Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Asteaming hot shower and a couple of painkillers washed down with a double brandy had made Maddie feel a tiny bit more human.
The three of them were now closeted together in Theo and Thea’s private living room at the back of the hotel, away from the prying eyes of the other guests, who’d obviously heard about the dramatic rescue at sea, judging by the lowered voices earlier on their way through reception.
Thea seemed to understand without being told that none of them wanted to answer any questions tonight, for which Maddie was very grateful.
The hotel owner’s gentle face with its sweet smile appeared in the doorway as if Maddie had conjured her up.
‘Do any of you want something to eat? We have some moussaka in the kitchen which I made earlier, but there is far too much for us to manage alone.’
Maddie would bet money that Thea had put an extra-large portion in to warm as soon as the coastguard had told them their guests were on their way back to the harbour.
But who was she to argue with the Greek obsession with feeding people in every single situation, good or bad?
She was happy to eat in almost every imaginable mood herself.
‘That sounds lovely, Thea, if it’s not too much trouble. I’d love some.’
Thea’s eyes lit up.
‘There are also horta, greens, to go with it.’
‘Count me in.’
Thea looked around at the others.
‘Anyone else?’
Charlotte came out of her own daze.
‘No, thank you, Thea.’
Sofia was stood at the fireplace, studying the many black-and-white family photos on the walls.
‘Nothing for me either, thanks.’
As soon as Thea had left the room, Sofia took the seat next to Maddie.
‘I’m not even going to ask how you can eat at a time like this.’
‘It sounds yummy.’
Charlotte lowered her voice.
‘You do know that horta are those wild greens they pick themselves up in the hills, boil and then serve cold doused in olive oil?’
‘You’re talking as if they were poisonous.’
Maddie was pleased that Charlotte’s attention to detail was back in force after her wobble on the beach.
‘Not exactly poisonous. Just weird and slimy.’
Thea’s return with the food silenced Charlotte. Maddie attempted to get up out of her chair and reach the little table where the couple obviously ate their meals, but Thea shook her head.
‘No, no, sit. I have brought you everything on a tray.’
‘You shouldn’t have, really.’
The smell coming off the individual pot of Greece’s national dish was enough to send Maddie’s senses into overload. There were glasses of both red wine and water on the tray and even a small vase with a couple of pink flowers.
‘What a feast, thank you.’
As soon as Thea had left the room, Maddie broke the bechamel crust on the top of the dish with her fork to get to the aubergines and rich tomato-based mince beneath, and moaned with delight as the first mouthful hit home.
‘You’re missing out here, girls. You’ll have to wait until breakfast now.’
Sofia sighed.
‘It does smell nice, I’ll admit.’
‘Here, have a taste.’ Maddie offered the next mouthful to her friend, who swallowed it with gusto.
‘That is delicious.’
‘Char?’
Her friend’s horrified glance at the communal fork was answer aplenty. Maddie ate in silence, offering Sofia the odd mouthful and alternating the deep meaty taste of the moussaka with the tang of the iron-rich horta, a winning combination in her eyes, despite Charlotte turning her nose up.
After finishing the wine, Maddie sat back in the chair and closed her eyes for a moment. What a day!
Charlotte nudged Sofia, who was head down in an album of photos, seemingly stuck on a page of what looked like young Greek farmers working bare-chested in the fields. She indicated at Maddie.
‘She’s drifted off…’
‘Not surprised. She deserves to sleep. Although we’d better get that tray off her before everything crashes to the floor.’
Sofia attempted to remove the tray, but Maddie called out and held on to it even tighter.
‘OK, leave her a moment.’
The sight of a sleeping Maddie holding on for dear life to the tray almost moved Sofia to tears. Her voice cracked as she stroked her friend’s hand.
‘She was amazing today, wasn’t she? Absolutely fantastic. The way she just got on with it and told us exactly what to do. So brave.’
Charlotte’s lip wobbled too.
‘I think if it was just us two, we’d probably still be stranded on that beach. And Thanassis would be one hell of a lot worse off.’
‘Yeah, for sure. But we don’t want to give her too big a head, do we?’
Sofia leaned in closer.
‘Just testing to see if she’s really awake,’ she mouthed.
A loud snore rattled the glasses on the tray and erased any doubt.
Charlotte yawned.
‘We should all get some sleep. But we can’t leave her here like this.’
‘Agreed. I’ll grab the tray, and you pull her up.’
At a very late breakfast the following day, Thea informed them that Thanassis was doing well. He was being kept in hospital for twenty-four hours for observation, but the wound to his head was only superficial and he was expected to make a full recovery.
Thea crossed herself as she told them the good news and banged her fist on her chest. The man was obviously wildly popular on the island, as evidenced by the waiting crowd.
Something floated to the front of Maddie’s mind.
‘Who was the woman in the ambulance with him?’
‘Ah, that’s his daughter, Georgia. She’s a good girl. She will look after him. She’s leaving the kids with her husband and staying at his place until he is better.’
‘I’m glad he’s got someone there for him.’
Maddie stopped short of asking whether he was married. It would look like nosiness on her part. It didn’t sound like he was, but maybe his wife was out at work all day.
As soon as the coffees arrived, Sofia took out her phone.
‘I’ve found something fun we can do today.’
‘What is it?’
Sofia smarted at the unnecessarily wary tone in Maddie’s voice. She’d seen the look that passed between her and Charlotte, but she let it go. She’d show them she was perfectly capable of organising something that didn’t involve shopping or luxury hotels.
‘I’m driving you two to this amazing restaurant at the very tip of the island for lunch. It’s in the middle of nowhere and it has amazing reviews. Apparently, it’s totally out there and the owner is a real character.’
‘I’m driving’, ‘middle of nowhere’ and ‘out there’ were the three phrases that stuck in Maddie’s head for all the wrong reasons, and she could tell by Charlotte’s rapid breathing she felt the same.
But maybe hanging around the town would only keep bringing back what had happened the night before, plus she had no desire to keep bumping into people who wanted to thank her for saving Thanassis’s life.
It would all die down pretty quickly, so maybe an away day was a good idea.
‘OK.’
‘OK?’ Sofia frowned. ‘It would be nice if you were both a bit more enthusiastic. I thought Char might like a break from all the organising.’
Sofia’s pout reminded Maddie of Elsie, her granddaughter, when she was refused sweets. Not that she’d seen that cute little pout much recently. But that way madness lay.
Charlotte reached for another cherry from the bowl on the table.
‘Thank you for the thought, Sof.’
‘I’ll need you to navigate, please. It’s supposed to be pretty hairy to get to.’
Charlotte exchanged a worried look with Maddie while Sofia spooned sugar into her coffee. But they both knew it was a done deal.
‘I know what you’re doing above my head. You should both lighten up.’
For the first hour, the road up into the hills and down the other side had them all commenting on the cute houses with the pastel paintwork, the inviting cafés with tables outside under coloured parasols and the variety of animals in the fields.
‘I just spotted another horse.’ Sofia turned her head. ‘Look, over there.’
Charlotte coughed loudly.
‘Can you maybe keep your eyes on the road, Sof? Just saying.’
‘I’m perfectly capable of driving and sightseeing.’
‘Right.’
‘Are you disputing that?’
‘No. Right! The turning on the right.’
Sofia swung into the turning on the wrong side of the road with the brakes screaming.
‘You weren’t making it clear.’
Charlotte just stared straight ahead.
Another ten minutes on and the road had started to hug the coast and narrowed to a single track with passing places.
The turquoise water on their left was some sort of inlet, and only a strip of shrub and rocks separated them from the edge of the road and the sea.
If anything came the other way, they’d be in big trouble, thought Maddie.
She wasn’t convinced about Sofia’s reversing skills so close to the water.
Sofia seemed a trifle nervous herself.
‘Are you sure this is right?’
Charlotte shrugged.
‘My map reading’s certainly right. This is the way it says. You’re the one who “organised” it.’
‘OK, let’s carry on for a bit.’
Maddie kept quiet and let the others fight it out.
She could see that the tarmacked section they’d travelled on thus far was about to run out completely, and that there was a stark line where it turned into a track.
Charlotte pointed through the windscreen.
‘Are we still carrying on? That just looks like piles of stones on top of each other.’
Sofia leant over the steering wheel to follow where Charlotte was pointing.
‘I’m sure it’s fine.’
‘If you’ve got a four by four.’
‘Stop moaning.’
Sofia’s attention was caught by something at the side of the road. She brought the car to a sudden stop which had Maddie’s forehead positioned inches from Charlotte’s headrest.
‘What the hell, Sof?’
‘Sorry. Look. Someone get their phone out! That goat looks like it’s standing on the other one’s back.’
Maddie stared hard out of the window and tried to supress a giggle.
‘It really does.’
Charlotte pressed the button to wind down her window and snapped away.
‘Of course, it’s an optical illusion. The first one is standing on a rock.’
‘Durr. Yes, we know.’ Sofia took another look.