Chapter 44
Emilia sauntered to the tamarisk tree that stood closest to the road. It was huge and the perfect place to hide behind. Through the dense foliage of a lower branch, her eyes scanned Trata across the street.
Andreas had never come out, back at the house, for her to shake his hand, so she was still in her younger form. She expected it would take a few more hours to revert to her real looks, but she couldn’t wait. She ached to see him, even from afar.
Still hiding behind the tree, she waited for a while. He appeared just under a minute later, and she thanked her lucky stars. He went to a table where two couples sat to take an order, and she allowed herself to revel in the sight of him. A sight for such sore eyes…
Her heart constricted with feeling, and she was too upset to scold herself for acting so pathetic. She knew she would be leaving soon. She had decided. She was going to phone Mr Roidis when she got home and arrange that meeting with the buyer the next day. She was going to leave the island as soon as possible and let Mr Roidis handle the sale for her.
She didn’t even know if she would tell Andreas any of this or even say goodbye. She couldn’t bear the idea of saying goodbye to him. All she knew was that she wanted to look at Andreas, even from afar right now, and hear his voice. She fished out her phone from her backpack and made the call.
He had just turned away from the patrons, and he fished his phone out of his pants pocket. She felt so elated when, as if he knew, he turned around to face the street when he answered, and now, she could see his face. Small mercies.
‘Hello?’
‘Hi, Andreas,’ she said, trying to conceal her heavy feeling as she shrugged a little further behind the thick trunk.
She saw him look to the sky, a faint smile colouring his face a little lighter. ‘ Emilia mou ! Hello…’
‘I… I’m just calling to see how you are. Lia mentioned she never saw you today. She said that stomach bug is still troubling you.’
‘No, it’s not that bad now. I am at work. Feeling better.’
‘Oh, that’s good to know…’ Her voice trailed off, and an awkward silence ensued. He never asked where she was, let alone if he could see her, and her heart sank.
He began to fidget, a hand flying up to scratch at his brow furiously. ‘Ugh… you okay, Emilia? You keeping busy?’
‘Yes… Um… Andreas, can I ask you something?’
‘Of course.’
‘Is there something wrong? Between us?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘You know… Other than you feeling unwell and all that, you did admit yesterday that you have a family matter to deal with. And, I’m wondering… does it affect us in any way? Because, if it does, Andreas, I think you should tell me. Whatever it is. I am a big girl. I can take it.’
‘No, of course not. Ah… don’t worry, all’s good… It’s just that my mind is muddled. I need some time to think things through. And, I see no reason to offload the whole mess onto you while I’m still feeling so bad myself.’
Another awkward silence. Another stab at her heart. Another lack of invitation to come over, let alone to offer her that ride on the boat that he had promised.
She heaved a big sigh. ‘Okay, well, I am glad you’re feeling better.’
He mumbled something about having to get back to work and they hung up quickly.
Tears began to sting in her eyes, but she wasn’t going to allow herself to cry on this busy street, where people passed by, enjoying summer by picnicking, swimming, and sunbathing. Whole families kept passing by, their children laughing, holding ice cones that melted way faster than they could ever eat them.
Bicycle bells echoed from a little further away where a little girl was riding a small pink bicycle, giggling, a man moving alongside it, holding the handlebars. Her father, perhaps. For a while, she let herself be drawn to, and healed by, the child’s laughter.
A few minutes later, she felt the tightness in her chest ease somewhat. She put her phone back in her backpack and unglued herself from the sturdy trunk.
Turning away, she walked on the sand, passing by a row of trees, and that blessed laughing little girl, and only after she’d left Trata way behind, she went back on the road to return home.
The timing was dreadful. As soon as she stepped foot on the concrete she saw Takis coming from the opposite direction, on the way back to Perdika, no doubt.
As soon as he saw her from a distance, his facial features pinched, and he raised his hand to wave with a flourish. ‘Hey, Liiiiiaaa !’ The name had dripped heavily with sarcasm on his lips, as if it was a joke.
Her heart sank. The last thing she needed right now was to have words with this vile excuse for a man.
She couldn’t imagine how he’d felt justified to address her that way. As Lia, she’d only met him twice. Once at the bar that evening when he was inebriated, and on the day of Lena’s birthday party at Trata. She’d gone to the kitchen at some point and he happened to be there. Voula had introduced them, thankfully, without mentioning a family connection to Emilia.
Had Takis noticed how they looked the same? He had appeared deep in thought as he shook her hand that day but hadn’t voiced it. He hadn’t even mentioned meeting her at the bar. And now, as he approached to stop before her, a little too close for comfort, his face had turned into a mask of hard features.
She shivered at the thought of him accusing her like Mrs Popi had, of trying to fool everybody. ‘Hi, Takis,’ she said and steeled herself for whatever was coming.
He sneered. ‘Once again, you’re on your own, aren’t you? Lia ? Emilia not with you, huh?’ He gave a wicked lopsided grin and added, raising his voice, ‘Ha! As if she could ever be with you!’ Now, he was gesticulating wildly while holding a pack of cigarettes in his hand. His old nasty habit still had the same stronghold on him. Most of the times she’d sat at Trata in her true form, he’d passed by, holding a pack or two of cigarettes in his hand on the way back to Perdika from the corner store.
‘What is this, Takis? What do you want?’ she said to him, stone-faced, with a cool that surprised her, considering she’d been in tatters just earlier, standing behind that tree.
‘Don’t you dare try to fool me, Lia ! You have fooled everyone else but you can’t fool me! Okay? I know it’s you, Emilia ! It’s you, behind that youthful fa?ade of yours!’
He let out a chortle, then added, ‘I’ve got to hand it to you, girl!’ He waved his hand before her face, snarling the words to add, ‘Whatever you’ve done to make yourself look like this you’ve done an amazing job!’
Emilia froze, and, guessing he had seen the panic in her eyes, he took advantage of it, like a beast smelling fresh blood. He was now in her face, an inch from her nose, one accusing finger tapping on her chest.
Whispering, he said, ‘I saw you, ok? The day of the opening at Trata. Lunchtime, after that birthday party Andreas threw Voula’s daughter. You left through the back door, still as Lia, and went to buy new clothes in a hurry. I followed you, okay? And then you went back to Trata as Emilia. But you still carried the exact same blue backpack! This one !’
He pointed at the backpack slung over her shoulder and all Emilia could do was follow his gaze mutely. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! she began to scold herself silently, her mind going numb on all other respects.
‘Are you playing some kind of game?’ he asked her then, his hands on his waist, head bobbing in a higher-than-thou manner.
‘Because if you’re trying to scam Andreas, I demand to know. His son is my friend! The truth, Emilia. Why are you doing this?’ He leaned closer, almost touching her nose with his to add, ‘You’re using some kind of high-tech mask or top tier cosmetics or something? Where are your wrinkles, girl ?’ he mocked, whistling at her, his breath tickling her cheeks.
‘You thought you could fool me too, Emilia? You forget I’ve known you since we were in school! You look just like you used to back then! Actually, I had a shock the first time I saw you in that bar! I thought I was too drunk. But even on that night you couldn’t fool me! Especially as a couple of days later you showed up with the same young woman and the same child at Perdika, this time showing your real age! I gave you the benefit of the doubt then, thinking your friends looked very similar to the ones I’d seen at the bar with that young woman that was your younger doppelganger! But now, I know, okay? You cannot convince me otherwise!’ He grabbed her arm with his free hand and shook it, and this caused her to jerk into motion.
She yanked her arm away from his grasp and shook a finger at him. ‘Enough! Back off, Takis!’ Leaning closer and imagining her eyes emitting sparks of fury, she caused him to take a step back. It felt good. Fair. Even though he was right. But this was Takis. He was pond scum. She would allow anyone to act all self-righteous toward her, anyone but him.
He was seeing her cousin Aleka secretly while they were an item back at school. She had found out. Seen them with her own eyes, and they hadn’t even had the decency to admit it. Pah! Surely, those two had to stay together. It saved two other people. It was a match made in hell.
Taking heart, she shrieked at him, ‘You are being paranoid! But even if all this were true you should still mind your own business!’
Without waiting for an answer, she stepped aside to circumvent him, then began to stride down the street, the echo of his sneering in her ears.
‘You deny it all you want, but I’ll get to the bottom of it, Emilia! I promise you that!’ His threat caused her to panic, but she continued to hurry away, refusing to acknowledge it.