Chapter Twenty-Nine
Having admired the beach and had a nap Heather announced she was craving some authentic Greek cuisine, so they made their way to the café.
Nina introduced her to Yiannis and he immediately started offering them free food and drinks.
‘What would you like, a drink to get you started, yes? Some portokalada, or some good Greek coffee?’
Heather smiled. ‘Coffee all the way for me, please,’ she said, smiling at the children who were sitting at a nearby table under the shade of an umbrella, a half-finished plate of Greek salad sitting on the table between them as they concentrated on their colouring.
‘How sweet,’ she said, laughing as they began to squabble over a crayon. ‘Siblings, right?’
‘My grandchildren,’ Yiannis said proudly as he showed them to the table in the corner, Nina’s favourite.
‘Adorable,’ Heather said over the sound of the children shouting at each other, smiling up at him as she sat down. He looked so proud that Nina thought he might burst.
‘You’ll never have to pay for anything here now!’ she said, laughing as Yiannis walked away. She knew Heather wasn’t being disingenuous though; she just loved kids. She loved going into work every day and spending time with them, and she looked forward to going back after the holidays.
‘Aw, they’re so cute though,’ she said. ‘Right. What do you recommend? I’m starving.’
‘Well, everything’s so good, I can hardly –’
‘Nina!’ Eirini rushed over, untying her apron and taking a seat next to them.
Nina guessed she’d decided her shift was over.
‘Introduce me to your friend then,’ she said, smiling and holding out a hand for Heather to shake.
‘I’m Eirini, this is my father-in-law’s café and those two little monsters are my kids.
’ She nodded towards the children, gazing at them with a look of pure love.
Heather introduced herself. ‘Nina’s friend from home, we’ve known each other forever, so if you need any embarrassing stories or photos, I’m your woman.’
Eirini laughed. ‘I’ll remember that!’
‘Well, you two seem to be doing fine without any introductions from me,’ Nina grumbled.
‘Never mind that, introductions are done, I want to hear more about you and Gorgeous George,’ Eirini said. ‘Come on. Have you seen him again? Any – developments?’
She laughed as a flush spread over Nina’s cheeks and Heather leaned forward in her chair.
‘Wait, what? George? Who’s George? Why haven’t I heard about this Gorgeous George?’
‘Oh she hasn’t told you?’ Eirini asked.
‘Because there’s nothing to tell!’ Nina protested, wishing she could stop blushing so hard.
‘George, George, why do I know that name?’ Heather drummed her fingers on the table, frowning as she tried to remember. ‘Wait isn’t he the bloke who you were so annoyed by? The environment guy?’
Eirini snapped her fingers and pointed at Heather. ‘Yes, exactly. Environment guy. Veeeery handsome. And Nina’s been spending a lot of time with him.’ She winked at Heather as she said this, and Heather grinned back. Nina began to regret introducing them.
‘I have not –’ Nina’s protest was interrupted by Yiannis arriving with their coffees, Eirini’s and Heather’s in demitasse cups and Nina’s in a larger cup so she could add the warmed milk he brought for her.
She waited as they all smiled and thanked him, and she and Heather ordered food, before continuing.
‘I have not been spending a lot of time with him!’ she said. ‘He just – he helped me look for Theo that night, you know, when he went missing and he climbs so we’ve done that together but that’s all so . . .’
‘That’s all?’ Eirini gave her a knowing look, a little glint in her eye as she smiled, and Nina remembered that Metalios was a small place, and news travelled fast, and it occurred to her that perhaps she and George had been seen when they went for their early-morning swim.
‘Well, it sounds like I’ve got some catching up to do,’ Heather said with a grin. ‘I’ve heard nothing about all this. Can’t wait to meet this famous George.’
‘Nothing to hear about,’ Nina muttered.
Eirini drained her coffee and stood up, picking her apron back up. ‘Well, you won’t have to wait long before you see him,’ she said, her voice light with mischief. ‘He’s inside, I’m sure he’ll be heading out soon.’
‘What?’ Nina’s head snapped around to the café door. No sign of George yet.
‘Oh,’ Eirini said as she tied on her apron, trying to keep her expression innocent but failing to hide her smirk. ‘Didn’t you realise he was here?’
Nina glowered at her. Eirini grinned and turned back towards the café. ‘Oh look,’ she said. ‘And here he is. George! Come and meet Nina’s friend.’
Nina swallowed as George walked over, smiling. ‘Hey,’ he said. ‘I’ve been meaning to message you.’
Nina’s heart was beating a little fast. She’d been worried things would be awkward when she saw him again, but as she looked up at him, basking in his easy smile, she found she was just glad he was there.
‘This is my friend, Heather,’ she said. ‘Heather, this is George.’
‘Jones,’ Heather blurted.
Nina stared at her in confusion. How could she know George’s surname?
Heather was looking unusually flustered, and she leapt to her feet, knocking against the table so that coffee spilled out of her cup, holding out her hand for George to shake.
‘George Jones. I know you – I mean, I – I follow you on Instagram.’ She was shaking his hand so hard that Nina feared she’d dislocate his shoulder.
‘You do great work, it must be so satisfying, you know, knowing you’re doing so much good.
I mean, achieving so much. It’s really – it’s great. ’
‘Oh, thanks,’ George said, as though this was all perfectly normal. He gently extracted his hand from Heather’s grip, subtly flexing his fingers as though they’d been squeezed to within an inch of life. ‘What do you do?’
‘Oh nothing so glamorous; I’m a teacher.’
‘Must be very satisfying too,’ George said. ‘Great work, shaping young minds and all that. That’s a really important job.’
Heather shrugged, her cheeks turning a little pink. ‘I love it.’
‘Sounds like those kids are lucky to have you. Well, I’d better be going.’ He smiled at them both. ‘Yia-Yia has plans for me this afternoon. Lovely to meet you, Heather. And Nina, I’ll message you. Maybe we can fit in that climb soon?’
And with that he was gone, leaving them both staring after him, until Heather kicked Nina on the shin and leaned over the table.
‘So you going to tell me what’s going on with you and the famous George Jones, or what?’ she asked.
Yiannis arrived with their food, spanakopita for Nina, stuffed peppers for Heather and a Greek salad to share. They smiled and thanked him, the conversation on hold for a moment. Nina was bursting with questions, and from the meaningful looks Heather kept giving her, she guessed she was too.
As soon as Yiannis walked away, they both spoke over each other.
‘What do you mean, famous?’
‘So spill, what’s happened with you two?’
Nina pointed her fork at her friend. ‘You first.’
Heather cut into her pepper and took a bite. ‘Well, it’s – that’s George Jones.’ She covered her mouth as she chewed, closing her eyes. ‘Oh my god, this is delicious.’
‘I’m none the wiser.’
Heather opened her eyes. ‘You don’t know him? Seriously? You know – George Jones.’
‘You keep saying that but I don’t know what you’re on about.’
‘The influencer,’ Heather said, through a mouthful of food, and quickly shovelling another forkful into her mouth. ‘Wow, this is amazing.’
‘He – what?’
‘He’s like a conservationist.’
‘I know.’
‘Well there you go then.’
Nina did not feel that she’d gone anywhere. ‘What? He’s a conservationist influencer?’
Heather, hunched over her food and barely looking up from her plate, nodded. ‘Look him up.’
Nina did. And there he was, George Jones, conservationist and wildlife expert, with a hundred thousand followers on Instagram.
She scrolled through photo after photo of animals, endangered species from insects to elephants and pretty much everything in between.
George, smiling next to a giant tortoise, George smiling holding a snake, George talking earnestly to camera as he walked around animal sanctuaries.
The most recent picture was of an injured turtle at the local rescue centre.
Nina’s mind was reeling. ‘But – this is . . . I had no idea.’
‘Oh, yeah, he’s great. I saw him once, he came to do a talk at the university and I got a ticket, don’t you remember?
’ Nina looked blank. ‘Well, you were probably busy with work. He was talking about the environment and endangered species; he was brilliant, very knowledgeable. Very charismatic. So, your turn.’ She pointed her fork at Nina, before refilling it and stuffing the contents into her mouth. ‘Spill,’ she said, around the food.
‘I – there isn’t much to say. I didn’t even like him at first, you know, because of the protests, and he was pretty rude actually so –’
‘Oh no, he couldn’t have been, must’ve been a misunderstanding.’
‘No, he was. But I think it was just because he was so fired up, and I thought he was just being a pain, quite honestly, but it’s okay now because Baba and I checked and the hotel have this sustainability policy so it’ll be fine. George says we can’t trust them, but I think he’s just –’
Heather was shaking her head. ‘You should double-check, you know. He’s probably right. He’s George Jones.’
‘I wish you’d stop saying that,’ Nina grumbled.
‘You like him now though.’ Heather was smirking. ‘You blushed like a tomato when he came over.’
Nina snorted. ‘You can talk, you nearly shook his hand off.’ Heather shrugged.
‘But yes, I suppose – he was just really kind when Baba had the panic attack, you know, he was – he listens. He – he understands stuff. You know?’ She frowned.
‘I don’t know, maybe you’re right about the hotel; I mean, I thought it was all above board, but the website was all in Greek, so I might have .
. .’ She trailed off, doubt seeding in her mind.
‘I could ask Eirini to translate or something.’
Heather was nodding and trying unsuccessfully to hide a smirk. ‘You should. So you and George have been hanging out?’
‘Well only because it turns out he likes climbing too. He’s really good at it actually, and he took me snorkelling and we saw the turtles and then . . .’
Heather stared, fork suspended in the air on its journey to her mouth. ‘Yes?’
‘Well, the other morning we had this moment; I thought we were going to kiss, but –’
‘Yes!’ Heather dropped her fork and clapped her hands together. ‘I knew it. I’m going to be George Jones’s sister-in-law!’
‘I – what?’ Nina laughed. ‘We’re not sisters.’
Heather shrugged. ‘As good as. Theo would adopt me like a shot if I asked him to.’
‘And it was nothing, I don’t even like him that way.’
Heather choked on her last mouthful of food. ‘Oh, come on. I’ve known you forever, remember? I can tell when you want to get fruity with someone.’
Nina laughed. ‘Get fruity? Are you twelve?’
Heather gave her a baleful look. ‘I work with little kids. Tell me more about my future brother-in-law.’
Nina sighed. ‘It’s not – I don’t know. We were swimming the other morning and there was this weird thing, I thought something was going to happen, but –’
‘Sounds romantic.’
Nina thought about the sunrise and the turtles and the gently lilting waves, of George so close to her, the intensity of his gaze. ‘Well, nothing happened, he just left.’
Heather frowned. ‘What, he just walked off?’
‘He said he couldn’t do this, and then he just left.’
Heather shook her head. ‘Someone broke his heart. I bet that’s it.’
‘Maybe it’s just as well. I mean, I’ve had enough of relationships for now, and he’s too much like Sam for me, isn’t he? That type that’s really focused on work and never has time for you. I’d always be the afterthought, like before.’
Heather gaped. ‘Are you mad?’ She waved her phone at Nina. ‘He’s a conservationist, he cares about the world, not his frumping bank balance. A hundred thousand followers. Books, talks, a YouTube channel.’ She snorted. ‘No, he is not like Sam.’