Chapter Thirty-Nine #3
At half four, Rose puts on her big straw hat and another blast of factor 50. She has definitely had too much sun over the past few weeks. She peers into her mirror, angling her face this way and that.
She has sun spots.
Years ago in Los Angeles she had laser treatment to get rid of all blemishes. Her ancestry is Celtic via Wales and sun spots are part of the deal, along with pale skin that doesn’t tan easily.
But she’s a long way from her old cosmetic surgeon and the life that required such a doctor.
She picks up her white-and-blue hand-sewn tote bag with sea urchins, fish and pretty starfish embroidered upon it. If she’s going to rescue the retreat, she needs to walk off her worries and plan what to do next.
She also needs some of Elena’s Magic Tea. The one that’s known to calm every anxiety but has the side effect of smelling like a witch’s brew with frogs thrown in.
It’s siesta time, but she knows there is a shady path down through the woods to the village and she can be back in time for the evening session and dinner.
She needs to take the hidden path to avoid any more questions from her retreaters.
First, Keera had come into the private part of the hotel and told Rose about her confrontation with her mother.
‘I walked away,’ Keera said sadly. ‘I can’t see her any more.’
‘We can talk about it after dinner on the beach,’ Rose said. ‘You can see her and you can be honest with her, I promise.’
‘I don’t know,’ says Keera. ‘I showed her my shaved head and she went mad.’
Keera is still wearing her wig and Rose has an idea.
‘Why don’t you ditch the wig for good?’ she suggests. ‘Then your mother will have a very visual cue that life is going to be different.’
India had been next.
She’d been upset about Dan but also keen to share that Julia was totally the wrong person for him.
‘Rose, I hate saying this about another woman, especially one who’s gone through so much. I mean, I am a woman’s woman, you know!’
India had been upset that what she’d been told about Julia and what Julia is now presenting vary so much.
‘Dan didn’t lie, did he?’ India had asked.
Rose had shaken her head.
‘He loves her but he loves this vision of her and that’s not who she is!’ India said. ‘If you’d heard the things she was saying in the bar!’ It was all invented.
‘She could still be very emotionally fragile,’ Rose explained. ‘If looking at your life is too painful, people can invent a fantasy life.’
‘Like I used to,’ India had said wryly. ‘Ones where I was the princess with my handsome prince coming along. Why do they tell us those fairy stories as girls? The ones about men rescuing women and how our lives are not fulfilled unless we have a partner. It’s not realistic,’ she added crossly.
‘Whole rafts of clever women think some guy is going to save them and all they have to be is a unicorn woman with no needs.’
‘You know better now,’ said Rose firmly.
India nodded.
Rose reached into her pocket and took out her ever-present package of tissues. She handed them to India before she launched into more about Dan.
‘Even if you don’t like Julia, remember that she’s been through a lot. We don’t know her story, only Dan’s perception of it, which is idealised.’
‘You’re very kind, Rose,’ said India.
‘That’s me – always kind,’ Rose agreed smiling. ‘I have to go to the village but we’ll meet on the beach at six, before dinner, OK?’
The way things were going, Rose thinks as she gathers up her belongings, there was going to be a full session with everyone on the beach. Which is OK.
Finally, she’s on her way. She’s wearing her light cotton tennis shoes and walks at quite a pace down the dusty track to Xanthe.
In the off-season, the shops are all closed at this time and only the tavernas and bars are open. But now in the glorious warmth of September, the shops are all open again after their mesimeri, the Greek siesta.
The village will become busy fast, Rose knows.
People from the various rental villas and little apartments are wandering through the town, along with the stragglers from day trips to Xanthe who are heading to the coaches to drive back to their holiday apartments and hotels.
They’re trailing bags with souvenirs in them: the iconic little Greek horses with the patina of green on the brass manes, pieces of pottery with pretty flowers painted on.
Rose likes the village best in the early mornings when only the locals are there, drinking strong coffee, setting up for the day, breathing in the sea air.
But it’s beautiful anytime: sloped streets heading to the harbour, bright flowers in window boxes, elegant little houses side by side with older whitewashed ones, Greek history and architecture everywhere.
She speeds past people dawdling outside the straw hat and handbag shop and makes it to La Bella Graca, a little gem on Ermou Street, its stonework walls and richly ornate wooden door opening up to a bright, scented shop.
Herbs hang from the ceiling and Rose inhales as she walks in, identifying the scent of apples, strawberry leaf and luscious liquorice root.
‘Hello Rose,’ sings out Elena, in the work area behind the counter, mixing up blends of herbs. ‘How did you find the Shepherd’s Tea? Did it help with your cold?’
‘Yes, it was marvellous,’ says Rose, ‘but I need something stronger today. I need a calming tea to help me finish the retreat properly.’
‘Of course.’ Elena nods thoughtfully. ‘I see everyone has been looking for one of your guests.’
‘We found him,’ Rose says. ‘Well, we located him. I won’t feel right until I have him back in Villa Artemis.’
‘Guests are often tricky,’ Elena agrees. ‘So – you are looking for my Magic Tea, perhaps?’
Rose nods.
‘Can you wait ten minutes? I have a small quantity ready but need to package it.’
‘Of course.’
‘No new medications I should know about?’
The Magic Tea is the strongest herbal tea Rose has ever had. Its exact ingredients are a secret known only to Elena and her elderly mother, which is why Elena only sells it to people who divulge all of their medications to her.
‘Herbs are powerful and some herbs cannot be taken with some medicine,’ Elena has always said.
‘No new medications,’ Rose answers.
‘Good. Have some of today’s blend while you wait.’ Elena gestures to the teapot warming on a little flame. ‘It’s raspberry and pomegranate.’
Rose takes a cup and sits to wait.
She needs to plan her next moves.