by Mandy Baggot
‘Oh my God!’ Beth exploded, throwing her arms round him. ‘Lex! That’s… I can’t believe it! I’m so thrilled for you!’
He held her close and she could feel the adrenaline still rushing through his body. He was ecstatic and why wouldn’t he be? This was everything to him. And he deserved it more than anyone.
‘I cannot believe it too, but it is true.’ He let her go and she handed him the business card back. ‘He wants me to call him. Talk dates and money.’
‘It’s your dream,’ Beth breathed.
‘I know,’ he said, wistfully. ‘And if I just think about that, my dream, it feels perfect. But… then I start to consider my mother… and Toula and the hire car business… and Elektra and Kalm Life…’
‘Alex,’ Beth said, seriously. ‘You have been considering all of those things for ten years. We’ve both put every single other person or thing ahead of our own happiness for a decade.’
He smiled a little. ‘We are nice people.’
‘Yes, we are,’ Beth agreed. ‘But maybe we have been too nice. And our niceness should not have to come at the expense of our own ambitions.’
‘No,’ he agreed. ‘I know.’
‘It’s an amazing opportunity,’ Beth reminded him. ‘An opportunity you have been waiting so long for. I know it isn’t Ibiza but…’
‘It isn’t Ibiza yet,’ Alex said, slipping the card into the pocket of his jeans then holding her hand. ‘But I knew Ibiza would not come just like that. I cannot believe this has happened like this.’ He took a breath. ‘Everything I have ever wanted… this chance.’ He swallowed, looking deep into her eyes. ‘This second chance with you.’
It couldn’t last. They had agreed on that. But it was beautiful while they were here together. She shivered suddenly and he squeezed her hands.
‘You are OK?’ he asked her.
‘I am more than OK,’ Beth admitted, letting the humid breeze kiss her cheeks as she faced the surf and they walked a little closer to the shore’s edge. ‘Charles now knows that there is no going back and that I’m resigning and that I’m going to sell my house when I get back to the UK.’
‘That is a lot of decisions,’ Alex replied. ‘It makes my ideas about the future seem much simpler.’
‘They are all things I was holding on to for my mum really,’ Beth admitted. ‘And she’s gone. Gone but definitely not forgotten.’ She smiled. ‘But I also know, if she knew my decisions had been based solely round her and that I’ve spent the last few years of my life feeling thoroughly controlled and downright miserable she would be horrified… so, from now on, I’m going to be living my life the Marie Kondo way.’
‘The what way?’ Alex asked, not understanding.
‘Well, if something does not spark joy for you, you should thank it for being in your life then… get rid of it.’
She had thanked Charles on so many occasions over the years. For his generosity with her mother’s care. For the opportunity with Mountbatten Global. All that had been left was for him to be recycled. And it was long overdue.
‘Your sea glass sparks joy for you,’ Alex said softly, his trainers touching the water.
‘Yes,’ Beth breathed. ‘It really does.’
‘Like music for me,’ Alex said.
‘And you, Lex,’ Beth told him sincerely. She held his hand tightly. ‘You spark joy for me.’
‘I feel that too,’ he replied. ‘So very much.’
He turned to look at her and she gazed back, trying to absorb every inch of him, studying every line and nuance. Whatever came next for each of them, their connection was something special that deserved to be cherished.
‘Do you have another condom?’ Beth asked, her breath catching in her throat.
‘You are serious?’ Alex asked, looking over his shoulder at the length of beach running parallel with them and the bars and activity behind. ‘Here?’
Beth laughed then. ‘As much as I want to… no, not here.’ She held up her left hand. ‘I’ve been trying to get this ring off my finger since before Heidi even booked this holiday. This is the last idea that the internet had to offer.’ She asked him again. ‘Do you have one?’
‘I do,’ Alex answered. He reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out his wallet.
‘I don’t know if this will work but I need to get it off now.’
He got out the foil wrapper and ripped it open.
‘You have to pull it out to its full length,’ Beth told him.
‘Beth,’ Alex breathed. ‘Those words are too much for me with you standing so close.’
She giggled. ‘Be serious for a second. OK, so, pull it out and hold the base and then… twist it a little.’
‘Like this?’ Alex asked, following her instructions, his hands on the rubber.
‘Then that end has to pass between my finger and the wedding ring. Except… my hands are quite hot because of the weather… maybe it’s a stupid idea,’ Beth said with a sigh. ‘I’ll just go into a jeweller’s when I get home.’ She had wanted it off here though, in Corfu, where it was symbolic of her fresh decisions.
‘Hey,’ Alex said. ‘You are giving up already?’ He took hold of her left hand. ‘I want you to close your eyes. Close your eyes and think about all the things that make you truly happy. All the things you are going to look forward to in the next ten years.’ She felt him feed the condom between platinum and skin.
‘Downsizing my house,’ Beth said. ‘Selling all the imported furniture. Making jewellery again…’
‘That’s right,’ Alex said. ‘And maybe, there will be time for another visit to Corfu one day… or Ibiza…’
‘I’ve never been to Ibiza,’ she said. ‘But it looks incredible. Turquoise waters, rock formations, the nightlife…’
‘Open your eyes,’ Alex urged her.
She did as he asked and there, in his hand was her wedding band. Off her finger at last.
‘I… can’t believe you got it off.’ She sucked in a nostalgic breath as she plucked it from his palm and studied its contours.
‘What will you do with it?’ Alex asked her. ‘Make something new?’
She remembered Charles putting it on her finger, in front of a whole room of people she barely knew, plus her mum and Heidi and the peacocks. It had always been a little tight even back then. And whatever it had meant to her – stability, something to hold onto while she went through the toughest of times – it didn’t mean anything any more.
She clutched it between her thumb and forefinger, leant back, shoes sinking a little in the sand and propelled it into the ocean. It didn’t even make a sound above the natural rolling of the waves.
‘No joy,’ Beth said, turning to Alex and putting her hands to his shoulders. ‘And I’m only dealing in joy from now on.’
‘Is that right?’
She nodded. ‘Yes. And, Lex, please, please tell me that wasn’t the only condom you had.’
Fifty-Eight
‘Put blindfolds on!’ Elektra urged, handing back pieces of material.
Alex held Beth’s hand as they climbed up into a minibus on the outskirts of Sidari, behind Heidi and his cousin. They had met up at B.E.D Bar for drinks and then Elektra had announced they were going somewhere exclusive she had been wanting to try for weeks and refused to elaborate any further except to say it was a mystery excursion they were going to enjoy.
‘Blindfolds?’ Beth exclaimed. ‘I’m not sure I like the sound of this now. A secret location is one thing. Actually getting into a van and being asked to mask yourself is quite another.’
‘You’re right,’ Heidi agreed. ‘Elektra, this is mad. What are you taking us to?’
‘I cannot tell you,’ Elektra said, sitting down and happily fixing the cover over her eyes.
Alex looked at the half a dozen others in the van with them. They all seemed more than happy to cover their eyes… but most of them also appeared a lot more drunk than he was. ‘Is this an illegal party?’
‘Are those still
a thing?’ Heidi asked, her tone suddenly excited. ‘I don’t mind if it’s one of those. I still have a lot more dancing in me.’
‘You do?’ Elektra said, moving a little closer to her on the seating. ‘You have not given everything to the pole tonight?’
‘The girl you’re referring to was actually from Croatia not Poland.’
‘I meant the actual metal you almost turned upside down on,’ Elektra snapped. ‘Who is the girl from Croatia?’
‘No one,’ Heidi said. ‘No one compared to you.’
‘This is crazy,’ Beth whispered to Alex. ‘Getting in a minibus going who-knows-where to who-knows-what.’ She was feeling all warm and hedonistic, though thanks to more ouzo and cocktails she couldn’t remember the name of. Having one last Greek summer was definitely good for the soul…
‘It is like something you would do when you were twenty-one, no?’ Alex said to her, ducking his head into her space to steal another kiss.
‘Do you know where we’re going?’ Beth asked him. She was still holding her blindfold.
‘No,’ he answered.
‘Should we be worried?’ Beth asked again.
‘You should be if you are not wearing your blindfold,’ Elektra retorted.
‘Is she serious?’ Beth whispered to Alex.
‘Yes, I am serious,’ Elektra called back. ‘All I will say is what I have heard from my friends. If you do not wear the blindfold, they can refuse to take you on the trip or they can leave you in the middle of nowhere, halfway to where we are going and…’
‘They could theoretically do that anyway,’ Heidi retorted. ‘I mean, we’re half-drunk and blindfolded.’
‘Always the way I like my women,’ Elektra answered with an exaggerated laugh.
The engine of the van started up and Beth looked to Alex. ‘Should we put our blindfolds on?’
‘No one has told us to except Elektra,’ Alex said. ‘And I have not signed any form for privacy.’
‘I have signed one for us all,’ Elektra responded. ‘Put on the blindfold. I do not want to be left halfway to wherever without a ride home at this time in the morning.’
Beth glanced at her watch. It was heading towards 2 a.m. now. But on this holiday, she wasn’t a curled-up-in-bed-with-a-celebrity-cookbook kind of woman.
Suddenly a low Greek gravel broke the hubbub of chatter. ‘Put on blindfold or we do not go anywhere.’
Beth instinctively lowered her head, bending into Alex’s space and whispering in his ear. ‘Are we sure this is an organised trip? Not just, you know, a hostage situation.’
‘I have no idea,’ Alex said, taking hold her of hand.
*
‘Out! Everybody out!’
The same gruff voice was ordering them off their transport like they were prisoners, about to spend a significant time incarcerated for a heinous crime. They had been travelling for at least thirty minutes, but the van had changed direction several times and picked up other ‘hostages’ along the way. Even Alex said he couldn’t tell their whereabouts and he knew the island like the back of his hand.
‘We should have counted,’ Beth said, stumbling along, eyes still covered.
‘Counted?’ Alex inquired.
‘Isn’t that what they tell you to do when you’ve been kidnapped? Count so you can work out how far away you are from where you started… and you’re meant to listen… for sounds that can identify your location. Like… train horns and… church bells.’
‘All I heard when we were travelling was Elektra singing off-key and the opening of the bottles of beer they gave to us,’ Alex answered.
‘Yes,’ Beth replied. There was definitely grass underfoot not sand or rock. She needed to home in on her other senses. ‘That was quite nice. They wouldn’t have given us those if this wasn’t a pleasure trip.’
‘No one wants to be kidnapped sober,’ Alex answered.
‘Ow! Careful!’ Heidi exclaimed, as Beth bumped into her. They were guided further forwards.
‘Sorry,’ Beth answered. ‘I can’t see with my eyes covered. I’m starting to worry this is some sort of cult thing and they’re just going to lead us off the edge of a cliff to our doom in the ocean.’ But the smells she was picking up were definitely more earth and forest than sea-salt, so it was likely they were inland rather than by the coast…
‘There’s a problem with that theory,’ Heidi answered, hands touching Beth’s arm. ‘Elektra has friends who have apparently lived to tell the tale.’
‘And enjoyed it!’ Elektra called through the darkness.
‘So why the secrecy?’ Alex asked her.
‘Come on,’ Elektra said. ‘It is fun! It adds to the tension, does it not? We do not know where we are. We do not know what we are going to do. It is sexy, yes?’
‘Sexy doesn’t have to mean doing things with the lights off and your eyes closed, you know,’ Heidi stated.
‘Is that what the girl from Croatia told you?’ Elektra snapped back.
‘Come forward more! Come forward!’ a loud hailer beckoned them. ‘Now stop!’
Beth held her breath, still sniffing the air as if it was going to give away her locale.
‘Now, remove the blindfolds!’
Beth’s fingers went to the knot Alex had tied for her, but before she could get it undone, she heard the exclamations and excitement from what sounded like a few hundred others. There were more people here than only those on their minibus. Lots more. And where was ‘here’? She tugged at the cotton over her face, desperate to see what everyone else was seeing. And next there was light. She could see that through the material, bright illumination, like someone had pulled down the moon from the night sky.
‘You’ve got to be joking!’ Beth heard Heidi exclaim.
She wrenched off her blindfold and stared at what was in front of her. A makeshift arena, like a cross between a running track and a race course. Dirt and grass and lanes marked out, surrounded by plastic barriers and hay bales. And all along one side were pens… of goats.
‘Welcome to… goat-karting! The newest Corfu experience! Ride like the wind, then watch the babies on the course of obstacles! Are you brave enough to take the gamble? You can bet on it!’
‘They’re the kids we were pulling out of the woods earlier,’ Heidi said. ‘The goats that made us bloody late for the club!’
‘You have seen these goats before?’ Elektra asked. ‘Did you see which one is the fastest? Now I understand all of what my friends tell me. They make some money on this.’
*
Alex was looking at the goats too. The kids were dressed in outfits, shiny neon suits with numbers on the back, all looking as excited as children fighting over yiayia’s loukoumades. But the older, bigger goats that were attached to small wooden carts were of much more interest to him.
He put a hand on Beth’s shoulder. ‘You would like a drink?’ He had spied a food truck selling souvlaki and an improvised bar next to it. This event seemed to be in a large cleared space amid olive trees. There were spotlights positioned round the central circle and a parking area housing two coaches and a collection of minibuses. It was quite the organisation and he had heard nothing about it before.
‘This is the maddest thing I have ever seen,’ Beth admitted. ‘But oddly fascinating.’
‘Well, I think it’s probably cruel,’ Heidi remarked, folding her arms across her chest. ‘Goats aren’t supposed to pull carts or jump over poles for entertainment.’
‘No,’ Elektra agreed. ‘Every day they do all this for their farmer.’ She took Heidi’s arms and unfolded them. ‘Goats are working animals here in Greece. They carry packs and pull loads. There is nothing they are doing here they do not do all the time.’
‘Er… the babies are dressed up like Marvel superheroes,’ Heidi responded.
‘I know,’ Elektra beamed. ‘They look so cute, don’t they?’
Alex looked at Beth. ‘I’ll get some drinks.’
He left their group and began to walk round th
e perimeter of the event, taking in everything. Why wasn’t this advertised anywhere? How was it so popular if its existence was only spread by word of mouth? There were some hefty looking security guys at the back of the circle of the audience but who was in charge? And why did it have to remain a secret? Of course, the betting. This was quirky and fun – the cute little kid goats – but it was also obviously about gambling. Getting drunk holidaymakers to part with as much cash as possible. They were usually more than happy to do that quite regularly on vacation, but Alex suspected this operation was as illegal as a high-stakes poker game after hours at a bar.
Ducking into the crowd he weaved his way through and behind the security guards until he got to the section of goats harnessed to carts. It took him only a few seconds to see a familiar face…
‘Milo?’
His goat bleated at him, then licked his hand in recognition as he reached over the fence to pet him. He stroked Milo and looked at the other animals. ‘Zeus?’ There was another of his goats. And, was that Angelo and Nancy too? What was going on here? Maybe the kidnapping they had joked about on the way here wasn’t so far from the truth. Perhaps his mother had been right when she had said she thought someone was stealing their goats from their land…
‘What are you doing with the goats? You should not be here! Move away! Go back to join your friends or you will be asked to leave!’
Alex turned to face a rotund forty-something with a greying beard and a dark expression. ‘I will go back to my friends when you tell me why four of my goats are here tied up to carts!’
‘These are not your goats,’ the man countered, taking a step closer to Alex.
‘These are my goats. Are you telling me I do not know my own animals?’
‘I am telling you that—’
‘Enough, Bemus, I will deal with this.’
Ice chilled Alex’s veins as someone stepped from the shadows behind the towering Greek man.
‘Mama,’ Alex whispered.
Cloaked in a dark, long jacket, hair gelled back, Margalo stepped forward, expression unreadable.