Chapter 19
Akis sighed. He had kissed her. What had been going through his mind when he had done that? It hadn’t been about her panic, well, not entirely, it had been a little about wanting to make her feel like her world wasn’t imploding in that moment, but it had also been about how beautiful she was and how, for some unknown reason, she was everywhere right now and he was finding himself wanting to open up to her about pretty much everything. It was uncomfortable. He should be running in the opposite direction, but instead, he was stepping closer. And now he was stepping closer with a donkey’s tether in one hand and an old keyboard under his arm.
Cara was standing in the garden, between the washing line drying his grandmother’s large pants and aprons, and a collection of roof tiles his grandfather had always kept in case they might one day be needed. She was stroking a grey tabby kitten.
He shouldn’t have taken advantage of her, that’s what it felt like. He had stolen that kiss, with no warning, no prelude, it had been selfish.
She turned around.
‘What is that?’ she asked.
‘I tell you, this is Pig,’ Akis introduced. ‘Pig, say yassas to my friend, Cara.’
Pig doffed his large head but made no sound.
‘Hello, Pig,’ Cara said. ‘But, I was actually asking about that very ancient-looking keyboard under your arm.’
Akis let go of Pig and the donkey sauntered a few steps away and began to chew on the grass. ‘Are you making a criticism of my first musical instrument?’
‘I thought you said you were only twenty-nine. This thing looks too old to even accompany Placido Domingo.’
He laughed. ‘It has a little dust, but everything still works. I have put in new batteries.’
‘So what are you going to play for me?’
‘Well,’ Akis said, hands going into the grass and pulling out one of his yiayia’s old fold-up chairs. ‘I thought you could tell me a song and I could accompany you.’
‘Well, I… you… aren’t going to know what songs I can sing. I mean, no disrespect to your playing abilities but?—’
‘You doubt me. And here I was thinking we were friends.’
Friends. He had to stop emphasising that point. He had said the word twice in quick succession and he didn’t go around kissing people he was friends with.
‘I don’t doubt your playing,’ Cara answered, arms stiff by her sides. ‘I’m just not really a Beyonce “Crazy in Love” kind of girl.’
‘You think that I have a very small brain of songs?’ He raised an eyebrow and turned on the keyboard. It made a terrible hiss that had Cara jumping as if she had stood on a snake. ‘Sorry.’
He watched her recover from the scare.
‘Well, what songs do you know?’ she asked.
‘What song do you want me to play?’ he countered. He began to play a little fanfare and moved it into Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’.
She laughed. ‘Not that.’
‘OK, how about this one?’
He began to play something he thought she might know a little, Adele’s ‘Set Fire to the Rain’. He got through the intro without her saying it wasn’t something she wanted to sing, but despite the audience being him and a donkey who had wandered off far enough not to be able to hear, she seemed to be terrified. And then she shut her eyes and as he played the introduction for a second time she finally came in.
Her voice was nervous to begin with, but as she managed to progress through the song and move towards the first chorus, that was when her tone gave him goosebumps. It sounded like it came from the depths of her, each breath producing soulful, perfect notes. Now it was him who was nervous, trying to make these cumbersome keys do what a piano could do but what a keyboard circa 1990 certainly didn’t appear to be able to. But then suddenly she stopped, wide-eyed, her expression scared.
‘Was that a dog I heard?’ she asked.
‘Sorry, I do not know,’ he replied. ‘I was focussed on listening to you and?—’
‘It was a dog, wasn’t it?’
She was standing super still now, looking like she was trying to concentrate.
He got up, putting the keyboard on his chair and moved towards her. ‘You do not like dogs?’
‘Oh, well, they’re OK, I just, you know, when they get too close.’
She was lying. He knew enough about body language to pick up that dogs were not only not her favourite animal, but that she was scared of them.
‘The way some of them slobber,’ he said, trying to lighten the atmosphere. ‘Like they want to give you a bath. It is disgusting.’
‘Did you hear it?’ Cara asked him again.
‘I am not certain. With the piano and?—’
She put her hands to her head and sighed. ‘Sorry, I shouldn’t be here. I should be reminding my aunt that she should not be accepting bookings on my behalf or getting me on a plane under false pretences or basically any of the things she’s done since we left London.’
‘Or,’ Akis began, ‘you could actually sing at the wedding. I’m sure my mother will be paying much more than any sane person would. Not that you wouldn’t be worth whatever she was paying and more. I didn’t mean?—’
‘This was a mistake,’ Cara said, turning away and looking like she was going to head back through the garden.
‘No, Cara, wait, this wasn’t a mistake.’ He took hold of her arm, just enough to make her stop, and then he let go again. Because touching her was going to have to be off limits now he knew it made him a little crazy. She stopped.
‘Your voice is incredible. I mean, it’s next level. You don’t sound… like anyone else.’
‘No, because most singers wouldn’t suddenly stop if they thought they heard a dog, would they?’
‘Cara—’
‘I have to go. Thank you, for trying, but if the only reason my aunt and I were even invited to the wedding was because your mother thought I was going to sing then I’m sorry I’m going to disappoint everyone.’
‘Cara—’
‘Goodbye, Akis.’
And with that final farewell, she was walking away from him.