Chapter 16
SIXTEEN
I go over the events of the previous evening as I get ready, wondering if I will ever hear from Christos again.
He did take my number though, although perhaps that is what he does, then when there is not much happening, he scrolls through his phone and calls someone, his contacts like a little black book.
I finish brushing my teeth, before applying a slick of clear lip gloss and heading downstairs with Lulu.
‘Are you having breakfast this morning?’ asks Irene as we approach them.
We are booked in on a room-only basis, but have taken breakfast at Sea Breeze across the road most mornings.
‘They do a continental breakfast here, you know,’ Patsy reminds us. ‘If anyone fancies some cold cuts and cheeses.’
‘I probably shouldn’t be spending so much, but the omelettes at the Sea Breeze are the best,’ I say.
‘And we did save a little money on drinks last night, due to the gratis cocktails, after all,’ Lulu reminds me.
‘Sea Breeze sounds good, mind if we join you?’ asks Patsy.
‘You don’t need to ask, of course you can join us,’ I say as Irene folds her newspaper and places it on a coffee table.
We take a seat at our favourite table overlooking the sparkling water, and Irene asks us about our evening at the nightclub.
‘It was something else, really cool,’ I tell her, recalling my reaction as I walked through the door.
‘Expensive though. I’m glad Christos bought us those drinks,’ I say dreamily, as I think of him once more.
I can’t seem to erase the image of him, that chiselled jaw, those dark eyes and that easy smile that makes my heart skip a beat.
I tell myself to get a grip and stop acting like a love-struck teenager.
‘Oh, to be young again,’ Irene says. ‘I bet the club was full of handsome young men.’ She sighs deeply, and Patsy tells her to behave.
‘Anyway, those young studs wouldn’t give me a second glance, although I have read that some men like an older woman. Cougars they are called.’ She winks and I can’t help but laugh out loud.
‘Nobody calls men studs anymore, Irene, now you really are showing your age,’ Patsy tells her as she sips her coffee.
I describe the interior of the club, then imagine what it might be like to share a booth with Christos, sipping a cocktail before dancing together to a slow number, his arms wrapped around me.
Afterwards, he would take me back to his place.
I wonder if his bedroom is huge like the ones featured on the Abbey Clancy programme.
‘Earth to Mia, I said do you want any water?’ asks Patsy again, pulling me out of my delicious daydream.
‘Sorry, yes, sure. So what did you two get up to?’ I ask Irene as the already warm sun bathes my arms.
‘We had some food, then we went for a bit of a walk along the beach. I’m starting my fitness and weight loss programme right here, trying to achieve a certain number of steps every day,’ Irene informs me. ‘I have installed an app my phone.’
‘That’s brilliant, well done you,’ I tell her.
‘Yes, and as we were walking, I stumbled upon something,’ she says, reaching into her bag. ‘I found this.’
She pulls out the most beautiful gold necklace with a sizeable emerald.
‘Oh wow, that is stunning,’ I say, looking at the jewel that glints in the sun.
‘Someone must be missing that. Are you going to hand it in to the police?’ asks Lulu.
‘Yes, of course,’ says Irene. ‘But I just thought I would first ask around this morning at the breakfast restaurants to see if anyone has lost a necklace. It was directly opposite a café further down the road.’
‘Don’t describe it though,’ says Patsy. ‘Just ask if anyone has lost any jewellery.’
‘Well I’m not that daft,’ says Irene, rolling her eyes.
An hour later we say our goodbyes as we head off in different directions.
‘Bye, I hope you find the rightful owner of the necklace,’ I say to Irene.
‘Me too. Catch up with you soon. Enjoy your shopping,’ she says.
Window shopping more than anything, I think to myself, as I need to rein in my spending a little.
It will be a great place for photo opportunities though, and I can’t wait to explore the back streets and all the boutiques.
One thing I will be spending a little money on is a gift for my parents and my gran.
I don’t know what I would do without either of them in my life.
As the bus rumbles along the road away from Perissa, we take in the grapevines and rugged volcanic scenery once more, before we finally pull into Fira. The road is lined with several coaches, carefully inching their way towards a car park, the area around bustling with pedestrians.
Alighting from the bus, the first thing we do is grab some bottled water from a nearby kiosk.
‘That was an experience,’ Lulu says, laughing and straightening her sunhat. ‘The bloke standing in the aisle was practically sitting on my knee it was so crowded.’
‘At least he was good-looking though,’ I say, as once again an image of Christos pops into my head.
‘True enough.’ She laughs.
We head to the harbour, and watch a huge cruise ship making its way across the water. No doubt the empty restaurants, their tables set with cutlery, will soon have an influx of tourists descending on them.
‘Fancy a beer before we do our shopping?’ I ask Lulu. The bus was very hot, and the bottled water barely touched the sides.
‘Sure, why not?’
We take a seat at a table with a blue-and-white checked tablecloth and a waiter hands us a drinks menu.
Sitting with our ice-cold beers and a gratis bowl of olives, we both peer out across the water to the caldera .
‘You can take a boat trip out there,’ says Lulu, popping an olive into her mouth as she glances at the island in the middle of the sparkling sea.
‘What’s there?’ I ask.
‘Not much really. It’s the crater of the volcano, which although dormant still has volcanic activity below the surface. It hasn’t actually erupted since nineteen fifty though,’ she informs me. ‘I read all about it.’
‘I’m impressed with your knowledge, but you wouldn’t catch me there, if there’s a chance it could still explode.’ I pull a face.
‘Erupt,’ she corrects me. ‘Although I guess it’s the same thing when you think about it.’
‘Well, I prefer to admire it from a distance,’ I say, before grabbing a selfie of us with the huge cruise ship in the background. ‘It looks pretty though.’
‘It really does. Do you fancy taking the cable car to the upper level when we finish our drinks?’ Lulu asks. ‘I mean, I don’t mind walking up, but it might be fun. I’ve never been on a cable car before.’
A footpath can also be taken up to the main tourist area that has all the shops and restaurants, as well as some pretty churches.
‘Although there is always the option of taking a donkey ride up,’ I suggest, gesturing to some forlorn-looking donkeys at the foot of a path that heads upwards. ‘Then again, no, that’s a little cruel.’ I quickly reconsider the idea.
We begin our ascent, walking for a few minutes, stopping to admire the view, and passing an abandoned white building with a blue wooden door hanging off its hinges.
The walls are covered in graffiti of the evil eye, a Greek symbol said to protect people.
As I stand staring at the house, wondering who might have once lived there, a lizard darts across my path and has me almost stumbling down the steps.
‘You do know there are almost six hundred steps to the top?’ says Lulu as the heat begins to pick up.
‘Never!’ I gasp.
‘Yep, although I suppose it is a pretty good workout.’
‘Maybe not in this weather though. Shall we go up in the cable car after all?’ I suggest, thinking that maybe now is the time to cure my fear of heights. I might then fulfil my ambition of taking a trip on the London Eye to take in the views of the city.
‘Sure.’ She smiles. ‘And you’re right, that sun is pretty hot already.’
We make our way to the cable car departure point and join a queue, where I suddenly feel a little nervous. Maybe now isn’t the time to be brave after all. Perhaps we ought to have just taken the steps very slowly. Too late now though, as the queue moves quickly and we are suddenly next in line.
As the cable car chugs along slowly, I close my eyes, when I feel it swing and we are momentarily suspended mid-air.
Now is definitely not the time to tell Lulu that I am afraid of heights.
She is chattering on about the sight of the caldera, and the rocky mountains either side that I imagine crashing into as I keep my eyes firmly closed.
I barely have time to worry though, as in no time at all we have stopped.
‘That was fun, and the views were stunning as we climbed, weren’t they?’ she says cheerfully.
‘If you say so,’ I tell her as we climb out of the car, before making our way towards the exit. I can feel my heart racing a little, although I am proud that I did it.
Stepping out of the cable car station into the dazzling sunshine, we eye the restaurants and the blue dome of a church with pretty stained-glass windows.
‘Right, let’s find these shops,’ says Lulu, striding off towards a busy street. ‘I have enough money left to treat myself to something nice, a reminder of being here,’ she says.
‘I’m not walking around with you if you buy a top saying “I love Santorini”.’ I giggle, although I am pleased that she has decided to treat herself.
‘I doubt they would sell stuff like that,’ she says, glancing at a dress in a shop window with a price tag of two hundred euros. ‘At least not in this particular shop.’
‘Anyway, you ought to get yourself something nice, you work hard and deserve it,’ I remind her.