Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
‘H ey, Thanassis!’
Grace watched Will embrace her drinking companion in the Greek way, with a half hug and a pat on the back, before turning his attention to her.
‘And… Grace, isn’t it?’
He knew damn well it was. She gave Will what she hoped was a wintry smile.
‘What are you two doing out so late?’
Grace followed his glance down to the table and the empty ouzo bottle. Maybe someone else had joined them and she’d forgotten, which was unlike her.
She remembered the beginning of the evening well and being introduced to the delights of the drink. She’d wanted to see the magic happen again and again. It was delicious as well, nothing like alcohol, more like tasty medicine. After the first few, things had got a little hazy.
The pleasantly woozy feeling she had now couldn’t be anything to do with the ouzo, surely, more to do with staying on her balcony in the sun for too long this afternoon. There were several plates with flakes of pastry on too, which was proof there had been snacks at some point, little bits of sausage and spinach pie as she recalled, but that did seem a very long time ago.
Why was Will questioning what she and Thanassis were doing? It was none of his bloody business. He was like some overbearing big brother. If she wanted to stay out all night, he couldn’t stop her.
Will leant down so close to Thanassis that wafts of his lemon aftershave blew her way too. His voice was low, but Grace heard every word.
‘Isn’t it time you got back to Maria and the kids, mate?’
She jerked her head back at the words.
Thanassis had told her he was separated. That it was well and truly over with his wife. The bastard! To think she’d been considering giving him the honour of being the first man she slept with since Phil died. Three whole years of being celibate. And quite some time before that if she was being honest. Phil’s illness had made anything other than a kiss and cuddle impossible.
Grace put her hand on Thanassis’s arm and forced him to look at her.
‘So, you’re not really separated?’
Thanassis stared at the ground and mumbled something.
‘Speak up!’
Grace found it hard to modulate her voice. The one that came out of her mouth was the one she used in the classroom with the naughtiest of children.
A shamefaced Thanassis finally met her eyes.
‘We had a huge argument. I moved out a few days ago. I really thought it was over. And it’s true I’ve been staying at the language school. It’s broken my heart. Hence… this.’ Thanassis moved his arm across the table, managing to knock off one of the glasses. He caught it just before it hit the floor and placed it back on the table.
Will was still hovering like the spectre at the feast. She wanted nothing more than for both of them to disappear in a puff of smoke.
Thanassis picked up his phone and cigarettes from the table.
‘I’m sorry, Grace.’
She had to play this down. Giving away any hint that she’d considered sleeping with him could ruin things at work, let alone embarrass them both. And there was nosy Will to think about too. She didn’t want his pity.
‘You have nothing to apologise to me for, honestly. We’re just colleagues who’ve enjoyed a fun night out. No harm done.’
Even to herself her words sounded stilted but, having had the rug pulled out from under her, she had to regain the advantage somehow.
‘Thank you, Grace.’
‘No problem.’
She fixed her eyes on Thanassis with some difficulty.
‘But will you promise me something? That you’ll try and make it work with your wife if there’s something worth fighting for. For her sake and the sake of your children.’
Grace’s voice caught in her throat, and she willed her eyes not to well up. She wanted to shake the man and tell him to grab his chance while he still could.
Thanassis did the sign of the cross on his chest.
‘I promise.’
He seemed sincere, but Grace barely knew him. She barely knew either of the men standing in front of her. She wished Thanassis well, but she had to face her own truth. It looked like she wasn’t cut out for casual sex. She wasn’t like her wonderful friend Sofia, taking her pleasure where she could, without a backward glance. Grace Foreman needed to get to know someone well before she offered up her body. She admired Sofia for going for it, and it would be nice to have a man’s arms around her again, but not at the price of someone else’s marriage.
Will’s dark eyes were boring into her. Why was he still hanging around?
Thanassis got to his feet and held out his hand.
‘Let me take you back to the language school. I will stay there in my room tonight, and I promise I will talk to Maria tomorrow.’
Grace tried to stand, but there was something wrong with her legs. They appeared to belong to someone else.
It was Will who caught her arm as she stumbled on the stone floor.
‘Don’t worry, mate, I can take Grace home.’
Grace looked back and forth between the two of them. The dawn was starting to come up behind the sea, and she needed her bed. She made her decision. As a gay man, Will was hardly likely to try anything on. Grace turned towards him.
‘OK.’
‘OK, what?’
‘Yes, you can take me home.’
‘It will be my pleasure.’
Will’s smirk could have earnt him a slap. She had to remember that he was doing her a favour.
A deep frown appeared on Thanassis’s forehead.
‘Are you sure, Grace? Do you know him well?’
‘Well enough.’ Grace spoke to Thanassis behind her hand in what she hoped was a whisper. ‘And I’m going to be safe with him, aren’t I?’
The frown was replaced by a confused smile.
‘If you say so. Kalinichta …’ Thanassis indicated at the lightening sky, ‘or should I say kalimera as we now have a brand-new day.’
‘ Kalimera! ’
Grace raised her hand to wave at him as he ambled off down the hill, which made her lean on the table rather heavily.
Will’s eagle eyes were on her again.
‘I think we should go for a coffee before I take you home. The bars in the port will still be open and it’s on the way anyway.’
‘Yes, oh leader!’
Grace’s salute had Will turning his back. He was laughing at her– she could see his shoulders shaking– but she couldn’t prove it. He held out his arm.
‘Do you think you can manage the steps? There are quite a few of them on the way down.’
‘Of course, what do you think I am? Some sozzled old hag who can’t put one foot in front of the other?’
Will’s raised eyebrow made her want to upgrade that slap to a punch. But she did need to get back to her room, and she had no real idea of where she was. A sense of direction wasn’t a highpoint of her skill set.
She vowed not to speak to him again until they’d got down to the port, hoping that silence would help her concentration. She reluctantly took his arm, which felt solid and surprisingly warm.
They made slow progress on the age-worn stone steps, and after she’d slipped for the third time, Will’s heavy breathing told her that he was more than a little fed up. He let go of her arm and turned to face her.
‘Fasten your seat belt, honey. It’s going to be a bumpy ride.’
Before she could complain about the awful American accent, Grace was hoisted up into a fireman’s lift and over Will’s shoulder.
‘Aaaaah.’
‘Don’t scream. You’ll wake all those people who are having a well-deserved Sunday lie-in.’
‘Put me down at once.’ Grace was speaking into Will’s T-shirt with her face up against the hard wall of his back.
‘Really? You’re happy to take several hours to get home, are you?’
Grace kept quiet.
‘This way, it will take us a couple of minutes. I’ve carried people weighing a lot more than you over my shoulder, believe me.’
Grace wasn’t sure it was a compliment. She beat her fists lightly on his back for a moment but decided to give in gracefully. The upside-down view was surprisingly interesting. There were lights coming on in the tall painted houses on either side of the narrow steps, more and more of them the nearer they got to the water. Grace wondered what was going on in all those rooms. Pictures of breastfeeding mothers, small children jumping on beds, and couples sharing an early morning kiss and maybe more rushed into her head, although she shut that thought down immediately. She hadn’t stayed out all night for years. It would be Brownie points from her daughters when she told them about her adventures. Well, not about almost sleeping with a married man, obviously. Aside from the embarrassment, no grown-up child ever wanted to hear about their parents’ sex lives.
The shudder that ran through Will’s body to hers on every step was having a weird effect on her heart rhythm, which sped up by the second. Just as she got used to it, it stopped abruptly, and she found herself on her feet again and facing the sea. Being torn away from all that warmth was a shock and she shivered in the cool air. She’d dressed for a hot June evening in a flimsy dress, and now she wished she’d added a cardigan. Not quite as chic, but a lot more useful.
Will indicated the nearest table.
‘I’ll go in and order. What do you want?’
‘Erm, cappuccino, please.’
Another shiver overtook her.
‘Are you cold?’
Grace bit back a reply. Without speaking, Will took off the jumper slung round his neck, passed it to her and made for the bar.
The jumper slipped easily over her head. The sleeves came down way past her fingers, but she pushed them back up to her elbows. The fine black wool smelt of lemons and wood, obviously some expensive aftershave. It was a bit of a cliché that all gay men smelt good and wore freshly laundered clothes, but one she was happy to go with.
It was clear the night was far from over for some people, if the noise inside the bar was anything to go by. Raucous singing in Greek was followed by shouts and cheers. Grace was happy to sit facing the port and just lose herself in the orange sky.
The sound of a tray being put down on the table was loud, too loud. Will was back.
‘Were you asleep?’
‘Of course not.’
‘You had your eyes closed…’
‘Just thinking.’
‘Hmmm. Get this down you. It will keep you awake.’
Grace picked up the foaming coffee and took a long sip as Will took the seat beside her.
‘Thank you. How much do I owe you?’
That smirk was back.
‘I think I can afford to stand you a coffee.’
‘I prefer to pay my way.’
‘You can get the next one then.’
Will took a finger-shaped piece of pastry dusted with icing sugar from a plate on the tray.
‘Here, try one of these. They’re called bougatsa. Freshly baked next door.’
He pointed at the bakery, where all the lights were already on.
‘It’s a traditional Greek breakfast, filo pastry filled with a type of custard.’
For a moment, Grace thought he was going to reach over and put one in her mouth, but he left it on her saucer. She was tempted to refuse, but her growling stomach told her otherwise.
Will helped himself to one too and they bit into them at the same time. Gooey, sweet custard filled her mouth and Grace couldn’t help letting out a moan.
‘Fabulous, aren’t they?’
Grace nodded and sat back in her chair, watching the sun rise in the sky as it turned from orange to pale pink and blue. A fishing boat was coming into port with its catch, the men shouting to each other in the cool morning air.
They sat in silence sipping their coffees and helping themselves to a couple more bougatsas each, allowing the peace of the new day to wash over them. It was a relief not to have to speak, and just be, for a few moments. There’d been precious little just being in Grace’s life since Phil died. Filling the day and not thinking about missing her husband had been an art in itself at the beginning.
She was almost ashamed to admit that it had got easier in the last few months, and even easier in the weeks since she’d arrived in Greece. That in turn made her worry she was being disloyal to his memory. There weren’t many people of either sex that she could sit in complete silence with and not feel the need to speak. She wouldn’t have had Will down as one of them… until tonight.
The man in question finished off his last bougatsa and turned to her.
‘What did you mean when you said to Thanassis that you were going to be safe with me?’
Grace took a deep breath. He obviously had the hearing of a bat.
‘Well, you know, with you being a gay man…’
The roar of laughter that greeted her words even had some of the fishermen looking their way.
It was a few moments before Will could even speak.
‘Sorry. But what the hell gave you that idea?’
Grace licked the icing sugar off her fingers before speaking.
‘When we talked on the beach, and discovered that we both loved Will and Grace , you know, the career woman and her gay best friend, you seemed so into it, that I just assumed…’
Will leant back with an amused look on his face.
‘Always dangerous to assume.’
‘Plus, you’re so’—Grace almost said ‘good-looking’, but stopped herself in time—‘neat and tidy all the time. Well turned out. And you smell nice. And clean.’
‘Ah. You’ll have to blame my years in the army for that. The self-discipline and routine stay with you. A clean body leads to a clear mind. And all the other clichés, which are actually pretty accurate as it goes.’
Grace had to look down at her empty coffee cup at his use of the words ‘clean body’. She didn’t want visuals of Will in the shower now she knew the truth. She’d been picked up and thrown over the shoulder of what she thought was a gay man. Her bottom had been just inches from his face and his arms had clamped her thighs to his chest. It hadn’t been unpleasant, quite the opposite now she thought about it. She willed herself not to go red.
Will’s brown eyes were on her again.
‘Your evidence seems a little flimsy, M’Lud.’
Grace rolled her eyes.
‘Can I ask, would you have had a problem with me being gay?’
‘God no, don’t be ridiculous. My youngest daughter’s gay. Nothing like that, believe me.’
She had much more of a problem with the idea of him being straight, but she could hardly say that.
‘Good. Otherwise, we couldn’t be friends.’
Why was he automatically assuming she’d want to be friends with him? Admittedly, it was something that had crossed her mind too, but he’d driven her up the wall on the three occasions they’d met. She’d seen his temper at close quarters too. OK, he wasn’t gay, but he could be married with six kids for all she knew. She certainly wasn’t going to ask.
‘But I can assure you that I am one hundred per cent, well ninety-nine per cent, heterosexual.’
‘Right. Thanks for letting me know.’
Grace really had had enough of this conversation. All in all, it had been a surprising but draining twenty-four hours, and she’d been awake for nearly all of it. The walk and the coffee had sobered her up in super-quick time. She sipped the dregs of her cappuccino. It was time to go.
‘Are you feeling better?’
Will’s face was the picture of innocence.
‘I feel fine. Thank you again for the coffee. I can make my own way from here. It’s a two-minute walk.’
‘Nonsense, I insist on taking you right to your door.’
Grace sighed but knew enough about the man now to know that he was serious.
‘How come you’re out at this ungodly hour anyway?’
‘I’m a terrible sleeper. Can’t help waking with the dawn. And then I like to walk. You see lots of interesting sights at that time of the morning.’
He was irritating her again. Everything he said seemed to have an edge to it.
‘And how do you know Thanassis?’
‘He’s married to Maria, our housekeeper at the villa. Lovely woman.’
Grace’s neck got even hotter. He couldn’t prove she’d thought about sleeping with Thanassis, but it was like he’d read her mind.
‘As you’ll know, after only being here a few weeks, island life is different. Everyone knows everyone or is related in some way. It can be a bit much sometimes.’
Grace did know. What had she been thinking, contemplating sleeping with someone she worked with?
‘Do you think their marriage has a chance?’
Will smiled.
‘Those two are always on-off, on-off. They fight like cat and dog, and he’s a terrible flirt…’
Will met her eye.
‘But she always takes him back.’
Great, so she’d almost gone for it with a known womaniser. She really needed to get out of there.
Lightheaded, but surefooted, Grace made her way back to the language school with her escort in silence. She made sure her key was in the door as quickly as possible and kept her goodbye to a minimum. An extravagant bow from Will only irked her further. She’d had quite enough of him for one day, several weeks in fact.
Once in her room, Grace lay face down on the bed. Something tickled her nose, and a burst of lemon went up her nostrils. Damn, she still had his jumper on. Now he’d think she’d done it on purpose.