Chapter 17
SEVENTEEN
We manage to find a seat at a place down a side street that looks smart but casual, and without the eye-watering prices of some of the other restaurants in prime locations.
Sitting and relaxing in the sun, surrounded by plants on a pretty stone patio, I find myself thinking about Andreas and his talent.
I also wonder why his father does not encourage it.
Maybe he is like my father, who doesn’t think being a social media influencer is a ‘proper’ job either.
Although he does have a point, unless you can earn a living from it, I guess. Even then, it can be short-lived.
We both choose a tasty chicken dish, cooked in a tomato and ouzo sauce, that comes with salad and fries that we will wash down with ice-cold lemonade. I have just finished taking a quick photo, when my phone pings. It’s a text from Christos asking me if I am free tomorrow.
‘Everything okay?’ asks Lulu, noticing me quietly staring at my phone.
‘It’s Christos, asking if I am free tomorrow.’
Much as I would love to see him again, I don’t want Lulu to be left on her own. I did invite her here with me after all.
‘I will tell him I have plans.’
‘No, you go for it,’ she insists as our food arrives. ‘I might take things easy tomorrow anyway, after all the walking today. And with it being the time of the month.’ She grimaces.
‘Are you sure?’ I feel excited by the prospect of a day out with Christos, but only if my friend doesn’t mind.
‘Absolutely,’ she assures me. ‘I would love nothing more than a beach day. Really, you go out and have some fun.’
‘In that case, I will tell him I am free.’ I feel a surge of excitement as I tap out a reply, telling him I am available, and he tells me he will collect me from my apartment at ten in the morning.
‘Gosh, I wonder where he is going to take you,’ says Lulu as she sips her drink. ‘Somewhere smart, I’d say.’
‘Do you think so? Oh my goodness, I don’t know what to wear now,’ I panic. ‘What if it’s somewhere really smart?’
‘You look great in anything,’ she says kindly. ‘And you have lots of lovely clothes with you. Maybe a nice dress, and those white sparkly trainers, just in case it involves walking, an outfit like that could take you anywhere.’
‘Sounds good. Can I hire you as my personal stylist?’ I say, popping a chunk of salty feta from a Greek salad into my mouth.
‘I don’t think you need me.’ She laughs. ‘Not if all your followers are anything to go by, they love your style.’
When the bill arrives, Lulu insists on getting it, despite my protestations.
‘No, really I want to,’ she says firmly. ‘It isn’t the most expensive restaurant around here, and it’s the least I can do after you inviting me to be your plus-one. I only paid for my flight and spends,’ she reminds me.
‘Thanks, Lulu, and I hope you are enjoying yourself,’ I say as I finish the delicious meal.
‘I really am.’ She smiles. ‘It’s exactly what I needed, yet I didn’t realise it,’ she tells me as she wipes her mouth with a napkin.
‘It was a harsh reality to hear that I run around after my children a bit too much, yet I knew it deep down,’ she admits.
‘Do you know, Chloe would never take a bus anywhere, and I indulged her, giving her lifts at the drop of a hat. My parents would never have done that for me, especially during daylight hours.’
‘I understand you wanting to help, but they have to learn to stand on their own two feet. Maybe you could start by refusing to be a taxi during daylight hours when there is plenty of public transport,’ I suggest.
‘I know, and she seems to be able to do just that, when she is with her friends. Do you know, whenever I text her she doesn’t reply for hours on end as she’s doing her own thing, ditto Tom,’ she says with a sigh of resignation.
‘It makes me realise that I don’t want to be one of those mothers who lives their life through their children,’ she says firmly. ‘I need to get one of my own.’
‘Exactly.’ I reach over and gently squeeze her hand. ‘And I know a certain bloke who would be happy to help you do just that.’
‘Who knows?’ She shrugs. ‘Maybe I would be open to that. If Phil likes me as much as you seem to think he does.’
‘I’m pretty sure of it.’
She picks up her glass and clinks it against mine. ‘Here’s to the future,’ she says.
Heading home tired out after our day shopping, we are approaching a roundabout, when a car with the roof down cuts into our lane and our taxi driver beeps his horn and shouts something in Greek as the car disappears in a cloud of dust.
Although I can’t be certain, I thought the driver of the car was Christos.
There was a woman sitting beside him, a headscarf tied around her head and wearing sunglasses, and looking very chic.
I tell myself I must be mistaken. There are many men who drive sports cars and I never actually got close enough to see the driver properly.
Surely it could not have been Christos, I tell myself, the incident clearly playing on my mind, as we pull up into our village and pay the taxi driver.
It was barely an hour since he asked me out on a date.
Surely he would not have the cheek to do such a thing while out with another woman. Would he?
Arriving back in Perissa, we meet Irene and Patsy sipping tea at the Sea Breeze and they call us over.
‘I hope you had a good day shopping,’ says Irene. ‘And you will never guess where we have been today,’ she says excitedly.
‘Ooh do tell,’ I say, plonking down on a seat next to her, my mind still distracted by the bloke I thought was Christos.
‘Well, I found the owner of the necklace,’ she tells me.
‘It was me actually, but never mind,’ Patsy corrects her.
‘Whatever. We found the owner,’ Irene corrects herself.
‘Oh, that is wonderful news. I bet they were thrilled.’
‘You can say that again,’ Irene continues. ‘The necklace belonged to a lady whose husband had bought it for their wedding anniversary.’
‘Yes, and he was so grateful, he invited us to their home for lunch in the afternoon, although it was more like a palace really, wasn’t it?’ Patsy turns to Irene. ‘It had this huge marble balcony, overlooking a swimming pool.’
‘Oh, it was not far from here actually,’ Irene says, pointing along the road.
‘Uphill slightly and directly overlooking the beach. Lunch was like a feast, served by their own staff, can you imagine? We had champagne too.’ She smiles.
‘We had to go for a little siesta afterwards, didn’t we, Patsy? ’ She giggles.
‘We did. They offered a reward too,’ Patsy says, picking up the story. ‘But Irene wouldn’t hear of it.’
‘Are you saying you would have taken it?’ asks Irene in surprise.
‘I might have,’ says Patsy, fishing her vape from her bag and taking a puff. ‘They weren’t exactly short of money, and that necklace was worth a bob or two,’ she muses.
‘You never encouraged me to take it,’ Irene replies with a frown. ‘But perhaps I should have.’ She ponders this for a moment before deciding that lunch was more than enough, and that it wouldn’t have felt right accepting a reward for doing a good deed.
Later that evening, Lulu and I have some snacks on the balcony, before watching a subtitled romcom in the apartment bedroom.
Lulu snoozes gently in the bed nearby before the ending of the film, and having decided to relax and put the incident at the roundabout out of my mind once and for all, I switch off my bedside light and drift off too.