Chapter 40
‘You look stressed. Why do you look stressed?’ Horatio asked, putting a bottle of Yellow Donkey beer to his lips. ‘We are here in Santorini, an island I have not been to before and we can relax.’
Akis looked up from his phone. They were in a bar with a perfect view of three large cruise ships docked far below them on an ultramarine sea that was so motionless it looked like it was painted. What was he doing here? Why had he made such a rash decision to just get on two planes to come here? It was one of the craziest things he had ever done for a few reasons. One, because he had upped and left the family at a time of crisis before Cosmos’s wedding. Two, because they really needed to be putting in rehearsals before the next dance shows. And three, because he had texted Cara when they had arrived in Oia and had had no reply.
‘So,’ Horatio began. ‘You said something about Cara needing help. What are you helping her with?’ He lit a cigarette and blew smoke into the air.
Akis shook his head. ‘You know what, I have no idea. My brain is fried right now, like someone took all the pieces, made a souvlaki out of them and stuck them on a barbecue.’
‘She has not told you what she needs help for?’ Horatio asked, sounding confused.
Akis blew out a breath. ‘There is a story, I think. But she has not told me everything yet.’
Horatio shook his head. ‘Now I understand. Layers. The ruination of every connection.’
‘How so?’
‘Women, they either want to know everything about you or nothing. There is no in between. And when you do find one that makes you want to ask more questions than you would usually, they are the ones that try to close the door.’
Akis paid more attention. ‘There is someone you like right now? That you want to strip the layers from?’
‘I was talking in general,’ Horatio answered, perhaps a little too quickly.
‘OK,’ Akis said. ‘So, where are we going to stay? We have arrived here with no plan and no accommodation and the person I came to see is not texting me back.’
‘That, my friend, is the story of my life,’ Horatio said, taking a drag of his cigarette.
‘So, what do we do? Do you actually know how much it costs to stay in a place like this?’
‘Hopefully not more than we can earn in tips after this drink,’ Horatio said.
‘What?’
‘Well, we should do what we always do when we need a little extra cash and we have run out of things to sell,’ Horatio said, resting his cigarette in the ashtray.
Akis knew what was coming and he shook his head. ‘No. We cannot do that here.’
‘Why?’
‘Because this place is not like Corfu.’
‘No,’ Horatio agreed. ‘It has more rich people. People with spare cash to drop at the feet of excellent dancers.’
‘Horatio.’
‘What? We need to pay for somewhere to stay, right?’
‘I have some cash.’
‘And I have my Bluetooth speaker,’ Horatio said, pulling it out of his bag.
‘Did you know,’ Margot began, ‘that Santorini is famous for tomatoes? And fava beans. Oh, and donkeys that are still forced to lug heavy cruise ship passengers up hundreds of steps.’
They were dressed up. In the apparently ‘secondary’ outfits Margot had bought in another gorgeous boutique earlier. It was in case they happened to bump into the maharajah tonight and needed to make an impression with designer wear. Sometimes Margot’s ‘making an impression’ strategies had involved a lot more than expensive clothes. One time they had involved someone on a unicycle and cupcakes shaped like Ru-Paul.
‘It sounds like you read a guidebook,’ Cara remarked as they walked along the cobbled streets, past hordes of others shopping, seeking shade, taking photos of the views.
‘This is a church,’ Margot said, waving a hand in the air. ‘No idea what it’s called but I should find out. Local knowledge, Cara, is always useful. Ugh, what’s that awful noise.’ Margot stopped outside the whitewashed building.
They were in a square now, where trees had been planted sporadically in the space, set into soil surrounded by white-painted circles. The music seemed to be coming from ahead of them. It wasn’t traditional, no light bouzouki or guitar, more a thumping, pumping, brooding drum and a bassline she… kind of recognised.
The crowds were getting denser here, like the pathway ahead was blocked and Cara and Margot had to slow their pace significantly, abide by the ebb and flow of everyone else until they could finally see what was going on. Or rather who.
‘Oh my God! Cara, it’s your dancer!’ Margot exclaimed. ‘Taking his clothes off again.’
Cara squeezed between a pushchair and two tourists with old-style video cameras to get a better look. Akis. He was actually here? She swallowed, watching him eating up the dance space exactly how he had the first time she’d seen him perform. And then her mind went back to the bar. The dog. Akis’s voice in her head. There was a vague recollection of something he had said. Had he said he was coming here? And he was here right now?
‘And the stupid one is here too,’ Margot remarked, shaking her head. ‘The one whose eyes are slightly too close together.’
The performance ended, both men in a handstand position, and the watching crowd erupted into applause. Next, Horatio was going around the perimeter of the audience, baseball cap out collecting tips. And a large amount of cash was going into the pot.
‘We should get to the restaurant,’ Margot said. ‘I had to name drop Cameron Diaz to get a reservation.’
‘You don’t know Cameron Diaz,’ Cara replied.
‘But the restaurant doesn’t know that.’
Cara wasn’t going anywhere until she had spoken to Akis and found out why he was in Santorini. She stepped through the dispersing crowd until he was right there, putting his T-shirt back over his tight body.
‘Akis,’ she said.
‘Hey, Cara.’
‘What are you doing here?’
‘Did you not get my message?’
‘You sent me a message?’
She was already delving into her bag to produce her phone. ‘I have… apparently no battery.’ She looked back to him. ‘You came all the way here. Has the wedding location moved an entire island?’
‘No,’ he replied. ‘You remember… that we talked? That you were… scared.’
She nodded, pinpricks spiking her shoulders. ‘Kind of.’
‘OK, well, I said I would come. And so I came… and then Horatio, well, he came too.’
‘Hey,’ Horatio greeted as he stuffed fistfuls of cash into his pockets.
‘Gosh! What happened to your arm?’ Cara said, noticing the wound.
‘It is a very long and complex story,’ Horatio began.
‘Oh,’ Cara said.
‘I am kidding with you. These women who are into ropes and chains you know,’ he said, a glint in his eye.
‘Do not listen to him.’ Akis shook his head.
‘What are you doing here?’ Margot asked everybody and nobody all at the same time.
‘Yassas, Margot,’ Horatio greeted, with a bow.
‘Don’t look at me,’ Margot snapped. ‘Whoever you are.’ She looked away, fanning her face with her hand.
‘We were just going for dinner,’ Cara said. ‘Did you want to join us?’
‘Cara, are you insane? I told you how exclusive this reservation was. You can’t just go adding extra guests.’
‘Please, it is OK,’ Akis said.
‘Yes,’ Horatio added. ‘We can go eat with the third-class kind of people.’
‘Good,’ Margot said. ‘That’s settled.’
‘No,’ Cara said, very annoyed at her aunt’s rudeness. ‘You’re coming with us. Or, we will find somewhere else that can accommodate four people.’
‘Cara—’
‘It’s this way, isn’t it?’ Cara asked, leading on.