Chapter 28
Chloe looked at her watch. It was quarter to one and she had planned to meet Lena and Sotiria outside the school soon. Thankfully, she had the power to move from place to place in a nanosecond – all she needed was to find a spot on both ends that was out of sight. A big tree or an electricity pole provided the perfect means to transport herself by hiding behind them from any onlookers.
‘Girls, it’s time. I have to go,’ she said to Elise with a wink. Elise knew why Chloe had to go but Emilia didn’t. She only knew Chloe was supposed to leave them at some point. The girls had been vague to her about the reason. Emilia knew not to probe any further.
‘Do you have to go so soon?’ said Emilia. ‘You hardly ate anything from the platter! Stay and eat a little more,’ she urged, pointing to the table. The platter was half-full of various kinds of meze . Boiled prawns lined the edges of the platter all around while the inside was full of cut up pieces of tomato, olives, rolled up salami slices held together with toothpicks, dolmadakia (clearly from a tin, but not too bad) and fried pieces of sausage.
The large bowl sitting beside the platter had been served overflowing with fried mussels sprinkled with dill. The girls had devoured the mussels in seconds almost in their entirety. The bowl only had three left in it.
‘Oh, all right! It’s a dirty job but I guess I’ll have to take another mussel,’ joked Chloe and took one from the bowl to enjoy with a piece of bread.
The other two chortled and took one each of the remaining mussels.
Andreas approached then, surprising them with an extra plate of food which they hadn’t ordered. He moved the platter a little further to place the new dish at the centre of the table with a flourish. ‘Voila! My latest experimentation in the kitchen! Frittata with mushrooms and peppers! Hope you ladies like eggs?’
The girls made appreciative sounds and Elise wasted no time. ‘Wow! This tastes amazing!’ she said after tasting a forkful.
Chloe followed suit, only to agree with Elise. ‘Thanks, that’s divine. But I really must leave you now…’ She stood, ready to go.
Andreas knitted his brows. ‘You’re leaving? On your own?’
‘Yes. I have somewhere to be. But thank you, the food has been wonderful.’
With that, she was gone, without waiting for an answer, while the others waved goodbye.
***
Emilia couldn’t believe it. As soon as Chloe left, Elise turned to her and Andreas to announce, ‘Actually, I have to go as well. But you two can sit here and enjoy the frittata together, surely?’
‘Why do you have to go?’ asked Emilia, mystified, though she suspected Elise had really nowhere to be and was just being tactful.
‘Oh. It’s that thing… didn’t I say? Oh, never mind. Just a thing. I’ll explain later. Bye!’ Just like Chloe had done just then, she also stood and left without further ado, barely giving Emilia and Andreas the chance to wave before she was out of sight.
Emilia pressed her lips together, then turned to Andreas, who still stood by the table. He looked just as astonished by her friends’ sudden departures.
‘I am sorry. That was a little weird,’ she said in an apologetic manner.
To her surprise, he raised his shoulders and said, ‘Not too weird. And certainly not bad for you and me.’
‘Huh? And why not?’
‘Because it gives me the chance to take a ten-minute break and enjoy this frittata with you! Unless you object, of course?’ He gave her a sweet smile and it made her heart melt.
Emilia beckoned him wildly to sit down. ‘Oh, yes! Please sit! That would be lovely.’
###
Chloe stopped short as she neared Perdika. Aleka was standing at the edge of the seating area, hands on her waist, addressing with evident vexation a woman in her thirties. Chloe didn’t have to get too close as she passed by the restaurant to overhear the lecture the poor woman was getting. But, when she did get closer she was astonished to recognise the woman. It was Lena’s mother. She’d seen her in her home with her daughter. She had visited them in an invisible form a few times, all around the clock.
‘I’ve told you, Voula! Over and over again! You just cannot keep asking me for time off. This is high season, for crying out loud!’ Aleka was shouting, totally oblivious to the passers by throwing her curious glances, and, more importantly, inconsiderate to her employee for this public humiliation.
Chloe felt enraged as she moved to stand under a tree nearby, fanning herself, pretending to catch her breath from the heat, as she listened.
‘I am sorry, Mrs Aleka, I really am. But it’s my Lena’s birthday, and—’
Aleka put up a hand. ‘Last week, you had to take her to the doctor, and the week before that you had an appointment of your own. What is this, Voula? You think this is a charity? You are entitled to one day off in the week, so use that day for your appointments and your…’ she shook one hand frantically in the air, lips puckered with disdain, ‘…birthday parties, or whatever it is you want this time!’
By that time, Chloe had switched to her ethereal form to watch the two undetected. To do that, she kind of jumped into the midst of a cluster of tourists that had just alighted from a bus, convinced no one in the commotion would notice her fading into nothing.
She dashed back to Perdika to follow the two women inside. Aleka was walking ahead as she neared the entrance, grumbling away. Voula followed silently, head bent.
The three entered the kitchen, and Aleka stopped before a large counter full of vegetables of various kinds that were evidently ready to be processed.
Pointing a sharp finger at Voula, she began to scold her further. ‘And I don’t want to hear another word about your daughter’s birthday party, okay? Or a wedding, or a christening or any other party involving any of your relatives, for that matter! You have obligations here. If you cannot handle them, you’re free to try your luck somewhere else. Just let me know and I’ll replace you like that !’ Aleka snapped her fingers in Voula’s face.
Voula stared back at her wide-eyed, clearly too shocked and too meek to snap back at her. Or, maybe, she was too much in need of the pay check to complain.
Chloe shook her head in disbelief and started to find it hard to watch as a calm bystander, as she was supposed to. When Aleka turned around to walk away, Chloe saw Voula bend her head down and wipe a tear away. That caused Chloe’s heart to squeeze so tightly it hurt, then her indignation rose inside her like an ugly puppet out of a jack-in-the-box.
As if of its own accord, Chloe’s hand shot upwards, her fingertips sending a dart of pure white energy to hit the counter. A small courgette began to roll on the counter, and it fell on the floor tiles, catching the sole of Aleka’s high-heeled shoe as it touched the ground.
What happened next surely made Chloe feel better. Aleka glided for about a yard and a half, arms flailing in the air. Eyes popping wide open, she let out a comical ‘EEEEOOOOEEEE’ sound that died only when the courgette broke in half and she regained control of her footing.
Gasping for air and flicking a long strand from over her eyes, Aleka threw a thunderous look to Voula, who had frozen, watching her by the counter. ‘Carry on then! What are you looking at? These veggies won’t cook themselves!’ she shouted, then rushed out of the kitchen, clip-clopping on her high heels, chin tipped back.
Voula let out a snigger, then turned on the tap at the sink. She picked up a knife and began to wash the courgettes, chopping off their stalks as she went. Her amusement soon died away, and her brow creased deeply. She let out a sigh and whispered to no one in particular, ‘Oh God… What am I going to do? My poor Lena… I wanted to do something special for her birthday. Not a party, as that awful woman thinks… How could I throw her a party even if I wanted to? My poor girl has no friends… But, at least, to take her out… Spend some time with her. Something special. She is always so lonely, poor mite, and I feel so bad…’
Chloe, her heart pulsating with sympathy, put a hand on Voula’s back and whispered, ‘Don’t worry, Mrs Voula. I got your back!’
Voula shuddered, then smiled. ‘Ooh! An angel just brushed passed me!’ She raised her eyes to the ceiling and seemed comforted when she said, ‘Thank you, angels!’
Chloe felt amazed. If Voula could feel her touch she had to be a good person, a rare one indeed. Now, she had one more reason to help her and her daughter.
She then remembered she was running late to meet Lena and Sotiria. School was going to be out soon. Dashing out of the kitchen, she stopped at the doorway only for a moment, to look back at Voula, who had her back turned to her as she worked at the counter, and smiled a knowing smile.
###
Emilia stood on the pavement outside Trata with Andreas. He had captured her hand, squeezing it gently, not letting it go. The warmth of his fingers curled around hers felt amazing, and so did the tender look in his eyes, and his dashing smile, as he spoke.
‘Emilia, promise me that it won’t be long before we meet again! I know you’re busy at the house and I am opening the restaurant fully soon, but if we can’t find a time to go out when we’re both free, perhaps then you could come back here and pay me another visit? Whenever suits you?’
‘Sure, I will. I promise!’ She removed her hand from his grasp, about to turn and go, and it felt hard to do. Truth was, she wanted to stay with him. Heck, she’d spend the whole day with him if she could. But he had to work. What would she do hanging around here? She’d had the meal, which was delicious, then tried to pay, which he had refused. It was a gift, he’d said, and it had warmed her heart to receive it. But now, she had to go. She was going to visit him again at the first available opportunity. She knew that.
As she took one step back, he took one step forward. It felt like an impromptu dance, and she met his eyes again, wondering what he was doing.
He raised a hand to wave it gently in the air between them. ‘Perhaps… perhaps you could come one morning to the house with Lia? We don’t open the restaurant till ten o’ clock these days, and she’ll be coming at eight in the morning, as you probably know?’
‘Yes, she did say…’ she lied, but of course the probability of her and her younger self occupying the same space at the same time was a riddle only quantum physics would ever perhaps be willing to undertake the solution of.
‘So, is that a yes? You could come to the house with her?’
‘Um… no, I am sorry. I have… uh… obligations in my own house early in the mornings!’ she said, thinking on her feet with a vague twist of a hand.
‘Oh, I see…’
He seemed deflated, causing a thorn to come out of nowhere and prick at her side.
‘But, um, I could come here again? Soon!’ She nodded fervently and he did the same. Like a mirror, he matched her movements and her expressions, and she wondered if that meant he was into her just as much as she was into him. The thought stirred in her a kind of excitement that commanded her arms to reach out and pull him by the neck into a kiss. It took all she had to restrain herself from doing it. She looked away, blinking a few times as she silently willed that impossible urge to subside.
Clearly unaware of the effect he had on her, Andreas was smiling widely when she looked at him again, seeming just as unwilling to say goodbye as she was. She’d have to be the one to do it, guessing he’d never leave the pavement unless she walked away first.
‘Well, again, thank you for this wonderful meal. I am so grateful, Andreas.’
‘My pleasure, Emilia mou . Thank you for the wonderful company.’
He’d used the Greek ‘ mou ’—my—again, calling her ‘My Emilia’, which is the Greek way to express affection to someone, someone you know and like, perhaps even love. Her heart skipped a beat, and she could only reciprocate in the same manner.
‘Thank you, Andrea mou . Goodbye then, see you soon!’
His eyes lit up to hear her use the same term of affection, and it pleased her no end to see it. ‘Yes, see you!’
She smiled sweetly at him and turned around, her heart full as she walked away, knowing with every fibre of her being that ‘her’ Andreas was still standing where she’d left him, watching her leave.