Chapter 17
Talking of invites …
The air was chill, the night air dark and frosty, making the tarmac pavement she walked on glint with starry ice crystals.
It was indeed a perfect midwinter evening: A Greek Midwinter Evening.
Cath was wrapped snugly in her thick woollen winter coat, over a sage-green woollen dress, which she’d teamed with thick tights and her brown knee-length leather boots.
She pulled down her pine-green bobble hat, which she wore with a stripy green-and-cream knit scarf.
Thinking about it, she may in fact look rather like a Christmas tree.
Had she unintentionally themed herself? Thank heavens, she hadn’t worn any large bauble-like earrings.
Or perhaps, she ought to go back and do exactly that; the lads would absolutely love it.
She did in fact have some bauble earrings that she used to wear for the Christmas jumper day at the school where she taught, yes, with a tinsel wrap for a scarf.
She still had a few minutes in hand, so why not?
Life was too short not to grab some fun where you could.
So back she trotted, found the box of Reggie’s tinsel, helping herself to a silver strand, and found the earrings from her jewellery box.
Seeing herself in the dressing table mirror she gave a silly smile.
Perfectly festive. And off she trotted once more.
The side door that led to the flat above the village stores was adorned with a beautiful wreath of fir, pine cones, eucalyptus and pretty white wooden stars.
She rapped out a cheery knock and rang the bell.
As she waited, she heard footsteps tapping up behind her and turned to see Nikki, who was also wrapped warmly in a dusky-pink woolly hat, gloves, pink scarf and a long, padded black winter coat.
‘Brrr, it’s bloody freezing out tonight.’
Winter was here, in its full frosty glory.
‘Ooh, I quite like it,’ replied Cath. ‘Time for cosy fires and candlelight, and snug winter coats.’
‘Oh, get you, all poetic! How are you, hon?’
‘I’m good, thanks. And I’m so looking forward to tonight. Sounds like Andreas is going all out. Such fancy invites!’
‘I know, he loves a theme.’
And with that, the door opened to reveal the man himself. In chunky jumper, jeans and with his Naked Greek Statue apron. ‘Good evening and welcome.’
The girls’ grins were wide; he was such a bloody character.
‘Or should I say kopiaste! in Greek. Come on up, ladies.’
‘Thanks, and oh, Lily’s running a few minutes late,’ explained Nikki. ‘Says sorry, she’s just back from a busy day helping at the restaurant.’
‘That’s no problem at all. Sounds exciting for her, and she must have got the job then. Can’t wait to hear all about it.’
They followed Andreas up the stairs, as he added, ‘Will is already here.’
Cath felt a lift at the prospect of seeing him tonight, but also wondered how it might pan out for the two of them.
She hoped Will would be more relaxed with her than of late.
It was proving to be a slow, well more of a stop-start, process relationship-wise.
Will definitely had the brakes on, as though he was afraid to let himself feel or reveal too much of himself.
He was still very much in the grip of grief.
She knew that, but she wanted so much more.
She had to let him lead this, however, or she was afraid she might push him away altogether.
With coats now off, Cath’s earring baubles and tinsel adornments were spotted. ‘Look at you, all festive and fabulous!’ Andreas exclaimed.
‘Thought I looked a bit like a tree in this green dress, so went all out with the Christmas tree trimmings.’ She gave a grin.
‘Hah, I love it.’ Dan appeared from the kitchen, smart in a dark stripy shirt and indigo jeans, ready to give the girls a warm hug.
‘Mulled wine, anyone?’ Andreas asked.
‘Oh, yes, please.’
‘It’d be rude not to,’ said Nikki. ‘I’ll come and give you a hand.’
‘Hi, Will.’ Cath wandered over to where he was standing at the open door of the living room. She still didn’t know quite how to greet him, plumping for a kiss on the cheek. His aftershave smelt gorgeous, all spiced wood.
‘Hey, how are you?’ His smile was warm and affectionate.
‘Good, thanks. You?’ She felt a fuzzy buzz inside.
‘Yeah, fine.’
And she couldn’t help herself. Fed up with holding back, she moved in to give him a hug. The others were still in the kitchen, after all. And, nestled there momentarily against his firm chest, feeling the warmth of his embrace, his arms briefly but tenderly around her, felt so damned good.
They pulled away, just in time, with terrier Shirley soon arriving at their heels, and Andreas coming through with two glasses fragrant with the cinnamon-orange spiced mulled wine.
The log burner was on in the stone hearth of the sitting room, and candles glowed from glass votives on the coffee table.
And there, to one corner, wow, how had she not noticed yet – Will must have had her full attention for a few seconds there – a huge Christmas tree fully decorated; with silver tinsel, baubles in red and silver, red velvet bows, and gently twinkling lights.
‘Well, I see Christmas has arrived early here,’ Cath commented. ‘Your tree looks stunning.’
‘Thought we may as well get it up early, with you all coming around. It’s not a real one, so we won’t be bothered by any needles dropping. So, hey, why not? Christmas comes and goes all too soon as it is, so why not make the most if it.’
‘True, and it does look gorgeous.’
‘As do you.’ Andreas smiled, as he handed Cath a glass of mulled wine.
She took a warming scented sip. ‘Oh, that’s delicious. Thank you.’
They’d certainly set the scene.
‘So, traditionally we’d have some cookies to go along with your welcome wine, so here we have either kourabiedes or melomakarona.’
Dan had followed his partner in with a platter of cookies, one side was icing-sugar-dusted and looked like mini snowballs, the others were golden and crunchy-looking with a nut-honey drizzle.
‘Oh, how wonderful.’
‘Both are delicious,’ Nikki announced as she came through. ‘I’ve just tested them in the kitchen. You’ll have to have one of each.’
‘Oh, Lily will love these,’ Cath said as she bit into a crunchy honey one. ‘We’ll have to save her some.’
‘So, back in the village near Paphos,’ Andreas elaborated, ‘Mama Maria would have had plenty of these cookies made ready for any guests in the run-up to Christmas.
Perfect with a festive drink for any casual callers.
The cookies were especially popular when the children did carolling from house to house on Christmas Eve.
She still made them every year once she moved to London, too.
‘The drink wouldn’t have been a mulled wine in Cyprus,’ he continued, ‘more likely a Commandaria for the adults – a sweet dessert wine – but I think this goes really well too.’
‘A bit of an Anglo-Greek hybrid welcome,’ Dan added with a smile.
‘Cheers to that,’ said Will. ‘And thanks so much for having us.’
‘You are most welcome.’
‘Cheers.’
*
Lily arrived soon afterwards, bringing a small box of homemade rum and raisin fudge, and some mini ‘snow-dusted’ chocolate truffles – petits fours that had been left over in the restaurant. Ones, she proudly announced, that she’d made there all by herself.
Soon settled by the log stove and given a mulled wine and melomakarona, Lily asked, ‘What are the melo thingies?’
‘Cookies, and they’re delicious. You’ll definitely want the recipe.’ Nikki grinned.
‘I think we all do!’ added Cath.
‘Wonderful. It’s one of Maria’s specialities,’ Andreas added, his tone proud and nostalgic.
‘So, how’s life at the fast end of the catering industry, young Lily?’ Dan asked.
‘Great, thanks. I’m working every Saturday now.
It’s a proper job. They took me on after my week’s work experience, which was so cool.
I’ve been doing some waiting on, getting an idea of the customer service side of things, and I love seeing how the food is presented.
And just this morning, I’ve been working in the kitchen.
I got to make the petits fours under the watchful eye of Henri himself. Hence the goodies.’
‘It all sounds wonderful, Lily. And a great experience for you.’ Will was very supportive.
‘That’s brilliant, Lily,’ added Cath. ‘And how are your parents feeling about everything?’ This had been a sore point in recent months, with Lily wanting to go straight into a catering college and career in hospitality rather than doing a more traditional university degree.
‘Uhm, they can see how much I love doing this. And it’s great that I’m earning some money now.
I’ve been looking into college courses with hands-on cheffing experience.
Though I have agreed to go and check out a couple of unis with Mum and Dad, too.
I’m working on them – put it that way. They seem slightly more chilled about my choices than they were. ’
‘It sounds like you’re moving together positively. That’s great, Lily,’ said Cath.
‘Right then, folks, time to step into the dining room. It’s meze time!’ Andreas called out.
‘On our way,’ responded Cath, as they filed into the other room, where a large dark-wooden table was set out beautifully with white cloth napkins, shiny cutlery, glasses, and a candelabra no less.
Dan passed everyone a starter plate, as Andreas began to bring through a feast of Greek-Cypriot flavours that he placed to the centre of the table. Warm pittas, homemade hummus, whipped feta-mint dip, a dish of shiny black and plump green olives, and mini meatballs in an aromatic tomato sauce.
‘Amazing,’ said Lily, eyes wide.
‘I had to stop him,’ explained Dan. ‘He wanted to make more, but the main course is yet to come and is positively massive.’
‘Don’t spoil the surprise; keep them keen,’ said Andreas. ‘Okay then, cheers, guys, and kali orexi!
‘Bon appetit!’ added Dan, enlightening them all.
‘Kali orexi,’ they chanted back to Andreas and Dan.