates.

It’s a Friday work from home day, and at lunchtime I’m sitting in my tracksuit eating some lunch and thinking about messaging Dimitri. I imagine him out in the sunshine, chatting to tourists on the boats, and have a yearning to be there too. But maybe Mum is right, about appreciating time together even more if you spend time apart.

I’m thinking about this, when I receive a message from Dimitri, telling me an Amazon driver is trying to deliver a gift to me, but cannot find the apartment.

‘A gift?’

‘Yes. He has called my number, saying he cannot find the apartment. Maybe you could go outside and look for the van.’

‘Sure, it’s perfect timing, as I am just taking a break. I’ll call you back shortly.’

I walk downstairs, excitedly wondering what gift Dimitri might have sent me. Maybe it’s something Greek to remind me of Corfu. Or perhaps it is something more personal, like a piece of jewellery.

I take a glance outside, then walk to the end of the path, in search of the delivery driver. Whatever I was expecting, it certainly wasn’t what I find, strolling towards me in the street.

‘Dimitri!’ My hand flies to my mouth as I am almost rooted to the spot. ‘It’s you, it’s really you!’

I practically run to him, before sinking into his soft embrace, wondering whether I am actually dreaming.

‘So, are you going to invite me in?’ he asks, after kissing me right there on the doorstep. ‘It’s freezing out here.’

‘I can’t believe you are here.’

I can’t stop looking at him, wondering if I close my eyes, he might just disappear.

We are sitting on the sofa, him clutching a coffee.

‘Oh, and if you think it’s cold now, just wait until December.’

‘I had to come. I heard Liverpool are playing an important match tomorrow.’ He grins.

‘Ah so you really are crazy about them?’

‘I am crazy about you,’ he says, placing his coffee cup down and kissing me. ‘I could not stop thinking about you, so I thought I would surprise you.’

‘You have certainly done that.’ We’re sitting snuggled together. ‘I think this might be the most romantic thing anyone has ever done. Aren’t you meant to be working on the boat though?’

‘As it is only for the weekend, it was easy to arrange cover. There are plenty of people willing to take over for a few days,’ he explains. ‘I had to see you, I could not wait for another few weeks. I hope I haven’t ruined your weekend plans.’

He clearly doesn’t share my mum’s philosophy of thinking absence makes the heart grow fonder, I’m delighted to say.

‘Well, I was thinking of doing a little shopping, maybe eating out, followed by a relaxing day on Sunday, starting with a long lie-in.’

‘That sounds perfect. But maybe first, we need to go to a supermarket.’

‘What for?’

‘The ingredients for that Greek breakfast I promised you.’

Strolling hand in hand through town heading to a large store, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.

‘Tomorrow, we could go on a city sightseeing bus if you like,’ I tell him, as we walk. ‘It takes in all the main tourist attractions, as well as some of the places the Beatles sang about in their songs. Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields and so on.’

‘Perhaps I need to go shopping for a warmer coat first.’ He pulls his jacket tightly around him, and I tell him he can borrow one of my dark woollen scarves if he likes.

‘And I hate to tell you, but Liverpool are playing an away match at Chelsea, I think.’

‘So I came all this way for nothing?’ He shakes his head, and I push him playfully on the arm.

‘Then we could finish off with a meal at the Greek taverna on Bold Street, if you like. Gosh, I still can’t believe that you are actually here.’

‘Maybe I was hoping to try the local delicacies of England. You do not eat English food in Greece, do you?’

‘Of course, what am I thinking? You will be spoilt for choice here, there are restaurants with every international cuisine you can think of. Probably more than English restaurants actually, but there is always fish and chips.’

‘You’re going to take me to the chippy?’ he asks in the worst Liverpool accent ever, that has me roaring with laughter.

As we head home with our shopping, I feel pure joy in my heart. I have no doubts now.

Dimitri couldn’t bear to wait any longer to see me, so whatever the future holds I know I will face it with a certainty that we will do our best to make things work. It wasn’t so long ago that I was unprepared to take a risk on a new relationship, happy on my own, too frightened to let anyone into my heart again.

But that’s the thing with love: it can creep up on you when you least expect it.

And once that happens, as a line in a certain song says, Love changes everything.