Chapter 16
16
MOLLY, JANETTE AND SIOBHAN’S APARTMENT, KASSIOPI
Why was it so hard to take the perfect photo for Insta when she was in one of the most perfect locations? Molly sighed and moved her lip product a few millimetres to the left next to the bright yellow coffee cup and saucer she had positioned there. It just wasn’t popping and she needed it to pop. Story views were down, post views were stable but not growing. It needed to be better before she launched for real. And she was still putting that off because, although her products were great, it was one thing to have small-scale product samples, but something very different to ‘push the button’ on real-life operations with customers able to own them… She’d decided to wait, keep up with the ‘coming soon’ message until she was 100 per cent ready with her ultimate foundation and was confident production could cope with what she hoped were viral numbers.
‘Is that coffee? I really need coffee! Or more of whatever they put in the cocktails last night!’
Before Molly could say anything, Siobhan had picked up the yellow cup and put it to her mouth, taking a hearty swig.
‘Ugh! It’s cold!’
‘Yes!’ Molly answered. ‘Because it’s a prop that’s been sat here for half an hour. I’m trying to take some make-up pics while the light is like this.’
‘While the light is eye-burning, you mean,’ Siobhan said, dropping her sunglasses from her forehead to cover her eyes and half of her face with the size of them. Then she put the cup back down. ‘Sorry.’
‘It doesn’t matter,’ Molly said, sighing. ‘None of them were any good anyway.’
‘A bit like our karaoke competition last night. Isn’t that right, Janette?’
Molly looked to the patio door and there was her mum, pink hair up in the air like she had fallen asleep inside a tumble drier. The hair was very different to the blonde locks in Vaggelis’s photo album last night. But, as much as Molly wanted to ask her mum more questions about the captain of The Greek Dynamo , she wasn’t sure she was going to get very far when her mum never wanted to talk about it.
‘We slayed them with our duet of “Lay all your love on me”,’ Janette said, coming out onto the balcony.
‘Oh no,’ Molly said, picturing the scene. ‘You didn’t get on any tables, did you?’ And why hadn’t they mentioned any of this on the walk back from the harbour last night? Oh yes, because they had taken that opportunity to quiz her on her night with Christos while Janette had hiccupped between every second word. At the time Molly had wondered whether this reaction was a reaction to her going out with Christos, a distraction so her mum didn’t have to answer any questions about Vaggelis. But Molly had decided no one could fake indigestion that bad. Last night with Christos had been all kinds of nice , and she couldn’t give it a better, more descriptive word than ‘nice’ right now because it had been some kind of crazy mix of a date-getting-to-know-you-better-but-it’s-only-a-will-transaction-kind-of-thing. But she had liked it. Despite all her curiosity about Vaggelis and her mum’s history, that was the overriding feeling this morning.
‘Actually, your mum got on a chair on top of the table and started trying to encourage a small boy to get on a chair balanced on her chin,’ Siobhan continued.
‘What?!’ Molly said, looking back at her mum.
‘She’s exaggerating and it wasn’t like I was a complete novice at it. It was a trick Vaggelis used to do.’ Janette tutted and reached for the yellow cup.
‘Tell that to the family from Scunthorpe who were ready to call the police.’
‘To be honest, it might have been better if we’d called the place that takes in stray animals, the boy’s little sister was practically feral, and as for the dad! The way that man spoke to me, it wouldn’t surprise me if he was the starring role in a true crime series one day soon.’
Wow . It seemed Molly had missed quite the evening out. ‘You didn’t get banned from anywhere, did you?’
There was no immediate response and Siobhan looked to Janette and Janette looked back to Siobhan as if this was a Mastermind question they were hoping they could pass on.
‘I… don’t think so,’ Siobhan said and then she began to pat her legs down as if she was looking for something. ‘Phew! And no ankle monitor so we’re good to accompany you when you go and see all your goodies today! What time is it again?’
‘I… er… I’m not sure.’ Molly knew exactly what time they were meeting Katerina. It was midday. But why did Janette and Siobhan think they were coming along?
‘It’s twelve o’clock,’ Janette answered. ‘Have you forgotten? We saw Magdalena last night and she reminded us. Said she wanted to see your face when you looked at the boat properly.’
Molly swallowed. She had already looked at the boat more properly than her mum and her best friend knew. Breaking the deck and scrutinising old photographs with her co-owner. Bare-chested again. Him, not her.
‘I wonder if it still has the disco ball,’ Janette said, a heavy sigh following her sentence.
God, her mum knew about the disco ball and remembered it. She opened her mouth to confirm the mirrored orb was indeed still hanging from the roof of the vessel but then realised that would mean admitting to having spent time on the craft with Christos, and that would mean more questions. But that was a throwback to the past Janette had offered up without provocation…
‘We used to have some fun times on that boat,’ Janette carried on, putting the rim of the yellow cup to her mouth. ‘The music, the waves, the wind blowing through my hair.’
Molly held her breath, waiting eagerly for more.
‘Not gonna lie, that’s exactly what your hair looks like now,’ Siobhan said. ‘No offence.’
‘Ugh!’ Janette said, taking a sip from the cup. ‘This is cold!’ The moment left.
‘Yes,’ Molly said, getting to her feet. ‘And it’s actually mine.’ She took the cup from her mum with one hand and picked up the saucer and her products with the other. ‘I’m going to get ready.’ It was clear she wasn’t going to get anything productive done with the hungover state her companions were in so she may as well prepare for the meeting.
‘Will you put the kettle on?’ Siobhan called after her.