Chapter 29 #2
‘That goes without saying, my lovely.’
‘You are right. There is something else.’
Nana leant forwards.
‘Working there will help me learn Greek.’
Nana’s eyes narrowed and Carrie sniggered. ‘Okay, okay. Although that is true, I need to widen my vocabulary which, so far, consists of a few polite phrases, three numbers, and one swear word.’
‘But…?’
Carrie sighed. She picked up her paper napkin and fiddled, trying to tie it into a knot.
‘Dimitrios makes me… happy. I… I like him, Nana. I’ve not felt like that about a man for as long as I can remember.
Oh, I’ve gone on dates, but simply thinking about those men never used to make me smile when I was on my own, you know?
Never made me long to ring them up just to hear their voice. ’
‘I felt like that about my last boyfriend. He moved to America with work a couple of years ago. It was tough.’
Carrie reached across and squeezed her hand. ‘No point me fantasising though. Dimitrios says he is bad news and that nothing romantic can ever happen between us – whatever that means.’
‘Gah! Dimitrios worries too much about other people. Seriously, Carrie. Ignore him. There is a not a bad bone in that man’s body, ask anyone in Tolmiros – on the whole of the island! I’ve seen how he looks at you.’
She had? How was that? Carrie wanted to ask every detail, as if she were back at school gossiping by the lockers.
‘But why would he say that?’
Nana shrugged. ‘No idea – but if you like him, that’s what you must find out.’
Seagulls squawked overhead as Carrie went to the side of Boosalis where she’d left the bike and helmet that she’d found outside the villa, camouflaged by bushes.
She’d only discovered the bike this morning.
She’d tested it out up and down the road.
It would be ideal for getting home after late nights at The Bar.
The lights were in working order and the tyres were well pumped up.
Carrie headed to the sea, humming a jazz song she used to play – ‘Take Five’ by Dave Brubeck, challenging for a guitarist but she’d mastered it.
Carrie had been lucky in that at her school, the guitar exam board didn’t focus on classical.
She’d learned plenty of rock and pop. ‘Reelin’ in the Years’ by Steely Dan was another favourite.
Her music teacher was ace and encouraged his students to form bands for school concerts.
Carrie had found guitar-playing took her away from her problems. She never saw herself as a natural, despite what that teacher said, and would practise and practise until she was happy with a piece.
Several of them had come back to her this week.
Carrie came to the end of the song and mulled over Nana’s words.
She got off the bike as she neared the beach, took off the helmet and her sandals.
She pushed the bike in the direction of The Bar.
It was hard work but she wanted that powdery sensation between her toes; loving the comforting sound of the tide lapping the land.
Dimitrios stood outside, in front of the low hedge surrounding the building, drinking a glass of water, hair shifting gently in the breeze.
Casual, relaxed, and hot as hell, he clearly had no awareness of what others saw, or why Giannis GoGo was such a sex symbol.
He wasn’t simply photogenic, he was equally handsome without lighting or filters.
However, the thing that truly enhanced Dimitrios’s features was his good heart, something that she was increasingly becoming aware of.
He shot Carrie a boyish smile but it quickly dropped from his face. ‘You found Dad’s bike? It hasn’t been used, well, since his accident.’
‘Oh… sorry… I should have realised it was his. You’re okay with me using it?’
‘Sure. Honestly.’ He rubbed the back of his head.
‘It’s good to see it in use. Just a shock at first.’ His smile returned.
‘You’re thirty minutes early. That’s what I like – enthusiasm!
Fancy a coffee? I’ll fill you in about the way we work.
Then we’ll go inside and my best bartender, Sofia, will show you the ropes and… ’
Carrie walked past him, leant the cycle against the hedge, left the helmet underneath and, to his surprise, took his hand. ‘How about a stroll by the water’s edge first?’
He only had time to put his glass on a table before she led him onto the sand and past local pensioners in a circle, wearing swimming costumes and eating sandwiches, past a group of Germans playing a radio and singing along, and a mum with three children engrossed in a card game, under a large parasol.
She didn’t let go until they reached the water, at a point where they were quite alone.
Carrie turned to face him. ‘You are not a bad person, Dimitrios. There’s no law saying nothing romantic should happen between us.
So why are you keeping me at a distance?
I’m a strong, independent woman. I can look after myself.
I’ll decide what sort of news you are and right at this point, you’re pretty good.
And I think you feel the same as me.’ With that she stood on tiptoe and leant right forwards until their noses almost touched, until his breath teased her mouth.