Chapter 28
TWENTY-EIGHT
Time seems to stand still for a moment as I glance from Christos to Andreas in utter confusion.
‘Mia, what are you doing here?’ asks Christos, looking completely shocked.
‘She is here with me,’ says Andreas, a puzzled look on his face. ‘Wait, you two know each other?’
‘We have actually met, yes,’ I tell him. ‘At the nightclub,’ I add, wishing that the ground would swallow me up.
‘I see,’ says Andreas, staring at his brother.
I can feel the heat creeping up my cheeks as Christos looks at his shoes and scratches the back of his neck.
‘Is there something you are not telling me?’ says Andreas, glancing between us both suspiciously. ‘Only I have seen that look on my brother’s face before.’ He almost spits the words out as he glares at Christos.
‘What? No, not really,’ I say, my heart beating wildly. ‘Christos has just shown me some of the sights.’
‘I bet he has,’ says Andreas under his breath, his jaw twitching.
Christos, I notice, seems to be hiding a smug grin from his brother.
The blonde behind him shoves him and tuts loudly, and as she steps onto the landing, I recognise her at once as the woman he was chatting to at the club the evening I went there with Lulu.
It feels as if all the air has been sucked out of the room as I take in the scene. I need to get out of here fast.
‘I must be going,’ I say, already heading for the stairs.
Andreas stands still for a moment, before he follows me to the front door.
‘Let me drive you home,’ he says, his voice tight.
‘No, really, Andreas. I spotted a taxi rank in the village on the way in, I will be fine. Thank you for a lovely day,’ I mutter.
I turn on my heels about to set off, when he takes me gently by the wrist.
‘My brother is no good,’ he says. ‘At least around women. He uses them.’
I still can’t take in the fact that they are brothers!
‘Well, he never used me,’ I tell him, thankful that I never slept with him. ‘I am not in the habit of sleeping with the first man who pays me some attention. Especially on holiday.’
‘I wasn’t suggesting that,’ he says more softly.
‘Thank you again for today, Andreas. I truly did have a lovely time but I really think I ought to leave.’
As I head down the path, he makes no further attempt to stop me, so I walk purposefully towards the taxi rank in the village, holding back the tears that are threatening to spill over as I do so.
The image of Christos walking out of the bedroom plays around and around in my head as I walk, not to mention the look on the face of Andreas when he realised I had been out with his brother.
I meet two men on an island heaving with people, and I end up going out with both of them, who turn out to be brothers!
I tell myself that today was nothing more than an innocent trip to the beach with Andreas, yet deep down I wonder if I wanted more? What an absolute mess.
I find a taxi and back at the apartments, I head to a bar across the road and down a large gin and tonic before I return to my room.
I have two more days here, and I don’t want the recent events to put a dampener on things, so I decide to concentrate on the one thing I am good at.
I grab my phone from my bag and find the recording of Ash playing the guitar, before I unfold the paper with the lyrics. Over the next hour, I fit the lyrics to the song, pausing and correcting it, until it sounds pitch perfect.
I record it all and play it back, thrilled with how it sounds. Without hesitating, I send the recording to Ash to ask him what he thinks of it.
A short while later as I am tidying my apartment, wondering how one person can make such a mess – although the apartment is rather small – my phone rings.
‘Mia, you are bloody brilliant,’ says Ash excitedly. ‘Your voice suits that song perfectly, as I suspected it would. We should upload this to my YouTube account.’
‘Do you really think so?’ I ask, thrilled by his words, yet worried about how it will be received.
‘Absolutely I do. Honestly, Mia, you sound amazing,’ he assures me.
It sounds like such a big deal. The most I have ever done is sing at one of those recording studios with a friend, when I was gifted the experience by Gran.
Putting it out there in front of all those people feels terrifying.
I’m sure Ash told me that he has almost a million followers on his YouTube channel.
As I recall though, the guy who was mixing the tape at the recording studio did tell me I ought to maybe think about pursuing a singing career. Perhaps it’s time I stopped hiding my light under a bushel, as Bryn said, and really get myself out there.
‘Sure,’ I tell him. ‘If you think I’m good enough.’
‘Believe me, you are,’ he says excitedly. ‘And what you must remember is that you are singing without any enhancements from studio equipment. People like that live lounge kind of feel,’ he assures me.
‘Then do it,’ I say sounding far more confident than I feel.
The following morning, I take an early morning beach walk, my thoughts still swirling from the events of yesterday.
Before I know it, I have reached the far end of the beach, when I spot Andreas sitting at the beach café nursing a drink. I find the sight of him gives me another lovely warm glow inside.
‘Mia.’ He stands and waves me over when he sees me, and I make my way towards him.
‘How are you? Please, let me get you a drink?’ he offers.
‘Sure, I’ll have a coffee, please.’
I take a seat as he orders me a drink from a waitress who is clearing a nearby table.
‘I’m sorry you had to encounter my brother like that yesterday,’ he says. ‘It must have been embarrassing for you.’
‘I was a bit surprised, yes, but don’t worry, I don’t think we ever really had anything in common,’ I tell him, realising I really mean it. Christos made my pulse race sure, but he did little other than talk about himself.
‘It was just such a shock to discover that you were brothers,’ I tell him.
‘I can imagine.’ He manages a smile. ‘But we are very different.’
‘I kind of gathered that.’ I smile as my coffee arrives. ‘And I have to tell you, we went out on more than one occasion,’ I say, figuring it best to get the truth out there right away. ‘He took me out on the family yacht. We went snorkelling.’
‘That is his signature move,’ he says, shaking his head. ‘And it seems a lot of women are impressed by that. I think my father is a fool to let him use the yacht, although sometimes I think he is unaware of it,’ he tells me.
‘I won’t lie, it is a pretty good way to impress a date,’ I say as I sip my coffee. ‘But it didn’t impress me enough to want to sleep with him,’ I tell him, although I have my fingers crossed behind my back because truthfully I was in fact more than a little tempted.
‘It would be your business.’ He looks me in the eye. ‘But he is not ready to commit to one woman.’
‘So it would appear,’ I have to agree.
I think back to how Christos told me his father owned many businesses in Fira, including shops. I never imagined that the guy who worked in the gift shop would turn out to be his brother.
‘I’m glad I ran into you,’ I tell him sincerely.
‘I really did have a wonderful time yesterday. And please believe me when I say, it was nothing with Christos, really. He invited my friend and I to the nightclub, and I guess I got caught up in all the glamour.’ I shrug. ‘But you know, we never really talked.’
‘I can imagine. My brother likes to talk about nothing but himself,’ he says, raising an eyebrow.
As I lay in my bed last night, I realised it wasn’t Christos I had regrets about not seeing again. Especially after seeing him in his true light. I was thinking of Andreas and how he makes me feel.
‘And I enjoyed yesterday too.’ He smiles that easy smile as he looks at me, and I feel something warm inside. ‘Apart from how things ended at the house.’ He pulls a face. ‘But how about we draw a line under it all. Maybe try again.’
‘What do you have in mind?’ I ask, feeling completely relieved.
‘I was wondering how would you feel about us spending a little more time together before you leave? There is something I would like you to see. A place not far from here, near a beach I know of. When are you free?’
‘Well, I’m free now, so…’
‘Perfect. I have my car.’ He picks his car keys up from the table. ‘Shall we head off?’
‘This all sounds intriguing,’ I say as I follow him to his car, wondering what he is so keen to show me.
‘I will not keep you in suspense for long, and don’t worry, I am not going to kidnap you or anything.’
‘That’s a relief, as my family don’t have a lot of money, so I wouldn’t rely on getting any ransom money,’ I joke.
I realise then that he belongs to a family that certainly doesn’t need ransom money.
‘Do you have another day off work then?’ I ask as we drive along, wondering why he isn’t at the shop today.
‘Just the morning,’ he tells me. ‘My cousin is now happily working until lunchtime every day. I think she is happy to earn some money before she goes back to university,’ he explains.
‘Ah, is that the young woman I saw at the shop the other day?’ I ask, recalling the pretty woman with the long dark hair.
‘It is. She is studying art but enjoys working in the shop, which I am grateful for as she has a way of displaying the merchandise to its best advantage.’
‘Oh, I agree,’ I say, thinking of the beautiful displays when I called in with Lulu.
As we drive, I ask Andreas about the island in the height of summer.
‘I got the impression you thought the cruise ships were a bit of a nuisance,’ I tell him as we head out along a coast road. ‘I won’t lie, I found that a bit surprising as surely they are good for tourism.’