Chapter 33
Emilia’s plan had unfolded perfectly. When it was time to leave, the two men came out to say goodbye like clockwork. She went straight up to Andreas and shook his hand as she wished him a good day, a gesture that caused him evident astonishment. She hadn’t done that before when she was leaving, after all. She then shook Stefan’s hand too, just to hide her secret motive—yeah… as if anyone could ever guess this madness!—and hurried out the gate as the first pangs of dizziness began to hit her.
The field where she and Stefan had earlier dumped the branches from the pruned trees and bushes seemed like the perfect refuge. She rushed to it teetering on unsure legs across the grassy field. Stefan had piled the branches high, and it made for a perfect mass of foliage to dive behind and hide from the rest of the world for a few precious moments, while she was changing. On the back, the field was bordered by a tall private property. The window shutters were closed and no one was about.
She thanked her lucky stars as she closed her eyes, crouched near the dirt, her face an inch away from the branches. The scent of earth and leaves were rich in her nostrils as she willed the dizziness to subside, the palms of her hands flat on the ground to keep from toppling over. Finally, the dizzy spell passed and she checked her hands and legs to make sure she was back to her true form. She sprang upright and, with a deep breath, hurried to the bus stop.
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After a short stay at home to take a shower and change into a summer dress and sandals, she felt, oddly, more beautiful than before, even though those twenty years had been piled upon her once again. As she combed her hair in the mirror, she wondered why that was. Her eyes were sparkling in an odd way. And even though those familiar worry wrinkles had returned on her brow and on the sides of her eyes, today they weren’t as noticeable as before.
Her whole face glowed, almost like it did when she was Lia. And then, it suddenly hit her. Is it my excitement over going to Trata to meet Andreas that makes me glow like this? And then, her mind wandered even further. What if it’s love that has this effect on me? And is this real love, a love so strong that has the power to make my face glow like this, out of sheer excitement? Or is it just an after effect of being Lia for a while?
These thoughts stayed on her mind as she walked to Papikinou beach, a wide-brimmed straw hat with a yellow ribbon on her head that matched the yellow paisley dress she had picked to wear. The girls had insisted she buy the ensemble during their visit to Adamas the previous day. They said she ought to wear more colourful clothes, and especially as Emilia. Now, she could see why. She felt twenty years younger just looking down on her body and seeing herself in these lively colours. Satisfied, she made a mental note to buy more colourful clothes next time she was in town.
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‘ Emilia mou !’ Andreas exclaimed when he saw her. He happened to come out into the seating area, carrying a big tray, just as she stepped up onto it from the road. He pointed with his head to the far corner, to a table by the big dark canvas that served as a wall, hiding the view to Perdika. It was perfectly shady and her heart leapt. Just what the doctor ordered!
‘I set a table ready for us over there,’ he confirmed. ‘Be with you in a minute.’ She nodded happily, then went to the vacant table as Andreas began to set another for a young couple that sat a little further away.
As soon as she took a seat she gave out an exhalation of relief. A large fan sent her way blissful waves of cool air that felt like the breath of angels on her face. Aaah… So perfect a reprieve after the long walk in the hammering heat… She took off her hat and sat back in her chair, catching her breath for a while, and watching Andreas take the couple’s orders.
He looked particularly handsome today, even more so than he had this morning. He was wearing a pair of classy long pants now, not the casual shorts he had on back at home. It was a pair of linen brown trousers, and he had combined them with a linen shirt in the same hue. The brown loafers that were slightly darker brown completed the elegant ensemble. It all made him look drop dead gorgeous and she couldn’t stop staring. All he needed was a big safari hat to make him look like a movie star.
She giggled to herself, a hand over her mouth, as she imagined him in a safari, atop a Jeep, binoculars in hand, looking for lions. And she had to admit – he seemed way more handsome than Hollywood stars James Stewart or Harrison Ford had ever looked in the savannah or the desert.
Her tantalising daydream ended abruptly as he strode over, a huge smile on his face. He bent lower and took the hand she offered to hold it, then left a tender kiss on her cheek. ‘So happy to see you, Emilia mou . Thank you for coming!’
She felt like a timid schoolgirl on her first date when she beamed back at him, wondering what was wrong with her. ‘Thank you for inviting me, Andrea mou .’
‘Now, let me get you some meze and a glass of wine. I promise I’ll come soon and eat with you. The bream is on the grill! Stefan is on it.’
‘But you’re serving! How can you sit with me?’
‘I have new staff helping,’ he said with a cryptic smile.
‘A new cook and a new waiter?’ she asked, but then something caught her eye at the front door of the restaurant behind him. ‘Elise?’ she said, not believing her eyes. Indeed, it was Elise. She had just come out to serve coffee to three men sitting at a table near the door playing checkers.
Elise smiled at her from across the distance before turning to the men to leave the coffees at their table. Then, she hurried over, an amused smile on her face.
Emilia greeted her with an amused smile of her own. ‘You minx! That’s where you were last night?’
Andreas chortled. ‘Yes. And she told me not to tell you or Lia, for some reason.’
‘I wanted to surprise you!’ said Elise. ‘Surprise!’ She threw out her arms, one hand still holding the empty tray.
Emilia turned to Andreas. ‘So, that’s why you invited us all today except Elise. I did think it was strange.’
In lieu of an answer, Andreas laughed, then squeezed her shoulder affectionately. With a pat on Elise’s back he said, ‘Excuse me, ladies. I’ll be back soon.’
He was off like a shot, then Elise said, ‘Don’t worry. I have it all under control.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Your cousin Aleka. And her awful sidekick, Takis.’ She’d said this with a sour look on her face, and it made Emilia giggle. But still, she didn’t understand.
‘What about them?’
‘They are not happy their cook came here. I have a bad feeling. That’s why I got the job. To keep an eye on things.’
‘Oh! Right. I didn’t realize. Thanks… But, what do you think they can do? It’s the lady’s right to change jobs, and I guess she wasn’t happy at Perdika. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have left.’
‘Huh! You can say that again,’ said Elise, then left to return to her duties.
Not one minute had passed when three children appeared at the doorway. Emilia thought they were perhaps children belonging to one of the couples that sat eating at the tables, but after a few more seconds, her eye was drawn to the flyaway long hair of one of the girls. Oddly familiar. Wait. Chloe? She had asked Chloe back at the house where she was going, shortly after Emilia had arrived home from work. The little girl had vaguely said she was meeting some friends. And now, here she was. But, who were these girls? And how did she know them? From what she knew, Chloe didn’t go to school. Another oddity about her, but one of many.
She was about to call her name, but, as if she had sensed her across the distance, Chloe turned to look at her and raised a hand in greeting. Beckoning to her friends, she hurried over to Emilia, the other two girls trailing behind her as if tethered to her by an invisible thread. One of them was quite round, but very sweet, with a happy smile. The other one was very slim, and even though she smiled too, it didn’t reach all the way to her eyes.
Chloe beamed as she said hello, then made introductions. Pointing to the plump little girl first, then to the other, she said, ‘This is Sotiria and this is Lena. Lena’s mother is the new cook. Her name is Voula. It’s her first full day today, and we came to wish her good luck!’
‘Pleased to meet you, girls,’ said Emilia, then to the slender child she added, ‘Your mother is the new cook?’ I hear she is amazing!’
‘She is, yes! And tomorrow she’s baking me a cake!’
‘A cake?’
‘Yes, it’s Lena’s birthday tomorrow,’ interjected Chloe. ‘Mrs Voula asked Mr Andreas if she could make a cake and if he would agree at lunchtime we all come here to blow out the candles—’
‘And he said yes! And even offered us lunch!’ interrupted Lena, her eyes dancing.
‘A nice change from eating in the field, yet again!’ said Sotiria, and all the children laughed.
Emilia didn’t ask what that was all about. She was amazed about what she’d just heard about Andreas. ‘Oh, wow!’ it sufficed her to comment. If her heart was melting before about Andreas, now she felt like she was turning into a puddle on the floor.
The girls were giggling now, excited about the birthday party tomorrow, and Emilia said, ‘Wait. Tomorrow lunchtime you’re having a birthday party here? On the same day as the big opening in the evening?’
‘Yes! I guess I’ll spend all day here tomorrow,’ said Chloe with a chortle.
Then Sotiria elbowed Chloe playfully and said, ‘Hey! Let’s go back in. I bet the keftedakia are out of the frying pan by now!’ This caused the other girls to nod excitedly.
Chloe explained Voula was treating them to keftedakia and fries for lunch inside the kitchen. She had said the word keftedakia —meat balls—with a toothy grin that made Emilia giggle. She was still laughing as she watched the children rush back inside.
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Emilia had a superb lunch with Andreas. Stefan had grilled the sea bream to perfection. He had brought it to them himself, served inside a platter decorated with chopped parsley and wedges of lemon. It had caused her to salivate, yet she wondered if perhaps it was too big for just two people. But, she and Andreas had managed to eat it all, much to her surprise, all washed down with lashings of lemon and olive oil dressing that was perfect to soak fresh ciabatta bread in. A delicious salad had accompanied their meal as well as a plate of grilled prawns. It was just perfect.
They were sitting together still, finishing their exquisite bottle of white wine. It felt sweet like nectar as it went down her throat. Andreas sat back in his chair, and he had placed it a little closer to her now that they had stopped eating. When he laughed, he sometimes leaned even closer, and his exhalation tickled her cheeks. She loved how open he was, nothing like the stiff men she’d dated sparsely in Athens. Not that you’d call it ‘dating’ if you met a man just once for a coffee or a quick burger somewhere.
She’d never met any of those stiff men more than once. She had plenty of those ‘dates’. But never a man as she wanted him to be. As she needed him to be. Andreas seemed perfect. And, to her surprise, this realization hadn’t come with any bitterness. Normally, she’d lament the fact he hadn’t come sooner. That surprised her. She wondered why that was.
Was it her colourful dress that made her look younger today that caused her to feel less bitter about her missed opportunities? And, more importantly, she wondered, what if this was the perfect time for her to meet Andreas… and find true love?
As she took in his handsome face, his elegant clothes, and the manly, weathered hand that held the stem of his glass as he sipped his wine, she felt almost sure of it.
‘ Emilia mou ? You seem far away. Are you okay?’ he said, and she felt horrified to realize he’d been talking all this time. She’d been looking at a family sitting at a near table, lost in her thoughts.
‘I’m sorry,’ she blurted out without thinking, ‘What with the manual work I did this morning and all that… I got tired, I guess. My mind just wandered.’ As soon as she had said it she realized her mistake.
Andreas’s mystification was well justified when he asked, ‘Manual labour?’
‘Oh… ah…’ She felt silly for her error. Lia had done the manual labour. Not Emilia. ‘I did… um… a spot of gardening today. In my garden.’
He smiled, nodding with understanding.
‘I should have taken it easy. What with my creaky joints and all that, it was too much for me,’ she added with a nervous smile.
‘Creaky joints? What nonsense!’ He leaned closer to her, a tender hand on her arm that felt amazing, and added, ‘To me, you look perfect… and strikingly beautiful, Emilia mou .’
That caused her heart to melt. ‘Thank you. Maybe, it’s the dress…’ she said, looking down at her lap. It was a timid response that surprised her.
‘It’s not just your beautiful dress,’ he said, leaning so close now his nose almost touched hers. ‘It’s you… Emilia mou. You’re practically beaming.’
‘Oh, stop it!’ she said with a little wave. ‘And I couldn’t beam any more than you do today. The soft opening is tonight, huh? You must be excited!’
She didn’t know why she had broken the spell. She was head over heels in love with him by now and she knew it. Had he kissed her then it would have made her the happiest woman in the world. But was it the right place and the right time? What with being in the company of so many strangers munching away, and those men still hitting the checker pieces like they were mad at them, causing that awful racket? No. If she were to be kissed by the man she had fallen for, it had to be perfect. She’d never been kissed by someone who she was in love with. Truly in love with. It had to be movie-perfect. Novel-perfect. Or nothing at all.
He’d obviously lost the magic of the moment too, as he was now leaning back in his chair, but he still looked at her with that same tenderness. Upon draining his glass, he put it on the table and said, ‘Would you like a tour of the kitchen, Emilia mou ?’ He winked and added, ‘You met my new waitress… time to meet my new cook too!’
She giggled and got up, and, to her surprise, he took her hand to lead her inside. The warmth his hand radiated into the flesh of her palm shot up to every cell in her being, it seemed, until it mushroomed inside her heart, causing an explosion of joy that made her feel lightheaded.
Inside, he let go of her hand before entering the kitchen and introduced her to Voula. The children were sitting at a small table in the corner, eating their lunch and waving from a distance.
Elise was serving, coming and going, carrying trays of plates that Voula was putting on a counter, ready for her to take. The two seemed to work like well-oiled parts of a smoothly rotating wheel. It was like poetry in motion, very impressive, and Emilia wondered if, perhaps, it had less to do with Voula the cook, and more with Elise’s mystifying tendency to make everything around her magically fall into place.
Voula was lovely, very chatty and sweet. The kitchen smelled divine. Several meals were being cooked, some on the stove and others in the two ovens positioned at the far wall.
They stayed in the kitchen a little longer. Andreas showed her every single device and fixing, it seemed, and she marvelled at how pristine it all seemed, every metal surface gleaming.