Chapter 10 #2
Maddie pulled open the voile curtains on another gorgeous day, the sun already high in the sky and the azure sea shimmering and beckoning far below.
She was pleased to see that their rooms were simpler this time round.
Her one housed just a big wooden bed with white sheets and a blue bedspread folded across the end, a freestanding wooden stencilled wardrobe and a bench seat.
The blue tiled bathroom was similarly basic, with a compact shower, toilet and sink, a far cry from the ultra-luxurious bathroom of the first hotel, with a shower which could have fitted the three of them in.
Outside the French windows there was no fancy terrace with a plunge pool, just a balcony with a small table and two chairs, plus a fabulous view.
She’d been too tired to close the olive-green shutters last night, so the sun had already laid its palm on her bed, slicing the sheet into sections of gold.
Stepping out onto the balcony was like stepping onto a filmset, and she gasped as she looked down.
Unlike the previous island, there were plenty of trees below her, pines, firs and even oaks, and the sound of cicadas trying to attract mates was as loud as an alarm clock.
It was hard to believe it when people told you that every Greek island was totally different from the next, but on the evidence so far, she was sold.
They’d only travelled three hours, but this could be a different country.
The starkly beautiful, but barren hills of the first island, with its jagged edges of brown against blue, had been replaced by softer contours, topped with leafy green points.
It was much closer in look to where she lived, a village outside Manchester, which still had both feet firmly planted in the countryside.
The metal of the bistro style chair she chose was hard against her back, and Maddie retrieved one of the cushions she’d seen piled up on the wooden bench seat to put behind her.
She was warm enough in her short cotton nightie and flip-flops, but she wrapped a fine wool pashmina in pink paisley tightly around herself, given to her by her son for her birthday last year.
It made her feel a little bit closer to him. Not that he wanted to be close to her.
Seated with her feet up on the railings, she was startled by a little bird who landed on the table beside her. Unafraid, his beady little eyes watched her closely. She wasn’t sure why she assumed it was a he, but it just looked male and a trifle cocky.
‘Sorry, I don’t have any food,’ she whispered, making a mental note to find something in a local supermarket.
Wildlife had been one of Tony’s loves, and together they’d walk the hills of their beloved Pennines on their days off, identifying birds from their song and looking out for particular species to tick off in their Birds of Britain log, which she kept firmly tucked away from prying eyes.
She could just imagine Sofia’s reaction.
The bird in front of her still hadn’t moved and was pecking at the holes in between the metal flowers of the table design. Determined little thing, aren’t you, came into her mind.
‘Hang on. I’ve just remembered a half-eaten packet of crisps in my bag. It’s all I’ve got, but I’ll go and get them.’
She grabbed the crisps and rushed back out, worried that her avian friend would have given up and flown away.
But no, he was still there, looking straight at her, the natural oil in his feathers glinting in the sun.
It would sound fanciful to the others if she said that the bird in front of her had a look of Tony about him.
Obviously, he didn’t actually look like him – he was a bird for goodness’s sake – but there was something …
probably his persistence, his unwillingness to give up on the hope of food until the very end.
She’d been reading a lot about reincarnation on the internet during the long and lonely evenings, and she liked the idea that a little bit of her husband could be flying or crawling around nearby. But it would make her sound crazy if she said it out loud.
Three crisps should be more than enough. Maddie broke them into pieces and laid them on the table.
The bird was straight in there, tucking into the crisps in full view rather than taking them off to his nest to eat in private. Once they’d gone, he stared expectantly at her.
‘More? You’re a greedy bugger, Tony. But then you always were.’
Maddie broke up another three crisps, which were whipped away in seconds.
‘You can’t be serious.’
Tony was advancing towards the packet with a determined hop. Maddie leaned over and shook out the last bits from it.
‘OK, but don’t blame me if you get too fat to fly, my love.’
A noise behind her made her sit up straight.
‘Mads?’
Maddie prayed that Charlotte hadn’t heard her talking to the bird and calling it Tony. Her friend was standing on the adjacent balcony, the image of a scene in an Impressionist painting, not that she could tell you which one.
A silk dressing gown in greens and reds, embroidered with delicate cranes was loosely belted at the waist, and Charlotte’s elegant and already brown bare feet anchored her on the patterned tiles, while her long blonde hair hung loose in waves down her back.
She looked younger, and less stressed. Maddie wondered for a moment what it must be like to look that effortlessly glamorous first thing in the morning. Not that she’d ever know.
‘Morning.’
‘Who were you talking to earlier?’
‘What?’
Maddie spun round and located the empty crisp packet on the ground. Tony was nowhere to be seen.
‘I could hear you speaking to someone.’
‘No. Probably just singing out loud.’
Charlotte knew what she’d heard hadn’t been singing, but Maddie had looked so startled when she’d mentioned it, that she’d let it drop. Even if the woman was talking to herself, it was her business.
‘OK, if you say so.’
Maddie was desperate to keep this new – she could even say fledgling – relationship between her and the bird a secret. It was a tiny link to her husband. Her smile at her own joke prompted an odd look from Charlotte. She really hoped Tony would be back tomorrow. She’d be ready for him this time.
‘Have you got your phone out here with you?’
‘No, I was giving it a break for half an hour. Call me controversial, but we’re surrounded by all this glorious nature. Why do I need to stare at a screen?’
‘Because Sof messaged to say let’s all meet downstairs for breakfast in half an hour, and you wouldn’t have known otherwise?’
‘Fine. See you there.’
Her little moment of peace on the balcony was well and truly over. She’d have to wait until the next morning to see Tony again.