Chapter 2 #2
The taxi deposited them at the foot of the cliff, and all three women just stood for a moment, shocked into silence as they caught their first glimpse of the spectacular white monastery clinging for dear life to the sheer grey stone, like a stray chess piece.
Charlotte recovered her voice first.
‘That is truly something, isn’t it? It looks like it’s hanging in the air, suspended above the sea. You know it dates back to the eleventh century?’
Maddie nodded in Charlotte’s direction.
‘She’s off. But on this occasion, I have to agree that it’s bloody spectacular.’
Her gaze went all the way up the steep cliff to the church.
‘How many steps did you say it was?’
Charlotte appeared to mumble an answer.
‘Speak up, Char.’
‘Three hundred.’
‘Great. Just throw me in the sea if I don’t make it.’
Charlotte ignored Maddie’s outburst and glanced at her guidebook.
She still preferred to buy one as soon as she got to any holiday destination rather than rely solely on her phone.
What if the battery died? The thought of not being prepared brought her out in a cold sweat.
Even more so, now. Any problem she could eliminate before it hit her was a win.
‘Apparently the view from the top is even more amazing. We’d better get a move on. It shuts at seven, and there’s lots to look at.’
Maddie and Sofia raised their eyes to the heavens behind their friend’s back.
‘I know what you’re doing.’
Charlotte whipped out her phone.
‘OK, quick selfie of us in front of the monastery for the blog first. Smile. Say cheese!’
Maddie’s sigh told Sofia that she wasn’t the only one who wasn’t keen on the idea of endless photo opportunities.
They were here to relax, not pose on their sunloungers like twentysomethings.
Charlotte had decided she was going to document their trip, but they didn’t seem to have much of a say in it.
She’d have to devise ways of keeping that to a minimum, especially if it was going to upset Maddie.
Photo over, the three of them set off together up the steps, but it soon became obvious they’d need regular stops to allow Maddie to catch up.
By unspoken agreement, Charlotte and Sofia made a big show of drinking from their water bottles every few minutes and exclaiming about how hot they were.
Sofia hoped there’d be toilets in the monastery; at this rate she’d need one the moment she reached the top.
She was close enough to Charlotte to hear her tut every now and again at their progress, but luckily Maddie was too far away.
‘Not far now! One last push.’
Charlotte’s voice rang around the stone, bouncing off the cliff and out to sea.
Maddie, bent double, raised her head.
‘Give it a rest, Char. We’re not on a school trip. Or about to give birth. Please cut out that “head of the PTA tone”.’
‘But I was head of the PTA.’
‘Yes, and don’t we know it. Don’t let me lose my place. I’m counting the steps. Two hundred and eighty bloody eight… Two hundred and eighty bloody nine…’
At the top, Charlotte clapped loudly as the three of them reached the entrance.
‘Well done us.’
The sight of old skirts, trousers and shirts hung over railings greeted them, next to a notice translated into many languages. Sofia read it with care.
‘Hang on. We could have borrowed the stuff here to make ourselves decent enough to get inside and just worn shorts and t-shirts on the climb, rather than suffering in these hot dresses.’
Charlotte’s look of surprise was a bit too animated for Sofia’s liking. She pointed a finger at her friend.
‘You knew, didn’t you? You always do your research.’
Charlotte looked the other way.
‘I’ve got it! You just didn’t want to put on old clothes that other tourists have worn. You’ve always had a thing about clothes from charity shops.’
Maddie put her hand up to touch a floral elasticated skirt billowing in the breeze.
‘Is that true, Char? If so, you should be ashamed on both counts. I love charity shops. Most things I own are from them. And they provide a big chunk of funding for the care home. We couldn’t cope without it.’
Charlotte sighed and put her hands in the air.
‘OK, sorry, you’ve got me. Look, I regularly give money to charity too. It’s not charity shops per se that I don’t like or buying stuff from them.’
Sofia screwed up her nose.
‘So, what is it then?’
‘It’s imagining the backstory about where they’ve come from and who donated them that I can’t cope with.’
Maddie and Sofia raised their eyebrows in unison.
‘I know it sounds mad, and I probably should have told you both earlier that you could borrow stuff. That was wicked of me. But don’t we all look nice and elegant?’
Maddie’s grunt was reply enough.
At the door they were greeted by an elderly monk and offered shot glasses of psimeni raki, which he explained was a local brew made with fermented grapes and herbs and was traditionally offered to travellers who’d made the long trip here.
To accompany it were little sweets, loukoumi, liberally sprinkled with sugar.
OK, being dropped off by a taxi didn’t actually qualify as a pilgrimage, thought Sofia, but it was very welcome anyway.
Everyone nibbled on something that tasted very similar to Turkish delight, but while Charlotte and Sofia sipped their drinks and tried not to cough at the strength of the spirit, Maddie knocked it back in one.
‘Efcharistó. That’s hit the spot.’
The monk nodded and motioned to them to carry on walking.
The intricate paintings, icons and old photos dating back hundreds of years, grouped on the white plaster walls, had Charlotte in raptures.
Her rapid-fire questions to the elderly priest were answered in stuttering English.
Charlotte stared intently into the frames, her blue eyes in their pale-pink framed glasses reflected in the pictures.
‘Do you think she should have brought a magnifying glass?’ Maddie whispered to Sofia now she’d got her breath back. ‘I know none of us have perfect eyesight these days, but she’s virtually got her eye up against the frames.’
‘I’ve certainly not seen her this excited about anything since we arrived on the island.’ Sofia stifled a yawn. ‘Admittedly it was only this morning, but it seems ages ago. It’s like we’ve all pressed pause for a while.’
Sofia strained to hear Maddie say ‘good job’.
Her friend hung back a moment to stare at the memorial candles at a little altar in the corner.
To Sofia’s knowledge, Maddie had never been in the least bit religious, but she turned away to give her some privacy anyway.
Sofia herself had been brought up Catholic, and although somewhat lapsed, she was still a high-days and holidays attendee.
If Maddie could get some comfort here, who was she to judge?
Maddie put a coin in the donation box, lit one of the thin tapering candles from another already burning and placed it in the holder.
She closed her eyes and put her hands together in prayer.
It was a desperate move, given her previous aversion to religion, but she had nothing to lose anymore.
She’d try anything. Tony was gone for good, far beyond her reach, but she had to find a way to reconnect with her son and granddaughter before she lost them too.
Sofia was waiting when she opened her eyes again, but she just smiled and took her hand.
Maddie was grateful that her friend wasn’t going to push her to reveal what she’d been praying for.
They moved in Charlotte’s wake on to the next room, which, to Sofia’s delight, was manned by a much younger priest.
Even the flowing black robes couldn’t hide his broad shoulders, and when he turned to greet Charlotte, his cheekbones and melting brown eyes wouldn’t have looked out of place on a male model.
Sofia covered her mouth with her hand.
‘Now that is what I call a work of art.’
Maddie’s giggle had Charlotte looking back and frowning.
‘What’s the matter with her? Has she not seen Fleabag?’ Sofia continued. ‘The hot priest vibe is still huge. That guy could give Andrew Scott a run for his money.’
Maddie’s barely stifled laugh elicited another stare.
Sofia grabbed her friend’s hand.
‘We’d better get outside before she comes over and gives us a good telling off.’
If they’d thought the view looking up at the monastery was stunning, Charlotte was right: the view from the monastery looking back at the sea was breathtaking.
Maddie marvelled at the sheer mechanics of building such a structure back in the eleventh century.
A pool of crystal-clear turquoise water beneath them lapped at the rocks as the warm air caressed their faces, and there was even a white sand beach a few metres further along.
‘Do you think they climb down there for a swim when we’ve all gone home?’
Sofia shut her eyes and imagined the scene.
‘I’d certainly pay to see that if the hot priest was swimming … naked.’
‘Sof! Stop it.’
Maddie put her hand on the wall and stroked the rough white brick.
‘Do you think Char’s even more uptight than usual? She said something weird to me back at the hotel, about things not being as they seem. And I swear she had tears in her eyes.’
Sofia put her head on one side.
‘That doesn’t sound good. I’ll try and get her on her own for a chat too. We love her dearly, but I do agree she’s being a bit Hyacinth Bucket.’
‘Most of the people back there’—Maddie pointed into the tiny church—‘wouldn’t have a clue who we were talking about.’
‘Shame. They’re missing out.’
Charlotte wandered out of the monastery door at that very moment and stood looking out to sea, oblivious to them standing at the end of the narrow pathway.
‘Char! Over here.’
Sofia took a deep breath at the unguarded sadness in her friend’s eyes when she turned round, before she plastered on a smile.
Maddie was worried about Charlotte and in turn Charlotte was worried about Maddie.
She was concerned about both of them. And Charlotte had undoubtably, and correctly, picked up that there was stuff going on with her too.
All three of them were hiding things they didn’t want the others to know.
It wasn’t their usual way of communicating, but the traumatic events of the past year or so had contributed to them being a little bit distant from each other, rather than pulling them ever closer together.
Also, she suspected no one, herself included, wanted to ruin this precious holiday together in Greece with tales of woe.
As far as proof went, she could only really speak for herself, but she’d put good money on it being true for each one of them.
She’d have to find a way of gently teasing out the secrets and maybe revealing her own if the time was right.