Chapter 11 #2
Maddie couldn’t have identified what model the car was if she’d been held at gunpoint.
Never having held a licence, a pushbike was her preferred mode of transport if there wasn’t a bus coming.
Tony had been a motorcycle fanatic, so riding pillion was far more comfortable for her than being a car passenger.
But even in the unlikely event of her having had an opinion on the car, she’d have kept her mouth shut.
She’d agreed with Sofia in the loos that, after Charlotte’s uncharacteristic outburst, they were going to play happy families.
There was definitely something up there, but it was going to take some careful groundwork to get it out of their friend.
The car hire guy, dressed all in black, waved and held the keys up in the air.
‘Which one of you is the driver?’
‘Me.’
Sofia went to grab the keys off him, but he held them just out of reach for a moment, so she had to stretch up.
‘Hey!’
‘Sorry, couldn’t resist.’
His smile reached all the way to his sparkling brown eyes as he stared with interest at Sofia and put out his hand.
‘Konstantinos.’
Sofia looked down at the strong tanned hand holding her own.
‘Sofia.’
‘Pleased to meet you, or hero poli as we say in Greece.’
Maddie raised her eyebrows at Charlotte.
‘Here we go again. Do you think she’ll remember she’s got two passengers before she drives off?’
Car hire guy (they were too far away to hear his name) brought out an iPad and asked their friend to sign something.
Then he brought out his phone. Maddie strained to hear their conversation.
‘He’s asking for her number, I’m sure of it.’
‘Let’s get over there.’
‘Hi!’ Charlotte raised her hand at car hire guy, who smiled at her and Maddie for all of a second before looking longingly back at Sofia.
‘Are you sure you don’t need me to show you how everything works?’
‘No, I’m fine, Konstantinos.’
Maddie smiled at the disappointment which oozed out of the man at not getting the chance to be squashed up against his new client.
‘Remember what I said!’ Konstantinos held up his phone as another car, a bigger, flashier, black one pulled into the courtyard, which Maddie presumed was his lift back to the office rather than a sudden upgrade.
She pulled open the back passenger door of the Suzuki and indicated that Charlotte, with her long legs, should get in the front.
It wasn’t an entirely selfless gesture. Being closer to Sofia meant being closer to the action.
Charlotte would have no choice but to navigate.
At least in the back she could close her eyes occasionally and hope no one would notice.
‘Made a conquest?’ Maddie caught Sofia’s eye in the rear-view mirror.
‘He asked me out for a drink if that’s what you mean,’ Sofia snapped back, before remembering their pact, and smiling widely. ‘He seems like a nice guy.’
‘Very much your type, I’d say. Knocking forty and fit.’
‘Yeah, he is cute. I’ll give it some thought.’
Although it was true that on paper Konstantinos was everything she liked, muscular and smiley being her main prerequisites, the thought of a possible date with him didn’t fill her with the joy of old.
He could fill out a t-shirt, no problem, but she knew nothing about him.
She would be seeing Adonis again in a week’s time.
She knew what she was getting there, and what she would be getting was pretty damn good.
Her encounter with Giannis hadn’t exactly been a triumph.
Surely, she could wait a week. She’d leave Konstantinos on hold for the moment.
It was always good to have a back-up plan.
The journey to the car park was mercifully short and Maddie breathed a huge sigh of relief when she could open the car door and escape.
There’d been a couple of hairy moments involving stray cats, lorries and boy racers taking corners on the wrong side of the road, as well as plenty of swearing in Spanish from Sofia, but they’d made it in one piece.
‘Don’t forget your hats.’ Charlotte was back in Girl Guide mode, her earlier outburst seemingly forgotten. ‘And as we have to swim through the gorge to get to the waterfall, I think we should lock our valuables in the car and just take our towels.’
‘What! Hang on a minute… Swim through the gorge? I never signed up for that.’ Maddie couldn’t keep the tremble out of her voice.
‘It will be fine. Hundreds of people do it every day.’ Charlotte was using her best matron voice now. ‘Chuck everything in the boot you’re not taking and let’s go.’
The woodland path to the waterfall was paved with dappled sunlight and tall trees, and for the next half hour, Maddie tried to distract herself from what was to come by looking at the shape of their leaves.
A trickling stream ran beside them, full of boulders and smaller stones, and the soothing sound of water enabled her to slow her breathing, rather than panting like an overheated dog.
Plants with delicate pink flowers hung their branches over the stream, and tall green reeds with heads that looked like corn grew in the shallows.
A yellow butterfly fluttered in and out of the reeds just ahead of her for most of the journey. She and Tony had loved butterflies. It must be a good omen.
Not having any phones was somehow freeing.
Maddie truly believed that taking away the pressure to photograph anything or put it on social media meant a deeper connection with virtually any experience, but she knew it wouldn’t be a popular theory with anyone under thirty-five, so she usually kept her opinion to herself at family gatherings.
Not that there’d been many of those lately.
There’d been simple meals at her daughter’s, with her as the lone guest, but not the big family meals of old.
Elsie would be big enough to join them now, in her own highchair.
Maddie stumbled a moment as she imagined the scene, her little golden-haired granddaughter making the usual mess that babies made.
She’d be happy to be covered head to toe in banana mulch if it meant they were all together again.
When they reached the huge rocks that signified the start of the stretch of water which led to the waterfall, Maddie noticed groups of people stretched out on them drying themselves in the sun like giant insects.
The myriad of languages being spoken created an unwelcome buzz after the quiet of the pathway.
She didn’t hugely want an audience for her waterfall feat, but it seemed like there wasn’t much choice.
The walls of the gorge stretched up on either side of the channel straight into the sky where a slim slice of startling blue was visible against the grey stone.
‘The rocks are so tall, and it’s such a narrow river.’ Maddie’s heartrate increased tenfold. ‘I can’t even see the waterfall.’
‘Don’t panic.’ Charlotte laid her hand on her arm. ‘It’s just around the corner. Hardly any distance. Sof and I will be with you all the way, one in front and one behind. We won’t let you drown.’
‘Drown?’ Maddie’s legs were about to go from under her. ‘Surely, I’ll be in my depth, right? It’s only a little channel.’
Both her friends had shifty expressions on their faces but stayed mute while fiddling with their possessions. Charlotte pointed behind the nearest rock.
‘Clothes over there and…’ Charlotte studied the stretch of water in front of her. ‘Let’s get in over here where it’s shallowest. Hurry up. There’s no one swimming at the moment, so we’ll have the waterfall to ourselves.’
Although the sun was hot on her face, Maddie’s first exposure to the water was a shock.
‘It’s freezing!’
Charlotte turned back, already thigh deep.
‘The stream’s coming from much higher up these mountains, so it’s not like the sea. Just get in slowly. We’re right here with you, so shout if you’re worried.’
Maddie couldn’t hold in the scream which burst out of her mouth when she tried to put her shoulders under.
‘Everything OK?’ Charlotte turned back.
‘Yes, fine.’ Maddie wondered if giving up at this point was an option. The yellow butterfly was still with the group, fluttering just above Charlotte’s head, which gave her the strength to carry on.
For the first few strokes, all she could focus on was coordinating her limbs and trying to get enough air into her lungs.
But little by little, she found herself able to look up and see trees far above her and enjoy the sun on her back.
When they finally turned the corner, all three of them stopped still a moment and just trod water to take in the sheer majesty of the waterfall in front of them.
They could barely see the top of the rock, it was so far above them.
‘Look at all that water, cascading down hundreds of metres.’ Charlotte was the first to recover her voice. ‘It’s been there for thousands, maybe millions, of years.’
Maddie and Sofia continued to stare, fixed to the spot, but Charlotte motioned them to move forward.
‘We need to try and get behind the waterfall, where there should be a natural platform.’
All three of them swam round and found the rock ledge, heaving themselves up to sit in a row and watch the curtain of water fall in front of them, rainbow-edged droplets breaking off into the still air and flying free.
The roar of the water was loud enough to stop any possibility of conversation, but no one seemed moved to speak anyway.
Maddie reached out and held hands with the others.
An enormous feeling of peace washed over her, something she hadn’t experienced for a very long time.
She hoped the others felt the same. It was a precious moment out of time, the rest of the world pushed far away.
When the voices of the next swimmers floated over on the breeze and broke the spell, all of them plopped back into the water without having to discuss it, and gave the incomers a satisfied smile on the way out.
Back on the bank, rubbing some warmth back into her body, Maddie looked down into the dark green water.
‘Would I have been able to touch the bottom if I got into trouble?’
‘God, no,’ Charlotte replied. ‘No one knows quite how deep it is down there.’
‘Oh.’
‘But you were really brave.’ Charlotte moved in for a hug. ‘And we kept you safe, didn’t we?’
‘You did.’
Maddie gave her friends the first genuine smile of the day.
It had been scary at times, but she was so proud of herself for doing it.
Connecting with nature was always a big part of her and Tony’s free time away from their busy jobs, and it made him feel closer for a few precious minutes.
He’d be proud of her too, wherever he was.