Chapter 38
The next day I absolutely did not feel sane.
I felt like I’d been run over by a steam roller.
Jo and Emma came round and talked endlessly about the barn dance, including me where they could to keep my mind busy, but I just kept feeling myself drifting off into my own little world where I couldn’t stop asking questions.
I’d called the bank again first thing but as far as they were concerned, at that point they were my accounts and I’d willingly given someone my details.
They were looking into things further but suggested that I phone the police.
If I didn’t do that, there wasn’t an awful lot they could do to help me.
Wanting to kick myself, I just kept thinking what if.
If I hadn’t gone, would Makis have done this to me anyway?
Was that why he’d encouraged me to go? And then if he’d been telling me lies about this, what else had he lied about?
Was that why Demetri had looked so confused when I mentioned that Makis had spoken to him?
I just had no idea what was truth and what was lies.
He’d been so charming. He’d shown a real interest in me and my business.
He said that he believed in me. To hear that from someone who was, allegedly, an entrepreneur made me feel a million dollars.
To have someone think that what I’d done was amazing and inspirational.
I’d not had anyone cheerleading me for so long that at the first sign of it happening, I’d been taken in by a handsome face and some – at least what I thought were – kind words.
I felt such a fool. Even though Jo and Emma were my friends and said that they didn’t, they must have thought that I was incredibly gullible. I hated feeling that way in front of them even though they’d been so kind and understanding.
‘You do know, Michelle, that we probably would have done the same had we have been in the same boat.’ Emma gave a sad smile.
‘Would you though? Really?’
‘Probably?’ she replied, smirking, even questioning her own words.
‘Oh, I would.’ Jo jumped in. ‘These days I’m a sucker for a nice arse, a bit of flattery and big brown eyes. Well, I always have been I suppose. That’s how I fell in love with Seamus. I was just lucky he didn’t turn out to be a con man. Or should I say, hasn’t disclosed himself as one just yet.’
We all smirked at that. Seamus was one of the nicest, most generous people you could wish to meet.
‘You made yourself vulnerable and was taken in by someone’s charms. You won’t be the first woman to have done that and you certainly won’t be the last. People all over the world get scammed out of thousands of pounds every minute of every day.
Let’s not think about Makis right now. What we do need to work out is what you want to do about Demetri. ’
The fact that she had said ‘we’ instead of ‘you’ reinforced that we were in this together and I was so grateful for their help and support. I took a deep breath.
‘I blocked his number. Makis more or less told me that he and Katrina are together and have a child, so I don’t think there’s anything I can do about him.’ Jo and Emma glanced at each other before Jo spoke again.
‘Just because Makis said that doesn’t make it true.
In fact, in this case, especially because it was Makis who said it, it very probably makes it untrue.
Let’s think about this logically and work it through.
You said that Demetri was going to come back and explain everything to you.
Do you think he would have offered to do that if he had things to hide?
At that point, you knew the worst. The truth was already out.
What did he have to gain from not coming back? ’
What she said made sense I supposed.
‘Don’t you think you should have given him the chance to do that?’
Thinking about it now, perhaps I had been a little rash.
‘Maybe. But it’s too late now.’
‘It’s rarely too late for things. You could unblock his number and give him a call.
Tell him what’s happened here and see what he’s got to say for himself.
Have a think during today. It’s just that I did think that Demetri was genuinely lovely and adored you.
And I think he deserves a chance to explain himself.
If you don’t like what you hear then you can deal with it.
But I wouldn’t take Makis’s word for anything.
I think he’s proved himself to be a formidable liar. ’
It was Emma’s turn to chip in.
‘Just give Demetri a chance to explain, Chelle. At least if you have the facts then you can decide what to do. You’re just judging him on hearsay at the moment and that seems a little unfair.
It’s up to you of course. Only you can choose what you want to do.
And you know we’ll stand by you whatever your decision will be. ’
I grabbed their hands, holding one of each in mine.
‘Thank you, for everything. I honestly don’t know what I’d have done without you both.’
Jo leant her head against mine and Emma did the same on the other side.
‘We’ve got you! That’s what friends do.’
Even though I was having a really crappy time, I was a very lucky lady. I knew that much for sure.
* * *
Exhausted, both physically from travelling and emotionally from all the trauma, I took myself off to bed for the afternoon, deciding to have a nap.
Reading always made me sleepy, so I picked up the novel I’d intended to read on the plane before Darren had interrupted me.
I thought of him briefly, wondering how he was getting on.
He was such a nice man. Or should I say appeared to be.
Who knew these days who was nice and who wasn’t when it boiled down to it?
People only showed you the sides of themselves they wanted you to see so you never quite knew who you were getting.
Maybe it was these romance novels that were giving me a false impression of what men were like.
The dashingly gorgeous male characters in the books I read were always wonderful.
Even if they had flaws, they worked through them and, along with the female protagonists, always found a way through life to get their happy ever after.
Maybe I just wasn’t meant to get my own happy ever after.
Maybe I had been aspiring to something that was never meant for me.
When my female main character unleashed her vulnerability to her male counterpart and he told her he’d love her no matter what, flaws and all, I threw the book across the room.
‘Bollocks to that. That’s fiction.’ If I knew a romance novelist I would ring them up right then and give them a piece of my mind.
Books needed to be more realistic. Maybe I should change genres and read psychological thrillers instead.
No love in there. Mainly dead bodies. It must be really satisfying to be a thriller author, I thought, killing off your characters.
If I’d been one, I would definitely have something nasty happen to the brothers who had both been lying to me in one way or the other.
But then I thought back to Jo and Emma’s words earlier today.
Had I been too rash by rushing off to catch the ferry back to Rhodes?
Should I have waited for Demetri to come back and explain?
But how would you explain away a daughter that you hadn’t bothered to tell your girlfriend about?
And Makis had intimated a couple of times that there was something between Katrina and Demetri.
What he hadn’t gone the full hog about was that they had a daughter.
Talking of hogs, one of my jobs was to organise a hog roast for the barn dance. I grabbed my laptop and started searching for companies in Cornwall who supplied them. While I did, a message popped up in my email inbox. It was from Seth.
Hey sis, how are you doing today? The whole family are sending you love. What are you up to? Anything much? Seth x
He had always been a man of few words, but it was kind of him to email and ask how I was.
I bashed out a quick reply.
Hey bro, I’ll be fine in time. I’m made of strong stuff you know. I’m just at home trying to process everything. There’s a lot to think about. Thanks for asking though. It means the world to me. I’m really glad we reconnected properly again. Love you, Chelle x
Nothing came back so I presumed he’d just sent it and then logged off. It was lovely to know he was thinking of me. For years, I assumed that he was just getting on with his life and had forgotten all about me.
There was a knock at the door and I grumpily left my bed. I’d told Jo and Emma that I just wanted a day on my own to wallow, but I had a feeling they might not let me get on with it alone. I opened the door expecting to see their faces. I got an almighty shock when I saw who was standing there.