Chapter Twenty-Eight
She didn’t see or hear from George over the next few days, and she avoided Maria for fear of bumping into him there.
She kept herself busy preparing for Heather’s visit, planning meals and activities.
She helped Theo put the finishing touches to the house, and bought the vase for the room she’d done up.
A tricky task to complete without Theo finding out, but she took advantage of him meeting up with Yiannis one day, sneaking to the market and managing to get home with it without him seeing her, though he sat in the café courtyard not far from the market the whole time.
But he was distracted enough by Yiannis’s company and his plate of calamari for her to complete the operation successfully.
She would wait till Heather was here to help to bring the rug; she couldn’t imagine lugging such an unwieldy item to the house in this heat without Theo finding out.
She grinned at Theo across the table as she bit into the gyros pork he’d made, secretly congratulating herself on the progress of her plan.
There wasn’t so much urgency, now they were reassured that the hotel was going to protect the wildlife; despite George’s doubts, she and Baba had done their homework, and she felt confident that if they sold to the hotel chain, no great harm would come to Metalios.
But still, she’d done the work on the room now, hadn’t she?
She’d done a good job and she wanted to show Theo the potential the house had.
Why shouldn’t they stay? There was nothing to go back for, no career, no relationship, for either of them.
They had friends here, they were part of the place, and she had dual nationality so there shouldn’t be any issues with her staying.
Nina knew, she could feel it in her core, that they could make a success of the guesthouse.
Something fizzed inside her at the thought, a sense of excitement that she hadn’t felt for a long time.
‘What’s the matter with you?’ Theo asked, narrowing his eyes. ‘You look like this cat that’s got the cream.’
Nina smiled, trying to look innocent. ‘What?’ she asked. ‘I’m just looking forward to Heather coming, that’s all.’ She picked up her pita and took a bite, the flavour of the seared meat and tangy tzatziki flooding her mouth.
‘Hmm.’ She could see he wasn’t convinced, but she refused to tell him her plan.
He would find out when the time was right; she didn’t have long, he was meeting with the hotel representatives soon, but she had to wait until the room was properly ready to give herself the best shot at persuading him.
She lost herself for a moment, dreaming of a life where she knew she’d wake every morning to the stretch of clear Kefalonian sky, and walk along the beach in the evening, and spend her days with Theo, welcoming guests to their beautiful house.
Theo continued to give her suspicious glances as he ate, but she ignored him, grateful when her phone buzzed for the excuse to pick it up. Theo sighed dramatically – she usually wouldn’t use her phone at mealtimes – but said nothing.
Nina had opened the message before she’d properly registered who it was from – Mags. A long, meandering text that veered from grovelling apology to dramatic self-pity, telling her that she and Sam had broken up.
Not long ago, Nina would have felt a rush of satisfaction at this news, knowing that her cheating ex and her deceitful friend hadn’t been rewarded for betraying her with a long and happy relationship.
She stared at the message, the words blurring before her. She felt nothing.
They didn’t have a car in Metalios, Theo had insisted that they weren’t there long enough to justify the expense, so Nina couldn’t meet her friend at the airport.
She knew that if she asked him, George would probably give her a lift in Maria’s car.
But she was unwilling to ask, after his reaction to their moment on the beach, and so Heather was left to make her own way.
Following Nina’s advice, she got a taxi, and arrived cool and refreshed from her air-conditioned journey, wearing a loose t-shirt and baggy shorts that showed off the tattoos on her arms and legs.
It was a sharp contrast to the hot and dishevelled state Nina and Theo had been in when they first came to Metalios.
Thinking about that day, Nina marvelled at how long ago it felt.
Then, she’d been reeling from the break-up with Sam and the redundancy; she hadn’t been able to envisage any other life for herself.
Now, the world seemed full of possibility.
‘Kefalonia suits you,’ Heather said, releasing her from a tight hug and standing back, holding her by the shoulders, to observe her. ‘You seem – different.’
‘Do I?’ Nina looked down at herself, taking in her unvarnished nails, cut short for climbing, the callouses growing on her palms and her loose sundress. A little different, she supposed, from the woman Heather had waved off at the airport all those weeks ago.
‘Yep. You look, you know, more relaxed. Less like you’ve got a stick stuck up your broom cupboard.’
Nina laughed. ‘Broom cupboard?’
Heather waved a hand. ‘You know what I mean. Right come on, show me the sights.’
Nina grabbed the handle of Heather’s little suitcase and looked around. ‘Wait, where’s the rest of your luggage?’
Heather looked at her as though she was mad. ‘That’s all of it, hand luggage only. Shorts, swimsuit, sun cream. What more do I need? Now. Sightseeing, come on. Lead the way.’
Nina pulled the little case up the path and into the house. ‘Honestly, there’s not much to see, it won’t take very long. What’s here is pretty stunning, though! But we’d better say hello to Baba first, or I’ll never hear the end of it.’
He arrived right on cue, rushing over and enveloping Heather in a bear hug. ‘Here she is! We’re so happy you’re here, aren’t we, Antheia? Sit, sit, sit, I will make you coffee, yes? You hungry? I have baklava, made yesterday, still nice and fresh.’
Heather laughed, good-naturedly allowing herself to be propelled into the kitchen by Theo. She took a seat at the table. ‘Coffee and baklava sounds great,’ she said. ‘Thanks.’ She looked around at the freshly painted room. ‘Wow, this place is amazing! It’s so big, I didn’t realise.’
‘Yes, yes, this is a very nice house. Very lucky. Wait until you see the views!’ Theo was pink-faced with excitement, bustling around, and his pride in the house gave Nina hope that he might agree to her guesthouse plan.
Heather sat back, stretching her legs out under the table and running her hands through her mop of dyed blonde hair, which she wore shaved at the sides and long on top.
Once she’d had coffee and some of Theo’s baklava, and been shown to her room, Nina took her, as promised, to see the sights of Metalios. She wasn’t expecting it to take long.
They started with the beach. Heather stretched out her arms as she paddled in the clear waters.
‘Wow,’ she said. ‘This place is gorgeous! I bet you’ll never want to leave, will you?’
Nina stood with her, gazing out over the turquoise sea. ‘There are turtles here too, you know. If you want to get up early one morning we can watch them swimming out with the fishing boats. It’s really – well, it’s magical.’
Heather pulled a face. ‘Actually does almost sound worth sacrificing one of my summer lie-ins for.’
‘You know I really am thinking of staying.’ Nina felt Heather turn towards her. ‘Baba’s planning on selling the house to this hotel chain and they want to build a big complex, but I was thinking maybe we should stay. We could run it together instead. Like a guesthouse, you know, nothing big.’
‘With Theo?’
‘Yes, I thought he could cook, and I could organise everything, and I have all these plans to decorate it, you know me . . .’
‘Sounds great.’
‘You think?’
‘Yeah.’ Heather grinned. ‘Mates’ rates for your best buddy to come and stay, right?’
Nina laughed. ‘Of course.’
Heather kicked at the water, and then stood still, watching as the sand shifted beneath her, burying her feet as the gentle waves pushed and pulled.
‘Seriously, though, I think you’d be fab.
I mean, you’re the most organised person on the planet.
And Theo’s food . . .’ She touched he fingers to her lips in a chef’s kiss.
‘Yeah, well. Maybe it’s just a stupid idea, I don’t know.’
‘Why?’
‘Well, because – you know, that’s not real life. I need to go home, get a job.’
Heather stared at her for a moment. ‘Hmm, oh yes, I see,’ she said.
‘I mean, why would you want to stay here. Just look at the place. Hideous.’ She waved her arms dramatically out towards the sea, and then turned and flung them out to indicate the green mountains beyond the beach.
‘I can see why you’d want to leave, yes. ’
Nina smiled, then sighed. ‘Well, I still need to persuade Baba, so . . . nothing’s decided. And he’ll be signing the paperwork soon, so I need to get my skates on. And I might need your help.’
They began walking back up the beach. Heather put her arm around Nina’s shoulders. ‘Count me in. You okay now? After that Vassilis bloke?’ She pulled a face.
They settled on the towels they’d laid on the sand, propped on their elbows.
‘Oh that idiot, I don’t even – he’s not even worth talking about, quite honestly.
’ The truth was, she’d barely thought about Vassilis over the last few days; she’d been too distracted by working on the room at the hotel, and that moment with George.
She’d messaged Heather every detail of what had happened with Vassilis. She’d mentioned nothing of George.
‘At least you got it back,’ Heather said, nodding towards the bracelet that Nina was subconsciously rolling around her wrist.
Nina looked down at it in surprise, nodding. She felt Heather’s stare bore into her and, try as she might to ignore it.
‘What?’ she asked. ‘You’re acting like a loon.’
‘I am not, how very dare you. I’m acting like a woman who’s known you forever, and can tell when something’s going on. Is it Sam?’
‘Sam? God, no.’ Until the message from Mags, Nina had barely thought about him. ‘You know he and Mags have split?’
Heather narrowed her eyes. ‘And how do you feel about that? You’re not still pining?’
Nina laughed and slapped her friend’s leg playfully. ‘No! I really don’t care. Shut up, will you? Or I’ll make you pay full rates when I set up my guesthouse.’
‘God, you should so do that,’ Heather said, adjusting her sunglasses and lying down. ‘You really should.’
Nina stared out to sea as she felt Heather relax into sleep beside her.
She soon began a rhythmic, whistling snore.
That woman had a gift for sleeping anywhere.
Nina resisted the urge to video her. Instead, she found herself reliving her swim with George, wondering what might have happened had he not left so abruptly.
She shook her head, ridding herself of the images. They were just friends, and that was all she wanted. Wasn’t it?