Chapter Thirty-Five
Life took on a new pattern. The house took shape, and each new item sent a thrill through Nina as the guesthouse of her dreams began to materialise around her. She and Theo worked hard, painting shutters and fitting furniture. He was in the process of finalising all the paperwork.
After working all day, Nina walked on the beach. A group of people gathered next to a row of paddleboards laid out on the sand, and a woman in a wetsuit seemed to be instructing them. Nina watched as they all went out to sea, learning how to stand on the boards with varying levels of success.
The instructor waved. ‘Yassas.’
Nina walked over. ‘This looks great,’ she said.
‘You want to try?’ the woman asked, switching to fluent English.
Nina grinned. Setting up the guesthouse was gratifying, but she’d missed the thrill of climbing and cliff jumping, the tranquillity of snorkelling with the turtles. She nodded, kicking off her shoes, thankful she was wearing shorts and a t-shirt.
She soon learned how to adjust her paddle to the right height and attach the leash to her ankle.
As instructed, she carried the board into knee-high water and knelt on it.
She paddled out to deeper water, smiling at the other people who were learning.
By the end of the session she’d learned how to turn the board and, after many failed attempts that ended up with her underwater, stand on it.
‘That was great!’ she said, laughing as she wrung out her soaking hair. ‘Thank you so much.’
‘Maybe bring a towel and change of clothes next time, eh?’ the instructor replied with a grin.
‘Sounds like a good plan! I’ll be here, anyway.
’ The sun was warm enough that Nina was already beginning to dry out; she was glad to have had a cooling dip in the sea, even if it was accidental.
‘You know, I live just up there.’ She pointed to the house, visible on the hillside from the beach.
The instructor shaded her eyes and looked to where Nina pointed.
‘My baba and I, we’re turning it into a guesthouse, and I’m thinking it would be great to offer people lessons from you when they come, what do you think? ’
The woman nodded enthusiastically. ‘Sounds good.’
‘Brilliant! I’ll talk to Baba and get back to you with –’
‘Nina!’
She turned at the sound of someone calling her name, and the instructor went to help the others put their boards away. A chill prickled Nina’s skin; she recognised the voice that had called her.
Maria was wearing her swimsuit and hat. She dropped the paddleboard she was carrying with a thud and hurried over.
‘You are trying the paddleboarding now?’
Nina’s heart thudded. She had planned, should she bump into Maria, to tell her exactly what she thought of her and her cheating grandson. But she found, as she looked into Maria’s eager eyes, that words failed her.
The old woman sighed. ‘You are angry with me, this is why you haven’t been coming for the cooking lessons or to learn Greek like we planned. I know this.’ She nodded sadly. ‘But everything isn’t what you think, George is not this bad boy, he has been hurt and he struggles with the –’
Nina held up her hand. ‘I don’t care about any of that,’ she said. ‘He’s married, Maria. And you should have told me.’
‘No, but this is not what you –’ Maria protested, but Nina walked away, leaving her looking forlorn.
Theo gave her a strange look as she walked in, dry now, although her hair was tangled and stiff with salt.
‘What’s up with you?’ she asked suspiciously. She couldn’t read his expression.
‘Nothing,’ he said, spreading his arms and opening his eyes wide in an unconvincing expression of innocence. ‘What you accusing your baba of? You drunkle?’
Nina tutted. ‘No I am not. And you’re being weird.’
‘Stop with this nonsense. Why don’t you go sit in the courtyard and have a relax, eh?’
‘Okay, but give me a minute, I need to have a shower, I went . . .’
Theo was already propelling her, rather forcefully, towards the door. ‘Yes, yes, time for all this later, you go have a nice sit down. Best go now.’
He practically threw her out of the door, and quickly closed it behind her.
‘Baba, what on earth are you doing? I want to . . .’
But as she turned around, her voice trailed off. Standing in the corner by the table, was Sam.
He shifted as he waited, biting on his lower lip, and clutching a bunch of flowers.
‘Nina,’ he said.
His voice caught and he swallowed. He looked nervous and, she had to admit, ridiculously handsome, his brown eyes earnest, his neat dark stubble lining his strong jaw, his defined biceps shown off perfectly by the designer t-shirt he wore.
She could throttle Theo for springing this on her with no warning.
‘Nina, I – I’m so sorry for what happened. Can we talk? Please?’
She considered. He was the last person she’d been expecting to see, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about finding him standing here.
Her anger with him had faded over time, and with finding another reason to be hurt and upset.
She wasn’t sure she had the energy to be annoyed with Sam too, right now.
He stared, apparently unable to take his eyes off her, looking at her in a way he never had before. As though he really saw her. ‘God, you look good,’ he said. ‘You look different, like you’re – wow.’
‘Sam, I don’t know what you’re –’
‘I really am sorry,’ he said, shifting the bouquet from hand to hand.
In all the years they’d been together he’d never given her flowers, never written a romantic message in a card, never brought her favourite chocolates or surprised her with a night out.
‘About the – about what happened with Mags.’ He looked up, catching her eye, and for a moment she found herself moved by his pained expression.
But it would take more than an acknowledgement of his lying, cheating scumbag antics to get her to even begin to forgive him.
He’d treated her badly even before all that, taking her for granted and never showing her any affection.
‘I know I hurt you. I can’t say how much I wish I hadn’t . . .’
He trailed off, hanging his head and picking at the petals.
‘Give those to me,’ she snapped, holding out her hand. ‘Before you completely wreck them.’
He handed over the bouquet and she bent her head to breathe in their heavenly scent. But it would take more than a bunch of flowers to make up for what he’d done.
‘How is Mags?’ she asked icily.
He shrugged. ‘God knows, she dumped me weeks ago. When she realised I wasn’t over you.’ He held her gaze. There was something desperate in his expression.
‘Yep, she told me.’ Nina indicated a chair, and they sat down. Sam fidgeted, rubbing his hands over his face, picking at an immaculate nail, stretching his leg out and then bringing it back in. He cleared his throat.
‘I was such an idiot,’ he said, his voice so quiet that Nina leaned forward in her seat to hear him better.
‘It was a mistake, a stupid mistake, and I know I don’t deserve your forgiveness.
But I’m – I’m struggling without you.’ He looked up at her, his eyes full of anguish.
‘I know – I know you deserved so much better, and not just the stuff with Mags, I should’ve shown you what you meant to me every day.
I should’ve told you, I should’ve taken the time .
. .’ His voice shook and he swallowed. ‘If – if you’ll only give me another chance.
I’ll make it up to you, I promise, I’ll be everything you deserve.
I’ll make sure you know how special you are every day, how smart and talented and beautiful.
I’ll make sure you know how much I love you. ’
He gazed at her, and she remembered how she used to feel lost in his brown eyes. His fingers reached for hers, and she found herself grasping his, the familiarity of his touch irresistible after all she’d been through.
Her phone buzzed and she glanced at it. Three messages from George.
Her stomach lurched, and she was flooded once again with the sting of humiliation and hurt. After those calls right after she’d found him with Susan, she’d heard nothing from George. Why would he get in touch now? She deleted the messages without reading them.