Being Shirley (24 page)

Mama paused in her stirring, her expression suddenly wistful. “I know this Georgios. He was friends with my Abram but I have not seen him for a long time. Life, it gets so busy, you know?” She shrugged heavily. “I was very sad to hear of his Althea’s passing. I should have gone to see him but it had been so many years since I had seen them both and I was on my own here with a full house—” She shrugged again and shook her head sadly. “Pah! These are excuses—I should have gone. But then the time, it passes and the distance, it becomes too great, I think. But you tell him tonight, Annie, that his old friend Anya Bikakis sends her sympatheia for his loss. Tell him I am sorry I have not been to see him and that it has been too long.”

It was strange
, Annie thought,
to think of Mama being known as anything other than, well,
Mama
. It was rather sad, too, that Georgios and Mama had once been friends and yet despite their businesses being less than a half hour’s walk away, they hadn’t seen each other in years. She had heard it said that it was hard to be a widow because the friends you had shared as a couple tended to drift away. Perhaps that was what had happened to Mama after Abram passed away.

“Spiros and Kassia have been to his taverna and they told me they had a very nice meal. You have done well finding yourself work there, Annie. I think Georgios will love you as we love our girl with the hair made of fire.” She reached over and stroked Annie’s hair affectionately, her currant eyes full of warmth. Annie basked in that warmth for a moment. She had done well getting herself a job. It meant she could relax where her dwindling savings were concerned. She gave herself a mental pat on the back as Adonis brushed past her legs and mewled to be picked up. She scooped him up and cuddled him to her.

“You see, even the cat, he loves you.” Mama laughed.

Annie grinned and gave Adonis a kiss before she popped him back down on the ground to go on his merry way.

“But what will you eat if you don’t have dinner with us? Will Georgios feed you? You will be busy, no?”

“I don’t know, Mama, but I’ll be fine.”
It wouldn’t do her any harm to skip a meal
, Annie thought,
not with all the wonderful dinners she’d been scoffing since she’d arrived at Eleni’s
. It was thanks to Mama she’d had a battle with the zipper of her jeans earlier.

Mama made a peculiar tsking sort of noise with her tongue on the roof of her mouth before she abandoned her spoon to the pot to break a hunk off the loaf of bread sitting under a tea towel on the bench. She dunked it in the pot and brought it up, covered in the thick fragrant thyme and lemon sauce that bubbled away inside it and handed it to Annie. “You are too skinny! Eat this kopelia mou; it will fill your tummy for a while and I will leave you a plate in the kitchen for you to heat up when you get home.”

Annie didn’t need to be asked twice. As she chomped into the bread, Alexandros watched her with amusement. She raised a hand to her chin self-consciously as she felt a trickle of sauce dribble down it.

“And what time will you finish?” Mama waggled the wooden spoon and sent drops of sauce flying. It was a gesture that warranted a prompt answer, so Annie replied despite her full mouth and tried to move the bread over to her cheeks.

“Um, around eleven, I think. Koula said things have usually wound down by then.”

“Koula—she is Georgios’s youngest daughter, yes?”

“Yes, she’s lovely.”

Mama raised an un-plucked eyebrow and glanced over at Alexandros. “She was always a sweet girl and very pretty—is she married yet?”

Alexandros rolled his eyes and Annie grinned. She could see where Mama was headed with this now. “Yes, she is. She has three children.”

With a disappointed look, she returned the spoon to the pot and carried on stirring while Annie munched down the rest of her bread. “Alexandros will pick you up when you finish tonight.”

Annie glanced over at Alexandros in alarm to see that he hadn’t paused in his chopping of tomatoes. “No, Mama, I am fine. It is not far to walk. I don’t want to be any bother.” She made to go before there was any further discussion but she should have known the older woman well enough by now to know that this wouldn’t wash.

“Alexandrosaki, tell her.”

“I’ll pick you up. You heard Mama-mou.” He looked up and fixed her with those maple syrup-coloured eyes of his just as she walked into the door.

***

Her face had flamed all the way back to Georgios’s taverna but she was greeted with such enthusiasm by both him and Koula that she quickly shelved the embarrassing incident. The taverna had a full house by the time nine o’clock rolled around and Annie had not stopped to gather her breath from the moment she had arrived. To her surprise, she was in her element and thoroughly enjoyed the banter with the guests, who were surprised to find a New Zealander so far from home.

By the time eleven o’clock rolled around, Georgios was ringing the till off for the night, pleased with the night’s takings, and Koula was in the kitchen. She loaded the dishes into the dishwasher that had seemed to run all night long and billowed steam into the small kitchen each time it was opened and emptied. Annie had wiped the tables down.

She was tired but it was a good tired, she realised. She paused to thank the last of their diners as the merry group made their way out the door and into the inky, star-lit night. She wondered briefly before she carried on with her task whether they headed home or off in search of somewhere to dance their dinner off. She put her hand in the pocket of the apron Georgios had given her to wear over the top of her clothes and felt that it was heavy with loose change. She reckoned she had probably earned a small fortune in tips tonight. Georgios slammed the till shut and came over to her with a wad of notes in his hand. “Your wages for the night.” He smiled; his gold tooth glinted under the lights. “You did well. Thank you, Annie. Like I said, you are an angel sent to us.”

She liked the way he accented the
e
at the end of her name just like Mama did and she couldn’t help but grin at the thought of Attila hearing what he had just said to her. “I enjoyed myself, Georgios—it was fun.” She
had
enjoyed herself; it was true. It had been so long since she’d gleaned pleasure out of working hard. It felt good, really good. Georgios’s old eyes crinkled as he flashed her another gleaming grin.
He had such kind eyes
, Annie thought,
kind but sad eyes
. She remembered what Mama had asked her to tell him. “Anya Bikakis, who runs Eleni’s guesthouse where I am staying, asked me to tell you that she was very sorry to hear of your wife’s passing and that it has been too long.”

Georgios’s bushy grey eyebrows shot up. “Anya Bikakis—my dear friend Abram’s wife! I haven’t heard that name for a long time. Such a lovely woman. How is she?”

Annie filled him in on the fact that the guesthouse kept her very busy but that she had both her sons home with her now, along with Kassia and the children, so that helped. His expression grew pensive for a moment upon hearing that. He missed having all his children around him, she realised. She told him about her email friendship with Kassia and finished by telling him that was how she’d come to be in Crete.

Georgios’s voice was judicious as he said, “The world, it is getting a smaller place, I think. Sometimes it is a very good thing and sometimes not.” A scooter roared to a halt outside and he called out, “We are closed.”

Alexandros appeared in the doorway, an impossibly handsome study of casualness in his jeans and black T-shirt. Annie watched as he ran his fingers through his hair before he strode forward with his hand outstretched to greet Georgios.

“I am Alexandros Bikakis.”

Georgios clasped his hand with both of his and shook it before he pulled him into a bear hug. “I know you! You don’t remember me, your Uncle Georgios? I knew you when you were a little boy who came up to here.” He released Alexandros and stepped back. “And now look at you—so tall and grown up—a man.” His expression sobered. “The time, it passes too quickly. Ten years since my good friend Abram died and over a year since my beloved Althea passed away.”

“My sympatheia for your loss,” Alexandros said.

“Thank you, paidi mou.” Georgios looked lost in his memories for a moment before he clapped his hands as though banishing the sadness. “Tell your mama that I said she is right; it has been too long and that I would like to invite the whole Bikakis family to my taverna. Koula!” He called his daughter.

“I will, thank you,” Alexandros stood a little taller as a moment later Koula’s head popped out through the beads to see what her father wanted.
She looked like an exotic Cleopatra
, Annie thought, amused by Alexandros’s instinctive reaction to her.

“Come here, I want you to meet someone.”

Koula looked bemused at the sight of the vaguely familiar, good-looking man who had appeared at such a late hour in the tavern. She put the dish cloth she held in her hand down by the till and wiped her hands on her apron. She strode over and Alexandros kissed her on both cheeks while her father explained their association to her.

“Ah, it is a small world, I think—our Annie staying with the Bikakis family. I can recall playing on the beach with you and your brother when we were children.” Her smile was warm. “I agree with my pateras—your family must come and eat out our taverna soon. They are most welcome.” She looked at Annie then with dancing, knowing eyes.

Annie hadn’t intended to sleep with Alexandros. In fact, it had been the furthest thing from her mind as she kissed Georgios goodnight on his weathered, bristly cheek and tried to ignore Koula’s all-knowing smile. No, as she’d swung a leg over the back of Alexandros’s scooter, she was far more concerned with getting back to Eleni’s in one piece; she’d borne witness to his reckless driving on more than one occasion. However, as he gunned the bike’s engine and they took off down the darkened street at what felt like breakneck speed, something strange had happened. Instead of being frightened, she had been filled with such an intoxicating sense of freedom it had, quite literally, taken her breath away.

She squeezed her eyes shut against the wind and thought about how a few short months ago, she had been contemplating marriage and mortgages. There, she had been so determined to squeeze herself into a wedding dress she could neither afford nor properly fit and now here she was with the balmy Grecian night breeze whipping her hair back as she rode on the back of an insanely gorgeous Greek man’s scooter. It was crazy! Her arms were wrapped tightly around Alexandros’s middle, and she could feel the promise of what lay beneath his T-shirt rippling beneath her fingertips as they whizzed up the darkened road.

Annie felt alive—truly alive for the first time in—well, since she could remember. So many sorrows had been lifted from her shoulders in so many different ways since she had embarked on this journey. She walked a little lighter these days;
sadly not literally
, she thought,
not with all the delicious food Mama kept plying her with.

So, when Alexandros turned his head slightly to yell over the noise of the engine, “Do you want to go home or do you want to look at the stars down by the beach for a while?” she knew with an absolute certainty that she did not want to go home. Not just yet. She had yelled back, “Let’s go look at the stars.” She would shortly be doing something a tad more strenuous than star gazing.

Alexandros had bumped off-road and braked to a stop under the arbour of a tall spruce tree and she’d let him lead her by the hand down the grassy embankment. They followed the scrubby path for a minute and as it came to an end, she heard the unmistakable sluicing of the sea directly below them. They were on some sort of cliff and he helped her to jump down on to a boulder a short distance below. It was pancake flat and still warm from the heat of the day despite the lateness of the hour. The spruce tree shielded it from the road.
This was obviously a hidden spot Alexandros knew well
, Annie thought as she took in the glittering invitation in his eyes as he asked her whether she wanted to swim.

“But it’s dark.” She’d stated the obvious and nearly added
and I don’t have a swim-suit
but stopped herself just in time as she was mesmerised by the outline of his chest as he whipped his shirt off over his head and unbuckled his jeans.

Oh what the hell
. She took her own T-shirt off and unclipped her bra before she pulled her jeans down, taking her knickers with them, and kicked them all to one side.
When in Rome…
Only she wasn’t in Rome; she was in Greece but by the time this thought had registered she already held Alexandros’s hand and took a leap of faith into the black night.

They surfaced from the cold waters below, laughing.

“It is good, yes?” Alexandros laughed; his teeth gleamed white against the tan of his skin.

“Yes!” Annie squealed. She splashed him with water before she swam a short distance away. He disappeared under the water and she bobbed about in the dark nervously. Her legs treaded water as she waited for him to surface nearby. Suddenly, she felt hands wrap around her ankles and before she had a chance to scream, she was pulled under. He let her go and she re-surfaced, ready for revenge, but he was already swimming away back to the rock shelf. She swam over and made to splash him again but he grabbed her arm and pulled him to her. His hands ran down the goosy flesh of the tops of her arms and caused a bolt of something she hadn’t felt in a long time to ricochet through her. She’d thought that he would kiss her then—she wanted him to kiss her—but instead he asked her if she was cold.

“Nnno,” she replied through chattering teeth, unwilling to spoil the moment.

“Come.” Alexandros heaved himself out of the water and found a foothold from which to hang onto the cliffside. He’d helped her up beside him before he led the way expertly upwards from jutting rock to jutting rock until they clambered back onto the ledge from which they’d jumped. As she stepped onto the ledge, Annie shook the droplets of water from her hair. If anybody had ever told her one day she would partake in a spot of naked night-time rock climbing, she would have told them they were crazy.

Crazy times called for crazy antics
, she thought, surprised at how uninhibited she felt as she stood there illuminated, milky white, with her arms wrapped round herself in an effort to keep warm. Alexandros busied himself making a bed out of their jumble of clothes. He sat down and pulled her down beside him. She wondered briefly whether he had come here with his buxom blonde friend Sharon but to her surprise she didn’t really care whether he had or he hadn’t because this was her moment and she was utterly lost in it. As he inclined his head to kiss her, she had let herself cast off the last of her cares just like the clothes she had discarded so casually a short while before.

Alexandros fumbled as he tried to locate the condom in his jeans pocket.
He obviously never left home without one
, Annie had thought, amused, as he expertly slid it on. That had been her last coherent thought as he had moved on top of her and entered her. He had launched into a fast and furious rhythm before he moved it down a notch to become tender and sweet despite the hardness of the rock on which they lay. His knees must be made of stern stuff, she’d mused, because she didn’t think their makeshift bed would do much to protect them. The stars had twinkled down voyeuristically the whole time their naked bodies were entwined, occupied with the frantic business of love-making.
It was a business that had been going on under those same stars since the beginning of time
, Annie thought randomly, just before she climaxed. She held onto Alexandros’s shoulders as tightly as she could, tipped over into that glorious abyss and took him with her.

He was a skilled lover
, she thought as he collapsed on top of her panting a few moments later, but then she’d known he would be. She was under no illusions that he could probably pen the Greek version of the Karma Sutra but it didn’t matter. For her, this had been closure, as much as she hated the expression. She had just officially closed the door and put the latch on her relationship with Tony forever. There would be no going back from here and that was the way it should be, Annie decided as she looked up at that carpet of stars while Alexandros’s heavy breathing tickled her neck.

He’d rolled off her then and propped himself up on one elbow so he could look down at her face. He traced a finger down her nose and trailed it off the tip. She could make out the intensity of those aquiline features as he moved his hand over to stroke her sopping hair back from her face. “Annie.” He crooned in that melodic voice of his, “You are wonderful, so wonderful but you must understand that I cannot give you my heart because it is not mine to give.” His eyes had bored earnestly into hers and despite her best efforts not to, she burst out laughing. Alexandros’s hand paused mid-stroke. “Why do you laugh at me when I am being serious? What is so funny?”

“Oh, Alexandros, how many times have you given that little speech.” Annie tried to straighten her features but her mouth kept twitching of its own accord.

“I have never—”

Annie cut his protestations off by putting her fingers to his mouth. “Shush, listen to me. I don’t want a relationship with you, Alexandros. I wanted to have sex with you, yes. But I don’t want a relationship, so you can spare me the
you are wonderful but
speech.”

Alexandros was perturbed. “Why do you not want a relationship with me? The sex, it was good, yes?”

“Yes, it was great! Tonight has been the stuff of dreams but oh, how can I explain it?” Annie looked up at that twinkling sky and thought for a moment about what she was going to say. “I think that tonight was part of me needing to cast off my past. Do you understand?”

He nodded and sent a sprinkle of water down on her.

“I needed to say goodbye to my relationship with Tony —”

“Tony? Who is this Tony?” Alexandros glanced about nervously, as though he expected a jealous boyfriend to thunder down the path towards them.

“Don’t worry.” Annie laughed at his concerned expression; he’d probably had to deal with more than one irate boyfriend in the past. “Tony is my ex-boyfriend and you can relax, he isn’t going to track you down. We broke up before I left New Zealand but I feel as though I have finally put that relationship to bed.” She realised how that sounded and giggled again as Alexandros raised an eyebrow at her choice of words.

“What I mean is—oh, I’m not making a very good job of this.” She didn’t want to say
I needed to get that first bonk with someone new out of the way in order to feel truly single.
So instead, she finished by saying, “It felt right what we just did but I don’t want anything more from you. That’s what it comes down to really.”

“Ah, now I see. It is you who has used me.” He feigned indignation and put his hand on his heart. “You have used my body and now I am wounded.”

Annie stroked the contours of his chest while a smile played at the corner of her mouth. “I’m sorry, Alexandros, but I am sure you will find a way to forgive me.”

He grinned hungrily and rolled on top of her once more. As he lowered his mouth onto hers, he murmured, “Well, maybe I will let you use me just one more time then.”

***

They had gotten dressed into their damp clothes and Annie tried not to think how uncomfortable her jeans felt as they squelched their way back up the path to the scooter. “What do you think you will do, Alexandros?” He peered at her curiously in the darkness.

“What do you mean?”

“I’m curious as to where you are headed because I can’t see you staying at Eleni’s forever.” She shrugged. “You seem like a caged lion when you are there, as though you are pacing about, looking for a way out.” She was thinking how eloquently she had worded that when it was his turn to laugh at her. “You women—you always, how you say? Analyse everything with your flowery words. It is the difference between us, I think—like that book, what was it called?”

“
Men are from Mars, Women Are from Venus
.”

“Yes, you are all from another planet.”

Thinking back onto some of her one-sided conversations with Tony over the years, Annie knew he was right. Men were easy to read most of the time: if they said they were tired, there was no hidden meaning lurking behind their yawn, like
I don’t find you attractive anymore
. They were as they had stated: tired.
Poor Tony
, she thought as she remembered her propensity to overanalyse everything. He had accused her of this once when he had made a passing comment that she could do with some new jeans. This he had dared utter because of the worn patch in the knee of her favourite jeans but what she had chosen to hear was
your bum’s too big for them; you need new ones
. Needless to say, much to Tony’s bewilderment, she had flown into a fit and accused him of saying she was fat and acted as though she were mortally wounded in her determination to over-dramatise the situation. Now, with the wisdom of hindsight and a vast distance between them, she could see his being a man of few words had been a continual source of frustration to her, just as her need for more from him than he was capable of giving must have been to him.
How exhausting he must have found her at times
, she thought as she filed her decision not to repeat the same mistakes in the future away and Alexandros wheeled the bike back up to the road. “I’m right though, aren’t I? You’re not planning on sticking around.”

“I was trying to tell you earlier about my plans.”

Annie frowned.
How had she missed that?

“When I told you that my heart is not mine to give.”

Oh yes
. She snorted and Alexandros muttered, “I still do not see what you find so funny about this.”

“I’m sorry. It’s just, well, who is using the flowery language now?”

“Do you want me to tell you or not?” She could see the twinkle in his eyes as they glinted in the darkness.

“Tell me. I promise, no more laughing.”

“There’s a woman. I met her when I was in Brazil. She is an English lady who moved to Rio with her husband. He is a big businessman.” Alexandros shrugged. “He is always busy and never has time for her. She is lonely in a strange city, yes?”

“Yes.” Annie gave the required response, knowing exactly how this story was going to play out.

“And so when I meet her on the famous beach—”

“Ipanema?”

“Yes. She is like the song—you know?”