Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
T he tears ran down the sides of her face and away onto the sand. There’d been so many tears today, but these were tears of shame, not sorrow. After pulling on his trunks, Will placed her T-shirt and shorts in her hand in the dark, and went to stand behind the rock he’d popped up from earlier that evening, so she could dress in private.
Luckily, he seemed to understand that she didn’t want to be touched. There would be no repeat performance of whatever it was that had just happened. The horror of what she’d done, having sex on the anniversary of her husband’s death, with a guy she’d only known for a couple of months, made her want to cover her eyes with her hands. No one could ever find out.
The fact that she’d never had sex like it wasn’t somewhere she could let herself go. Sex with Phil had been good, very good at times, but nothing like that. That was an out-of-body experience, except her body had been very much present. It had been almost animalistic.
She dragged on her shorts and T-shirt and stuffed her bits and pieces back into the bag. The night was well and truly over. It had ended in a way she’d never expected or planned. Will needn’t think they were going back to his for another session. She took out her phone to call a cab, but he must have seen the light flare.
‘I’ll take you back, on the bike. I’ve only had one beer.’
It would mean touching his body again, but it was the quickest way to get back to her room and into the shower to wash away any trace of the evening. She might have to wait ages for a taxi at this time of night.
They made their way up to the house without speaking, and Will left her on the terrace for a moment while he dashed inside. He put on a T-shirt and some shoes but kept the swimming trunks. Probably worried that she’d change her mind and run off somewhere into the night. He might just be right.
The journey home in the dark was strangely intimate. The warm wind whistled past her ears and the crashing of the waves on the sand was the only sound she could hear above the engine. She tried not to wrap her arms around him too tightly, but it threw her off balance, so she had no option. It was only for a few minutes. His body was still damp against hers and the tang of salt in the air was something she knew she’d always associate with him from now on, whether she wanted to or not.
Outside the language school, he killed the engine and dismounted when she did, still not speaking, for which she was grateful. Once she’d put her key in the lock, she turned back and nodded her head at the man who’d followed her to her door.
‘Thank you for taking me home.’
Will smiled briefly and walked away.
* * *
Grace stretched in the bed at the sound of her phone alarm. She’d slept like a log. Muscles that she’d forgotten she even had reminded her they’d been in full use recently. The night came back to her frame by frame. Her body felt like it had been put through some sort of assault course. The sheets were still a little damp from the shower she’d had the moment she’d got in. Unable to wait to dry herself properly, she’d been desperate to go to sleep and pretend that nothing had happened. At least she didn’t need to worry about getting pregnant at her age, but she hoped she was the only woman that Will had slept with recently. A visit to an STD clinic didn’t bear thinking about.
It was time to get on with the day. A lesson beckoned with an older Greek woman, Irene, another of Rose’s castoffs that had been transferred to her timetable. Her pupil had an English pen pal and wanted to improve her letter writing. Irene was a sweet widow, who always pressed homemade cookies onto Grace when it was coffee time and wouldn’t take no for an answer, like most of the Greeks she’d met. At least it wasn’t Nick she was teaching, who might ask some awkward questions. She was sure she had scarlet woman written all over her face. The lesson was in half an hour, and she still had to dress and go to Irene’s house. She’d better get a move on. Meeting Angeliki afterwards wasn’t something she could even think about now. One step at a time.
Seated on the terrace of the Hotel Artemis two hours later, Grace was beginning to feel a little better. The anniversary of Phil’s death was over and done with, and no one need ever know what had happened last night. She was confident of Will’s discretion, if nothing else. He hated gossip. If the two of them could get back to being friends again, with none of the sex stuff thrown in, that would suit her.
But if she’d helped ruin that idea for good, she only had another two and a half weeks to get through, and then she’d be back home in Oxfordshire. She wouldn’t dwell on why the thought didn’t bring her a whole lot of joy.
Angeliki took her seat at the table and raised her hand for the waiter.
‘Cappuccino?’
‘Yes, please, the usual.’
Angeliki had a strange air of suppressed excitement about her. It was just a simple coffee before she went back to work. The vet wasn’t quite as busy these days as many of her regular customers had taken their pets on holiday with them and she was up for drinking her coffee out of the surgery. But she was definitely twitchy. What was going on? And why was she looking at her like that?
‘Are you OK, Grace?’
‘Yes, I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?’
Grace reassured herself that Angeliki couldn’t possibly know what had happened between her and Will. The island jungle drums weren’t that good.
A message came in on her friend’s phone and Angeliki glanced down briefly. There it was, that secretive look again.
Seconds later, there was a rustling behind the nearest olive tree on the terrace, and Sofia leapt out from behind it.
‘Surprise!’
Grace rose to her feet to hug her friend.
‘My God. What are you doing here?’
‘You seemed so down yesterday that I took a few lieu days and jumped on a plane.’
‘And… how did you know where I was this morning?’
Grace had had enough surprises in the last twenty-four hours. It was lovely to see her friend, but the whole thing was mighty confusing. Sofia and Angeliki were smiling at each other now.
‘Ah, that’s the clever bit. I’d heard you talk a lot about your new friend, Angeliki the vet, so it wasn’t exactly hard to track her down and ask her a few questions. She was also worried about you, so we hatched a plan.’
‘You sneaky little…’
Angeliki pulled up another chair for Sofia.
‘What you mean to say is how lovely it is to have us both here with you, worrying about you.’
Grace had to smile. They’d gone to a lot of trouble to show they cared about her. She held out a hand to each of them.
‘Thank you, Angeliki, for helping Sofia to keep this a secret. And thank you, Sofia, for dropping everything to come and see me. Is that better?’
Sofia summoned a waiter with the flick of a hand.
‘Much better. Another cappuccino here, please.’
There was some chat about Sofia’s flight and Angeliki’s problem cases, which Grace tuned out of. She waited for Sofia to focus on her. It didn’t take long.
‘So, now it’s not yesterday anymore, have things improved at all?’
Grace noticed the puzzled look on Angeliki’s face, but so, unfortunately, did Sofia.
'She didn’t tell you, did she?’
Angeliki leant in.
‘Tell me what?’
‘That yesterday was the third anniversary of her husband Phil’s death?’
Angeliki did the sign of the cross on her navy linen shirt.
‘No! Grace, how could you keep it from me? If I had known, I would have been at your side all day.’
Grace put her hand on her friend’s arm.
‘I’m sorry, but I was desperately trying to keep things upbeat. To kid myself that it was just a normal day.’
Just how abnormal it had turned out to be wasn’t something she wanted to reveal at this point.
‘But it was obvious that something was wrong. You looked so sad. And I could tell you had been crying.’
Grace gave Sofia a ‘do you think this is helping?’ look.
‘Again, I apologise for keeping it to myself.’
She had told only one person on the island the truth but look at what that had led to.
Angeliki put down her coffee.
‘Oh, no, I’ve just remembered that I was pushing you to talk about what was going on with Will! And all the time you were grieving for your dead husband. How could I have been so insensitive?’
‘Don’t upset yourself. You didn’t know, and, as I said at the time, there’s nothing going on with Will.’
Grace didn’t want to catch Sofia’s eye. Her friend had a nose for gossip that was more refined than any bloodhound.
‘Will?’
‘Sorry?’ Grace tried to pretend for a moment she had no idea what Angeliki was talking about.
‘She clearly said Will. That hot guy we saw in the street you told me was gay?’
Angeliki snorted so hard that some of her coffee went on the table.
‘Will’s not gay. Far from it.’
Grace looked up to see both pairs of eyes firmly trained on her.
‘In my defence, when I said that, I genuinely believed it to be the case.’
Sofia turned to Angeliki.
‘And do you know for sure that this Will is straight?’
Angeliki tried not to smile.
‘I do, because he was my boyfriend for two years.’
Sofia slapped her hand on the table.
‘Wow, this is a small island, isn’t it?’
Grace started laughing at the same time as her two friends. Proper tears in your eyes and a pain in your stomach laughing. People from other tables looked their way as the three of them linked hands.
Her friends had inadvertently revealed two big secrets to each other, but her biggest and most shameful secret was still safe. She couldn’t believe Sofia would leave it there though. They hadn’t kept anything this big from each other in forty years. Grace let the laughter die away and waited for Sofia to carry on the inquisition.
‘But why were you talking about Grace and Will? The only man I’ve heard her talk about is someone called Nick.’
Angeliki gave Grace a hard stare.
Oh, great, now Angeliki was going to think she had a thing for Nick. She’d better nip this in the bud. It was like some terrible stage farce with people rushing in and out of each other’s bedrooms and lots of mistaken identities.
‘Sofia’s got the wrong end of the stick. I only mentioned Nick because he’s one of my new students. He’s a lovely guy.’
She gave Sofia their ‘shut up now or I’ll kill you’ look.
‘In fact… Angeliki has just started dating him. They met at Will’s party.’
Sofia winked at her out of Angeliki’s eyeline.
‘Aaah, I love new romances. You’ll have to tell me more. But I’d still like to hear all about Will’s party.’
Grace stirred the froth on her cappuccino and put a spoonful in her mouth.
‘There’s nothing to tell.’
‘Angeliki? What’s your version? What was it that had you thinking there was something between our Grace and this Will?’
Grace knew that look. It spelled danger. Sofia was obviously furious at being left out of the loop.
Angeliki paused a moment.
‘All I can say is that Will never looked at me like that when we were dancing. Talk about steamy.’
‘That’s so not true, Angeliki.’
Grace tried to hide her irritation at the way the conversation was going. Sofia wouldn’t let it drop now, for sure.
Her phone buzzed with another message. It was the fourth that day from Will.
We really need to talk about last night.
He might do, but she certainly didn’t. She wanted to forget last night ever happened.
Sofia moved her chair nearer to Grace’s.
‘Is that Will?’
‘No. Why are you saying that?’
Her friends exchanged a look. Great, now they were ganging up on her. It was like being back in high school. She expected them to start singing ‘Grace and Will, sitting in a tree’ any moment.
Sofia bumped shoulders with her.
‘Because you’ve gone bright red. It’s soooo cute.’
‘Shut it, now.’
Angeliki stood up.
‘As much fun as this has been, I have to get back to some sick animals. Thanks for the coffee, Grace, and let’s the three of us go out one night. It’s been lovely to meet you, Sofia.’
‘You too, Angeliki. Very illuminating.’
The two of them exchanged a smile.
As soon as the vet had left the terrace, Sofia threw down the last of her coffee.
‘My hotel room, now.’
At least it wasn’t far to walk was Grace’s first thought, as they stepped into the lift to go down.
Sofia pressed the button for her floor.
‘You look like you’re being taken to the tower to be executed.’
‘That’s a bit how it feels.’
‘Don’t be ridiculous. We’re just going for a girly chat.’
Grace resigned herself to her fate. The best in the business couldn’t compete with Sofia when she wanted to pull something out of you. Her friend wasn’t a highly paid lawyer for nothing.
The opulence of Sofia’s hotel room startled Grace. Five-star luxury had never been her thing, personally or financially, but she could get used to this for a night or two.
The wooden ceiling high above them was divided into panels, each painted with a different scene, and the four-poster bed had a pleated white silk canopy above it like something she’d seen in a stately home. Antique furniture was dotted about, and the highly polished wooden floor was adorned with Persian rugs. The light lavender-coloured walls had a darker band of the shade at the bottom and on the woodwork, and instead of a boring pendant light, there was an intricate glass chandelier with flower-shaped bulb holders, delicately fluted in the same lavender as the walls.
‘This is seriously beautiful, and, I should imagine, cripplingly expensive.’
Sofia led her over to the purple velvet sofa which faced the floor-to-ceiling windows and the view out across the bay.
‘It is. But remember, I get a staff discount.’
Sofia winked.
‘Oh, yes, the boy Adonis. Is that still going on?’
‘He’s not a boy, he’s a fully grown man. And yes, it is. You make it sound like I use men up like tissues and then just discard them.’
Grace raised her eyebrows.
‘So, it’s not just me you’re back for.’
‘Don’t be silly. I would have come back to the island at some point anyway, but this has just brought it forward a bit.’
‘I bet Adonis is pleased. He’s arranged the best suite, and we’re still in tourist season. He must like you.’
Sofia patted the space next to her on the sofa.
‘We’re not here to talk about me.’
Well, it had been worth a try.
As soon as Grace sat down, Sofia grabbed both her hands so that she had no choice but to face her friend.
‘This Will… Have you slept with him?’
Grace’s heart beat a tattoo in her chest.
‘No, of course not.’
Sofia’s eyes were full of understanding.
‘OK, that’s a truly pathetic attempt at lying.’
Grace’s eyes refused to obey her yet again, and the tears fell thick and fast.
Sofia took her in her arms and stroked her hair.
‘Did it happen last night, the night of Phil’s anniversary?’
It was like the woman was psychic. Grace nodded miserably.
‘OK, not ideal timing, I’ll admit. But never mind.’
Grace took the tissue that Sofia offered.
‘One last question, and then you are free, little one.’
Grace mentally adopted the brace position.
‘What?’
‘What was it like?’
She looked her friend in the eye.
‘It was amazing. Scary, but amazing.’
It felt good to say it.
Sofia stood up and punched the air.
‘Yes! At last! Go Will.’
‘OK, calm down.’
* * *
Having admitted that no, she didn’t have any more lessons that day, and yes, she could go shopping and out to dinner, Grace was again witness to Sofia’s desire to spend money.
They’d been in nearly every shop in town and had the embossed bags to prove it. Grace was more than ready to call it a day, but Sofia’s eye had been caught by a tiny boutique whose window was stuffed with no doubt extremely expensive things.
‘Let’s go in here. Last one, honest. Then I’ll treat you to a fabulous dinner at the hotel. Please.’
‘OK. I suppose so.’
Her friend had come all this way to see her, and she never had much free time to shop in London. Grace watched Sofia stroke a watered silk dress with a reverence usually reserved for a firstborn.
‘I want to try this.’ Sofia rifled through the rails. ‘And this, and this. So many lovely things that want to come and live in my wardrobe.’
‘I’m surprised there’s any room.’
Sofia stuck out her tongue and disappeared into the changing rooms with her booty.
Grace took the pink velvet stool outside and waited. A movement at the back of the shop distracted her from totting up Sofia’s spending. A door opened, and Celine walked through it. That was all she needed. She should have thought when she saw the enormous gold C outside the shop. It was the sort of place she’d normally never venture into in a million years.
She spotted the Frenchwoman a fraction before Celine saw her, so she was able to observe the way she put on her professional smile.
‘Grace, kalispera .’
‘ Kalispera , Celine.’
‘Are you waiting to try on some of our clothes?’
Celine didn’t bother to temper the astonishment in her voice. It was almost comical.
‘Out of my price range, I’m afraid. I’m waiting for my friend.’
‘Ah, I see. I was worried that we might not have your size.’
Grace contented herself with a tight smile. It was either that or punch her.
Celine fiddled with a dress on the ‘not wanted’ rail.
‘You left Will’s party early. Strange, as you seemed to be enjoying yourself so much.’
‘I wouldn’t say early.’
Celine leant over and lowered her voice to a whisper. Her cloying perfume got right up Grace’s nose, in more ways than one.
‘I stayed right to the end, and I mean right to the end. I spent the night in Will’s bed.’
Grace’s heart squeezed in her chest. She mustn’t let Celine see her shock. She was probably lying anyway.
‘Good for you.’
The curtains opened with a flourish and Sofia stepped out. Grace wasn’t sure how much of the conversation she’d heard.
‘There’s nothing here that I want.’
Celine looked past Sofia at the selection of clothes left hanging up in the cubicle.
‘That is a shame. There are some stunning pieces.’
Sofia linked arms with Grace and walked towards the exit.
‘Some of the quality is not what I would expect’ was loud enough for another two women browsing the rails to turn round.
Grace snuck a look at Celine, who had a face like thunder. As soon as they were out of earshot, Sofia halted her stride.
‘Who the hell was that? What a bitch. She sounded as if she hated you.’
Grace was confident that Sofia hadn’t heard Celine’s final words to her, otherwise she’d have been straight in with that. She wouldn’t be repeating them to anyone.
‘She’s another of Will’s exes. A very recent one.’
‘Shit. Has he slept with every female on the island?’
The thought made her dizzy for a moment, but she needed to keep it light. The way to get through this was to make out that her night with Will had just been a bit of fun. Treat men like Sofia did, take what she wanted and move on. Will had broken her duck, admittedly in the most spectacular way possible, but he wasn’t the only man out there.
‘It’s just the three of us, as far as I’m aware.’
She had no real idea if that was true.
‘I’d like to meet this Will.’
Not if she could help it. She didn’t want Will to know that she’d confessed all to Sofia. What had happened between them was private. But what Celine said had unnerved her. What if she was telling the truth? Last night had felt like something special. But maybe it was all in a day’s work for Will. The sooner they got back to being friends and put the whole thing behind them the better.
‘Maybe… But I don’t think we’ll manage it before you go. He’s not around much.’
‘He seems to be around you a lot.’
Grace hoped her frown was fierce enough to shut Sofia up.
Her friend threw up her hands.
‘OK! I’ve got the message. Shame that woman in the shop was such a cow. The clothes were amazing. I’d have bought everything I tried on.’
Grace was just relieved they were off the subject of Will.