by Mandy Baggot
Eighteen
Sidari Beach
Heidi shook her head, a visible shiver making her rock on her heels as they refreshed themselves in the sea. They had been ‘adult paddling’ for the last twenty minutes or so in the hope that Heidi would gain the courage to approach the Greek goddess she was admiring from a few waves away. ‘I can’t do it.’
‘Heidi,’ Beth said. ‘I’ve never seen you like this before.’
‘I’ve never been in the presence of beauty like that before,’ Heidi said, sighing. ‘Look at her. She’s adorable. But also sexy and strong. How old do you think she is?’
‘Oh, goodness, I don’t know. You’re talking to someone who thought that Sharon Osborne was still in her fifties. I’m terrible with ages.’
‘And Botox is such a bloody leveller.’
‘Twenty?’ Beth suggested.
‘No! Don’t say that! She can’t be twenty! Because if she’s twenty I have to stop looking at her!’
‘Why?’ Beth asked.
‘Because I’m thirty-one. I’d be a… cougar. And that word in that context never sounds pretty.’
‘Twenty-five then? She could be twenty-five.’
‘Let’s be honest, she’s impossible to age. She could be anything between eighteen and thirty.’
‘And that would be OK, wouldn’t it?’
‘I don’t know!’
‘You should speak to her,’ Beth said, dipping down into the ocean and getting her shoulders wet. The water was so gorgeously revitalising. And Heidi’s fascination with one of their bathing companions was stopping her from thinking about the ‘was it Tilly, Charles or Kendra’ text triangle.
‘What am I going to say?’
‘Well, how do you usually approach women?’
‘After about a half dozen vodka shots.’
‘You’ve never done it sober?’ Beth asked. ‘At all?’
‘I can’t remember.’ She blinked. ‘Probably not.’ She took hold of Beth’s hand. ‘You do it.’
‘What?’
‘You do it for me.’
Beth sighed. ‘You want me to go over there and say to Miss Gorgeous, “my best friend thinks you’re hot”? I thought you weren’t seven.’
‘We need something,’ Heidi said, jogging up and down with nervous energy.
‘Yes, some of those vodka shots obviously.’
‘No… a prop!’ Heidi exclaimed, holding a finger in the air like she’d just discovered electricity. ‘A ball to throw… in her direction… so that I can go and retrieve it and start a conversation.’
‘You want me to buy a ball,’ Beth said.
‘Not buy one necessarily but… look, there’s two kids over there with a ball.’
Beth looked along the shore to where two little girls no more than six or seven years old were happily tossing an inflatable beach ball between them. ‘You want me to steal a ball from children.’
‘Not steal exactly, just borrow for five little minutes.’
‘I’m not doing that,’ Beth said determinedly.
‘Well… wait until they throw it a little bit wayward and then grab it, throw it over by the Greek goddess and I’ll race over there and restore goodness all round.’
‘And if in the meantime the parents of the children batter me with ping pong bats for making their kids cry…?’
‘This is my love life we’re talking about!’ Heidi said, frantically. ‘You might only have been able to manage a “I ate gyros” comment to Mr DJ but I’m going to… hit a six with this one. It’s fate.’
‘Heidi,’ Beth said with a heavy sigh. ‘Rugby analogies?’
‘What?’ Heidi said, sounding confused. ‘It was cricket… I think.’ She flapped her hands, wading a little to her left. ‘Stop stalling. Grab the ball off the kiddies!’
How had her life come to this? A thirty-one-year-old’s holiday should not involve pilfering from tots in aid of her friend’s love life.
‘Please, Beth. I’ll never ask for another thing,’ Heidi begged, clasping her hands together and looking desperate.
‘Can I have that in writing? Proper pen and ink.’ Beth looked at the glistening water surrounding them and shook her head. ‘Oh, never mind!’ She turned away from Heidi, heading for the two little girls with the potential ice-breaking prop.
‘Hello,’ she greeted the children, giving them the benefit of what she hoped was a child-friendly-I-am-not-a-psycho-kidnapper smile. ‘I’m Beth.’ She did a little wave. Pathetic.
The girls ignored her, probably hoping she would disappear, and continued to throw the ball back and forth.
‘Could I, perhaps, borrow your ball for a little bit? Just a second? I’ll bring it straight back.’ She leaned a little into their game space, miming throwing. Were they even English? Why would they be? They were in Greece. Then she had an absolute brainwave!
‘How about a game of piggy-in-the-middle? Yes! I’ll stand in the middle and you have to try and get it over or round me to your friend… sister… cousin?’ Beth laughed, an over-the-top laugh she usually saved for pretending she was really happy and loving life during the divorce proceedings when Kendra was in earshot. This wasn’t going to work.
The second the ball came floating through the air Beth grabbed it and quickly launched it across the sea towards Heidi’s dream girl.
‘Mummy!’ the smallest child screamed loudly. So they were English after all. ‘Mummy! The stranger threw our ball away!’
‘No,’ Beth said sweetly. ‘No, no, the wind took it and… my friend… she’s going to get it back for you.’ Beth’s gaze went to a middle-aged woman on a sun lounger at the shoreline who was rapidly getting up, a very cross expression on her face. ‘Heidi! Heidi! Go and get the ball!’
Beth watched as Heidi chased the inflatable that was being whipped up by a sudden blast of wind and sent out to sea. If she was about to get it in the neck from an angry mother, she wanted ball-gate to be a success…
‘What’s going on?’ The mother had arrived, hands on her hips and a glare to rival two boxers at a weigh-in.
Get the ball! Talk to the goddess! Please! Please! Beth continued to look as Heidi jumped for the beach ball… and fell headfirst into the water, her whole body disappearing under the sea. Beth closed her eyes and let out a sigh.
‘The lady threw our ball away!’ the smallest child said.
‘There’s been a slight misunderstanding,’ Beth said, all business. ‘The wind just took the ball out of… this one’s hands.’ She pointed at the smaller girl. ‘And I called to my friend to rescue it and… ah, you see, look, my friend has it now.’ Beth pointed to where a soaking wet Heidi had finally retrieved the ball and was sauntering over to the Greek goddess. At least she was being pro-active and hopefully something would come out of all this.
‘She said she wanted to play piggy-in-the-middle,’ the other girl bleated.
Shit! That didn’t sound good.
‘Listen, I’m sure my friend is going to bring the ball back in a second.’ She smiled at the mother. ‘But if she doesn’t, I’ll give you… five euros to replace it.’ She pointed to their loungers on the beach. ‘We’re just on those sun beds there. Where I am going now. So, if the ball doesn’t come back imminently then come over for the money.’ With that said, she beat a hasty retreat through the water, splashing her way away from the scowling and accusations and cursing Heidi’s need to find a soulmate right at this second.
Flopping down onto her bed she sucked at her cocktail then reached into her bag for her sketch book. She had just started outlining a shell necklace and was hoping to pick up some shells from this beach later and sea glass, if there was any. The glass, unfortunately, seemed to be in particularly short supply so far.
Her fingers found her phone before the book and, when she checked the screen, there was another message from ‘Charles’. She was officially putting inverted commas round his name until she was certain who was really behind the messages.
Having my first Costa co
ffee. I remember you always said it was better than Starbucks. I will let you have my review. Have you had a chance to think about James Graves? Or are you too distracted being tempted by all things Greek? ☺
Ha! There was an emoji! It had to be Tilly. Mystery solved! But why was the secretary creating fiction via text message for Charles? Or maybe Kendra was making her do it. Kendra being behind it was much more viable. But then Beth looked more closely at the photograph that had come in too. It was definitely taken in Costa and it was a man’s hand. Beth pressed two fingers to her screen, zooming in on the photo until she was up close and personal with the cuff of the shirt sleeve. Cufflinks, small, gold, the Danish flag… it was Charles holding the coffee. Beth swallowed. He had never sent a photo of anything when they’d been married. It wasn’t his style. He liked words. Precise and professional interchanges. This casual texting and photographs, it didn’t make sense. Kendra, on the other hand, made perfect sense. Beth tipped her head upside down, still looking at the image on screen and tried to envisage how a third party could have taken the picture…
‘I am in love,’ Heidi cried loudly. ‘Well, definite lust, at least.’
Beth looked up to see her friend, hand on her heart, hair dripping, casting a shadow over her lounger. ‘Did you give the kids their ball back?’
‘Oh… yes, of course I did, just now. The mum was a bit grumpy. No wonder she needs a holiday.’ Heidi frowned then, wringing her hair out over Beth’s shins and making her pull her now toasty-warm-from-the sun legs up and out of reach. ‘Well, aren’t you going to ask me about the goddess?’
‘I’m guessing you managed to get some words out and speak to her.’
‘I did! And… she’s coming to watch us tomorrow.’
Beth put down her phone and paid Heidi proper and complete attention. Had she missed a whole conversation earlier? Did they have plans she didn’t remember?
‘Watch us?’ Beth asked. ‘Are we doing something?’
Heidi waved a hand in the air. ‘I meant to tell you earlier. I picked up a leaflet while you were browsing in the jewellery store.’
‘A leaflet?’ For some reason, she didn’t really like the sound of the word ‘leaflet’ right now. ‘Leaflet’ sounded throwaway. It didn’t sound like a spa day. Spas had ‘brochures’.
‘To cut a long story short… we’re going parasailing and the goddess is coming to watch.’
‘Parasailing! Heidi! Are you out of your mind? I can’t do that!’
‘Uh-uh-uh! That’s thirty-one-year-old Beth talking. Not twenty-one-year-old Beth.’
‘Twenty-one-year-old Beth never, ever considered strapping herself into something that looks like it could give you the ultimate wedgie and sends you zooming up into the sky off the back of a boat.’
‘Great! You know all about it!’ Heidi said, thumping down onto her sun lounger and sounding exceedingly satisfied with herself.
‘Heidi, we need to discuss this.’
‘Twenty-one-year-olds don’t discuss, they just do.’ She breathed like she was Buddha himself. ‘I feel like something with grapefruit. Something sans alcohol.’
‘That’s funny,’ Beth replied. ‘Because I feel the exact opposite.’
‘The goddess has the coolest name too,’ Heidi said, still breathing in an intensely happy (and irritating) way. ‘Elektra… E-lek-tra. It’s beautiful, don’t you think?’
‘What I think is that she should be doing parasailing instead of me and I should be the one watching. After all, if you’re thinking of doing this tandem, what better way to get to know someone.’
‘I used the kumquat stuff by the way,’ Heidi added. ‘I wasn’t going to, but investments just sound so stuffy. I’ll tell her the truth once we’re better acquainted.’
‘Yes,’ Beth said with a sigh. ‘Perhaps after she’s cleared up our puke from the beach tomorrow.’
‘Relax, Beth, namaste. It’s all good,’ Heidi said softly, closing her eyes. ‘It’s all good.’
Nineteen
The Hive, Sidari
‘Oh, this place looks amazing!’
It was Heidi exclaiming later that evening, but Beth completely agreed with her. After a day on the beach, being kissed by the warm Corfiot sun, followed by a little more browsing in the numerous shops of the beachside town, they had decided to eat at Alex’s recommendation, The Hive.
A dark wooden entrance, the name written in bright turquoise above the door, had led into a space that was decorated like a special, secret Greek garden. Golden lights wrapped round trees, a mixture of deck boards and natural stone in different areas, uplighters creating a beautiful glow. There were the usual tables and chairs intermixed with benches housing soft contemporary cushions beneath lanterns and arty décor on the walls. It was outside but it felt inside, just like Alex had described.
‘I’m taking photos,’ Heidi said, pulling her phone from her bag. ‘I’ll send them to Tilly. Remind her I’m on holiday.’
‘Did you find out what she wanted?’ Beth asked. ‘Did she email?’
‘No and no,’ Heidi answered, snapping away. ‘So, if it was urgent, she would definitely have emailed, wouldn’t she?’ Heidi turned to Beth. ‘Or sent a photo of a Costa coffee.’
‘You think it was Tilly?’
‘There was an emoji, wasn’t there?’
‘A smiley face.’
‘Oh, now, hang on, she’s never used one of those before.’
Beth looked puzzled. Surely there wasn’t a person on earth who hadn’t used a smiley face at some time or another.
‘She’s usually a unicorn or the cat crying with laughter person… occasionally the robot one when she’s being mean about Charles.’ Heidi laughed then quickly stopped herself. ‘Sorry.’
‘He isn’t a robot,’ Beth defended immediately. ‘He just likes structure.’
‘OK, and that’s all I need to hear about that now. Let’s sit at one of these lovely tables and peruse the menu for organic goodness.’
‘Or just goodness,’ Beth responded.
‘Or the local men rather than any of the food,’ Heidi said, nudging Beth’s arm as they sauntered past the bar area and observed the bar tenders. ‘Now that I’ve found my Greek crush, who I intend to make more progress with tomorrow, let’s find you someone. Seeing as you’re a bit stand off-ish with the DJ.’
Stand-offish? Had she been like that with Alex? She hadn’t meant to be. It was just a shock to see him. A waiter spoke to Heidi and led them to a table next to green foliage and a multicoloured striped wooden wall, wine bottles hanging as decoration. This wasn’t anything like the Greece she remembered. Beth took a menu and dropped down into her seat. It was so beautiful here, outside in the warm air, surrounded by ambient lighting, everything fitting the laid-back vibe so perfectly. It was like an oasis of chilled-out calm. It instantly made her reminisce.
‘Alex still had something I made him back then,’ Beth admitted.
‘What?’ Heidi asked, looking over her menu. ‘Like a card with love hearts on? Tell me you didn’t!’
Beth smiled. ‘I didn’t.’ She unfurled her fingers, back and forth, almost feeling the charm-like figure in her palm again. Simply remembering the creation made her feel so good. ‘I made him an owl.’
Heidi looked all kinds of confused. ‘Was that 2009’s fidget spinner because I don’t remember…’
‘It was a keyring.’
‘Slightly less weird, but still definitely weird.’
‘I made it from glass I found on the beach,’ Beth said, a little frustrated that her best friend didn’t remember. ‘Like I used to. We talked about it. How I made jewellery… before my mum got ill and… Mountbatten Global.’ She sighed. ‘I mean, it was very rough, I didn’t have any proper tools, or even a kiln but it turned out OK and… Alex still has it.’
‘Wow,’ Heidi stated. ‘He kept a rough owl keyring for ten years and you’re not remotely interested in laying him again? Was he more fade in and out rather than high-speed revolution?
’ She laughed at her own DJ terminology.
Heidi’s humour didn’t stop Beth from instantly recalling her nights with Alex. There had been nothing dull or waning about their sex, the exact opposite. Her skin had fizzed, and her insides had sizzled, quickly and hot at first, before rolling over into the kind of content you feel when you’re warm and full and everything in your life feels aligned. She swallowed, her wedding ring catching her eye, it was hard to remember another time when everything in her world felt perfect.
‘Please stop looking at that ring,’ Heidi begged. ‘The builder had tools this morning. Why didn’t we ask for his tools to get that thing off?’
‘I do want to move on,’ Beth admitted, putting her hands round the menu. ‘But there are so many areas of my life I have to make adjustments in. It’s all a bit overwhelming.’
‘Not on holiday though. On holiday we have paused real life,’ Heidi said, smiling as she picked up her menu. ‘We are in an alternate reality for two glorious weeks and I intend to make sure we make the most of it.’
‘Oh, God,’ Beth exclaimed suddenly. ‘Alex thinks Charles is dead. I totally forgot about that.’
‘What?!’ Heidi said, trying to stifle a snigger.
‘I couldn’t talk to him properly and he asked if I was married and I said “yes” and then I said “no” and it all got confusing and he ended up thinking I was a widow and… I’ll tell him – if I see him again.’
‘Couldn’t talk to him properly,’ Heidi said with a knowing nod.
‘What?’ Beth asked, her cheeks burning fiercely.
‘So, you do want to lay him again!’
She shook her head, but she knew her eyes and cheeks were as hot as lava rocks, and the rest of her body language was giving her away like a The Apprentice spoiler. ‘Let’s just say that I can see why I fell for him.’
‘And you think you can fall for him again?’
‘Heidi, it’s 2019.’
‘Love Island him then?
‘I don’t know what that really means but I can guess.’
‘Holiday romance. No strings.’ Heidi raised a finger, waggling it somehow suggestively. ‘But a condom, definitely a condom. It’s one thing being a single fake widow on vacation, it’s quite another being a pregnant divorcee when you get home.’