The village square had been turned into something that resembled New Orleans during Mardi Gras. Garlands and ribbons adorned the trees, and little stalls were packed with produce in a market-style bazaar that had been open from early morning. Now it was evening and the main festivities were set to begin. Before she got dragged into traditional dances, Lucie was making the most of a cold frappe and the shade of the largest olive tree, dressed rather like one of the old-fashioned doll toilet roll holders her nan had used in the downstairs toilet.
‘I’ve bought too much,’ Meg announced, arriving by Lucie’s side and taking a moment to catch her breath. ‘I’ve got three olive wood appetiser dishes, two embroidered cotton bags and a gorgeous pair of leather sandals the man made right in front of my eyes.’
‘Goodness,’ Lucie said. ‘Did he? I might get myself a pair.’
‘The only thing I haven’t bought,’ Meg began, ‘is something to eat. And I have to say I’m famished. Shopping takes it out of you.’
‘Did someone say shopping?’ Gavin asked, appearing with a large paper bag swinging from his hand.
‘What have you got?’ Lucie wanted to know.
‘I think the question should really be “what hasn’t he got”,’ Simon said.
‘I keep telling you, you can never have too many balls.’ Gavin grinned. ‘I’ve got a set of hand-carved skittles for my niece. And… I got some massage balls.’
‘Are they going to replace the golf balls?’ Lucie asked him.
‘Oh, God, no!’ Gavin exclaimed in horror. ‘I don’t want to get the wooden ones wet.’
‘I don’t think I need to know any more,’ Lucie said, regretting bringing up the sporting equipment.
Gavin put his hands on his hips. ‘Luce, what do you think I use the golf balls for?’
‘Well… I know it’s not golf.’
‘I take them with me whenever I go on holiday,’ Gavin informed. ‘Because most foreign hotels don’t have plugs for the bath. It’s a great hack.’
Lucie closed her eyes but then quickly opened them again. ‘But… our bath at Villa Psomi does have a plug.’
‘Yes, I know,’ Gavin stated. ‘So I’ve been putting them in the freezer and rubbing them on my eyebrow space. I finally found a helpful blog! Apparently it promotes growth.’
‘I’m interested to know what Lucie thought you were using them for,’ Simon said, nudging Gavin with his elbow.
‘Yes, me too. Come on, Lucie, tell us what you thought I was up to.’
‘Oh, look, there’s Michalis,’ Lucie rambled fast. ‘I’ve got to go before he has to be carried to the front of the stage on a throne!’
*
His headdress was ridiculous. Looking at himself in the reflection of the butcher’s shop window, Michalis realised he didn’t represent a warrior king, which was the look he thought Melina was going for, but more a carcass of a large game bird before the plucking. Why was he even doing this? Except he knew the answer to that. To keep the village happy. But what of himself? What did he need to be happy going forward? He had received a Messenger message yesterday, from Anastasia. It had told him that she had spoken to Thekli and for the meantime, Thekli was going to be moving in with her. She promised again that she would ensure Thekli made no further contact with him. He was free. At least from the messages, calls and threat of attack. But how did he feel on the inside? With this clean slate, could he really begin to live again?
He turned around and there was Lucie, running across the square towards him. The traditional dress was ballooning out like a parachute, her fingers lifting it a little, presumably so she didn’t trip, and she was smiling at him. Pleased to see him, despite the fact he looked like a crow that had been in a near-miss with the engine of a plane…
‘Whoa!’ Michalis said, catching Lucie as she all but ran into him. ‘You are OK?’
‘It’s this dress,’ Lucie breathed, holding onto his arms. ‘It’s completely changed my centre of gravity. At first I think I have a handle on it and then, no, it tips me up the other way.’
He smiled at her, remaining quiet and still, imprinting the moment on his heart. ‘You look beautiful.’
‘Really?’ Lucie asked in a way that led him to believe perhaps no one had ever said this to her before.
‘Lucie,’ he breathed, putting a finger to her hair and tucking a short strand back behind her ear. ‘When I say something to you, it always comes from the deepest place.’ He kissed her then.
‘Ow! Feather in the eye!’ Lucie said, recoiling slightly.
‘I am so sorry,’ Michalis said, putting his hands to his headwear. ‘It is this bird helmet! I cannot wait to take it off.’
‘Don’t wish the minutes away,’ Lucie answered with a sigh. ‘Because before we know it I’ll be getting back in Miltos’s fruit van, being pummelled by grapefruits, and on my way to the airport.’
‘Oh, Lucie,’ Michalis said, taking hold of her hands. ‘Do you really think I would let you travel that way again? I can drive you to the airport. In my car. With no fruit.’
Lucie swallowed. She knew he meant that to be the loveliest of gestures, but really the thought of leaving him behind was making her sweatier than the fabrics she was currently taped into. Did he really not feel the same? Perhaps, right now, it didn’t matter so much what he felt as long as she was true to herself.
‘I’ve been thinking,’ she began, trying her best to ignore the beginnings of Melina on a microphone that wasn’t quite tuned to the right level.
‘You have?’
She nodded. ‘I have.’ Come on, Lucie, just spit it out.
‘And am I allowed to know what this thinking is about?’ Michalis asked.
‘I… know we said that we would… enjoy the time we have together here, in Corfu, and that maybe that time would simply be “that time” but—’
‘You do not need to say any more,’ Michalis interrupted.
‘I don’t?’
‘Ochi,’ Michalis said, shaking his head. ‘I know it is that you have… decided that I am still a little messed up. And you would like us to say goodbye at the airport and for that to be… the end.’
‘I… wasn’t going to say that.’
‘You were not?’ he asked.
‘No,’ Lucie answered. She took a breath and ventured on. ‘But, is that what you want? For this to have been a holidate and nothing more?’
She was holding her breath now, waiting, hoping as drums began to beat, followed by a melody played on stringed instruments. She recognised the song. It was the one before the one when she was involved in the dancing…
‘Lucie,’ Michalis said, squeezing her hands tight. ‘I do not want this “holidate” you speak of. Because it sounds like something that holds your interest for a little while and then it is thrown away.’
She went to say something, but Michalis put a finger to her lips.
‘I do not want to throw away anything that we have shared together,’ he told her. ‘This time with you has been some of the best moments of my whole life.’
‘Really?’ Lucie mumbled, her lips moving up and down against his finger.
‘Why do you doubt so much?’ Michalis said.
‘I don’t know,’ Lucie breathed. ‘Maybe because I’m standing in uncharted territory… in a wedding dress… never having felt for someone what I feel for you.’ She looked into his eyes. ‘A man dressed as a gladiator of the avian world.’
‘Are you mocking me?’
‘Flocking you.’ She laughed. ‘Sorry, couldn’t resist.’
He kissed her then. Hard. Passionate. No doubt of his intent. And, when he finally drew away, Lucie was lost for breath.
‘I do not know where I will be,’ Michalis told her. ‘But wherever I am, whatever I am doing… I want to… call you and… see you… as many times as we can.’
‘Re—’
‘Do not ask the “really”,’ Michalis interrupted her.
She laughed. ‘I want that too. So much.’
‘Then we are agreed,’ Michalis said. ‘No goodbyes at the airport. Only ta leme sindoma.’
‘I don’t know what that means,’ Lucie told him.
‘It means “see you soon”.’
‘Ta... lay-may… sin-doma,’ she copied. ‘That might take a few goes to get perfect.’
‘I am very happy to commit to practise with you,’ Michalis said, pulling her close to him, wooden arm cuts digging into his skin.
‘Are we still talking about Greek lessons or do you think we might have time for honing other skills?’ Lucie flirted.
‘Loosely! Ela! Come! My grandmother and Ariana need to fix the bonnet to your head now.’ Suddenly Miltos was right beside them and within seconds he had locked her arm with his.
‘Bonnet? No. No, no one said anything about a bonnet!’ Lucie said as she was dragged away.
Michalis laughed. ‘I would take a bonnet right now. Look at me! I have the head of an eagle and the body of a tortoise.’