by Holly Greene
You’ve already noticed, I’m sure, and combed through them, but I’ve sent you pictures of all the places I go everyday, and given you a map with my daily routes. Try to walk with me. Try to visualize where I am. Everyday I do the same. Everyday I’m in Skiathos. Breathing the air. Feeling the light. Smelling the sea. It’s my happy space. A mansion within my mind. Create a mansion of my world, and let’s build a bridge between the two?
Say a prayer for me. Call out the old gods as I know you silently do. You’re a man of magic. You’ve managed to keep it from everyone else, but I know your secret. I saw you communing with them.
I’m going to write you as often as I can, and I’m going to call you as often as I can afford. My brain will always be mentally calculating the time difference between us, wondering what you’re doing. Wondering if you’re awake. Wondering if you’ve returned from your long walks. I compared myself to being Persephone in the last letter, I think, but now I wonder if Odysseus wouldn’t be a better comparison? Can I be a female Odysseus? Will you destroy the shroud every night for me? Protect my palace from encircling real estate investors?
Keep it. I know you don’t love the hotel as much as I do, but keep it for me, so that I can return to the place where I fell in love with you, and will know where to look for you when I return home.
Because Skiathos will soon be my home.
Joanna put the letter back in the satchel as she had the others. She guessed where the story was heading and didn’t have the heart to keep reading right then.
A lot of things were starting to make sense, though.
When Joanna was a teenager her mother suddenly started dating again, but she never dated anyone for longer than two weeks. She never seemed to find just the right guy. A lot of them were great men. Charming, handsome, funny. But they had one handicap that they couldn’t overcome. Now she knew what that was.
They weren’t George. They weren’t her father.
But what had happened?
Joanna had cleaned out her mother’s apartment when she died a couple of years back. She didn’t find any kind of memento or keepsake from George. Unlike he who seemingly kept everything he could relating to their brief romance.
Joanna walked out of the room and locked it up. She needed a breather.
George had apparently intimated to her mom that he wanted to sell the hotel. If the hotel meant nothing to him, why didn’t he sell it and move to New York to be with her mom?
What on earth had gone wrong between them?
14
Nick looked up when he saw Joanna walk into the lobby. “Is everything OK?”
“Yeah… I just need to get out for a bit.”
He showed her his pearly white teeth. “Are you hungry yet?”
She shook her head no.
“OK. I think I know just the perfect thing to brighten up your day.”
He instructed Joanna to go back to her room and grab a bathing suit.
“Where are we going?” she asked, as they trotted down the stone steps to Nick’s car.
“My boat.”
“Nick, we just met,” she said, taken aback expecting he’d planned to seduce her.
He yelped like a hyena, the most absurd laugh she had ever heard, and despite herself she laughed too.
They practically flew the thirty seconds it took to drive to the pier where Nick’s boat was docked.
He turned the engine off before the car was even finished stopping, and helped Joanna climb into his houseboat. He untied the ropes tethering the boat to the peer, and pushed it out as hard as he could with his foot before jumping in.
“Will you tell me where are we going now? What are we going to do?”
“Just sit tight,” Nick said as he powered up the boat. “Inside the cabin is a small fridge. Grab a beer if you want. There’s also some wine in a crate if you prefer. You can go ahead and change, too. It will take us a little less than an hour to get there.”
“But where are we going?”
“There’s a small island immediately to the north. It’s the best fishing area in the islands— a secret my father passed on to me. Have you ever used a speargun before?”
“A speargun? Why the hell would I know how to use a speargun? Every American girl isn’t Annie Oakley, you know.”
“It’s easy. I show you. If it’s too big, don’t shoot it, though. My speargun isn’t that good. You’ll just anger what you shot.”
Joanna considered this. “Where’d you say the beer was again?”
A little while later they were about four hundred meters off the mountainous coast of Skiathos. Nick’s father’s secret fishing spot was actually nestled between two barren, rocky islands that jetted out of the water like cavernous teeth.
It was quiet. The only sound was the lapping of the seawater against the side of the boat.
Why would anyone ever leave this place? Joanna thought, captivated.
Having dropped anchor, Nick suddenly took off his white t-shirt and tossed it inside the cabin, and she almost spit out her beer again.
He was lean tanned and muscular, way too fit for someone who seemed to sat in a lobby all day reading newspapers. He then took off his pants to reveal he was wearing only a pair of black speedos and she gulped afresh.
“Already wearing your swimsuit?” she asked, trying not to stare.
He winked. “Always prepared.”
Joanna had changed when she went inside to get a drink and was wearing a white one-piece. Nothing revealing, but her boobs looked good and she knew it. She saw him glance a few times at them as they chatted and she didn't mind.
What about Peter? You’re being emotionally unfaithful to him, a little voice nagged.
Perhaps. But nothing’s happened.
Hence the word emotional.
But Joanna couldn't deny that she was attracted to Nick, and when the question ‘what about Peter’ returned to her active, little brain, she didn’t have an answer.
All she knew was that being with him felt like the most natural thing in the world.
He went into the cabin and came back with a speargun that was about five feet long. “OK,” he said, holding it out to her. “First we should practice on something.” He looked around, visibly at a loss and then abruptly grabbed a life vest off the rails and flicked it into the water.
“I guess we’re not going to need that then?” Joanna said dryly.
He grinned. “I hope not.”
He handed her the speargun and got behind her, his hard body firm against hers. “OK, pick it up and aim as you would a rifle. It does have a little bit of kick, so put the stock into your shoulder.” He put his chest into her back and helped her position her elbows correctly.
“What if I miss?” Joanna asked, turning back to him. His face was getting stubbly. He hadn’t shaved in a day or so and it was tickling her shoulder. Not unpleasantly.
“That’s why there is a rope attached to the spear,” he pointed out.
“Oh, right.” Joanna blushed at her own stupidity.
Nick stepped to the side and said, “Match up your sights and pull the trigger. Now in the water it’s unnecessary to put the butt in your shoulder, but it does have a kick even when submerged, so it’s up to you. We’ll practice a few times.”
He got closer to her again, and repositioned her elbows once more before she took the shot. She could smell him. He wasn’t wearing cologne or deodorant, but he didn’t have to. His natural fragrance was sweet and manly. She liked how he smelled.
Joanna pulled the trigger and the speargun kicked a little bit, stinging the flesh in her armpit. Instantly the spear struck the life vest with a loud pop and jostled the water.
“Well done, Annie Oakley!” Nick exclaimed.
Joanna rolled her eyes at him, but grinned.
A little while later he went into the cabin and came back with snorkeling equipment.
“Ever snorkeled?” he asked.
“Yes, that I can do.”
Nick ha
nded her two fins, a scuba mask, and a snorkel. As she was putting everything on and tightening straps, he casually geared up and sat on the side of the boat and waited.
“Ready?” he asked. She nodded and he took a deep breath and fell backwards into the water with the unloaded speargun in his hand.
Show off, she thought.
She climbed down the ladder and shrieked the deeper she got into the water.
Gah, it was cold!
She gasped and shivered while Nick pulled the spear out of the life vest and loaded it back up.
“There are two fish abundant in this area worth hunting,” he said while wading towards her. “The tuna and the red snapper. Catch one tuna and we’re all set for lunch.”
Joanna’s shivers abated and she nodded. Her nipples had become two rock-solid little buds that he was definitely going to notice underwater.
Nick kicked his feet up and plunged beneath the waves.
That was OK, she was going to steal a few glances at him, too.
She kicked her feet up and dived after him.
The sea floor was only about thirty feet below the surface. It wasn’t flat and smooth. It was actually quite rocky and cavernous like the island nearby, only it was underwater. The water was so clear that if it weren’t for the rugged landscape she’d be able to see quite far.
A little fish darted between her legs and she jerked.
Nick got her attention and pointed ahead.
There was a school of large tuna swimming between two large rock clusters that connected to the tiny islands above.
He then pointed up and they went up for air.
“We’ll get in position, and I’ll give you the gun,” Nick said.
“Wait, I thought we were going to practice some more.”
“No, my Annie Oakley doesn’t need more practice. You’ll be fine.”
Joanna was going to protest but he plunged back down.
Beneath the water, they kicked with their finned feet closer to the school of large tuna. Nick handed her the speargun and gave her a thumbs up. The tuna were each three if not four feet long, and there were a lot of them.
The gun was easier to maneuver beneath the water and so she decided to hold it like a pistol this time.
The spear zipped through the water with the line attached and struck the tuna straight into its side. Puffy clouds of red erupted around it, and it darted and pulled the line out.
Joanna gripped the gun in case it should jerk out of her hands, but after a moment the reel stopped spinning. The tuna had met its end.
Nick pointed up and they surfaced.
“Great job, Joanna!” She laughed as he made gun sounds with his mouth as he pretended his hands were pistols.
They swam back to the boat and he reeled it in. It was a four footer.
“Wow, this baby weighs at least thirty pounds,” he said muscling up. “Are you hungry now?”
Joanna bounced on her heels and nodded.
15
Nick fried the fish while they both drank another beer. He told her she could steer them back to the dock if she wanted, but she didn’t have to.
“Do you have any brothers or sisters?” Joanna asked him conversationally, dangling her feet off the side of the boat. “Any family in Skiathos?”
“No, I am all that is left,” Nick said. “I think our mothers died around the same time. Did your mother have any more children?”
Joanna snorted. “No, my mother would have rather died than have another kid. Parenthood didn’t suit her.”
“So have you discovered anything from the letters so far?”
Joanna hesitated, then said, “She loved him very much… in the beginning. I’ve only read the first two. They were difficult for me to read. She was a completely different person when they met. She was… more like me, as I am now. Or how I wish I could be. What they had together… in the beginning, was a magical thing for her. I just can’t bear to find out how it ended.”
“He kept every one of those letters,” Nick said, absently, flipping the fish.
“I know. And I also know my mom was probably the one who screwed it up.”
“Still,” Nick added, “she kept you, didn't she? She could have given you up, but she kept you. Something was going on within her.” He flipped the fish over one more time and said, “OK, let’s eat.”
He got them some paper plates and they sat cross legged on his bed and ate as they continued their conversation.
“Do you know what happened and just aren’t telling me?” Joanna asked in between bites.
“I have an idea. I’ve heard mumblings here and there. Half the town thought he was gay, including me for the longest time. I know now that he wasn’t. He was just in mourning.”
“You know this because of the letters?” she asked.
“No, they were too personal for me to read. I know this because I talked with a villager who saw something one night. I’ll tell you if and when you’re ready. I don’t think we have time for you to shoot another fish if you get in another funk.”
Joanna gave him her best schoolgirl scowl. Then she yawned, stuffed after the food and nicely chilled from the beer. “Oh I could take a nap. Your bed is comfy. I can see why you don’t think you need a house. Do you have a house? Do you get a lot of visitors? I bet you do, don’t you?”
“This is your way of verifying I’m not married and that this isn’t just my bachelor apartment, isn’t it?” he said smirking.
“Well? Is it? Are you married? Is this your one-night stand bandwagon?”
“Like George, I’m sure most of the island believes I’m gay. I do not live anywhere else. I don’t have a girlfriend. But I believe you, on the other hand, do have a boyfriend.”
Joanna deflated a bit at the thought of Peter. “You’re right, I do have a boyfriend. But, things have gone a little south lately.”
“Does he know this? Men sometimes don’t know when things go south. But if you don’t mind me saying, this man must be an idiot to let that happen and risk someone like you slipping through his fingers.”
They both eyed each other intensely, the sexual tension between them growing with each passing word.
“Take a nap, Joanna,” he said quietly. “I promise to not violate you, though I have never had such a beautiful woman as you in my bed.”
“That’s not weird for you?” she asked, feeling little butterflies in her stomach at his words, and thinking that perhaps she wouldn’t mind in the least being ‘violated’ by him, as he’d put it. “Having a complete stranger sleep in your bed?”
“You were never a stranger to me. Draw the shades. You’ll be asleep in no time, dreaming of worlds within reach that have yet to be explored.”
He closed the door, and Joanna did as he recommended and closed the blinds. The gentle sway, to and fro, the constant rumble of the engine. He was right. She did fall right asleep.
But she didn’t dream of worlds yet to be explored. She dreamed of Skiathos, and in this dream she stayed on the island, and had all the time in the world to get to know Nick.
It was the loveliest dream.
16
Later, back in her room, getting ready for the wedding that evening, she got a phone call from Donna.
“Tell me about this Greek hottie I know you’re falling in love with,” her best friend demanded without even saying hello.
Joanna dropped down to the bed, gobsmacked. “What do you know? And how the hell do you know it?”
Donna cackled over the phone. “Nothing! I was just playing with you actually. But who is he? Tell me more.”
Joanna grinned and got out her nail polish. “His name is Nick. He’s charming. He’s funny. He’s smart. He’s been taking me all over Skiathos. We just went spearfishing. It was so much fun.”
“Wow, so you killed something. How romantic.” Donna deadpanned.
“Yes. And then we ate it on his boat.”
“Please tell me Peter is out of the picture then,” her friend e
nthused. “He’s not right for you. I know you don’t like me saying that, but he’s not. He’s a downer. And, quite frankly, he’s been turning you into one as well.”
“Well, that hurts Donna, but actually I think I do see what you’ve been trying to get me to understand. I’ve been having so much fun and I’ve only been here twenty-four hours.”
“Did you want me to break it to Peter?” Donna asked. “I’ll do it. I’ll do it in a heartbeat.”
“I didn’t say I was breaking up with Peter!” Joanna exclaimed. “I’m just… I don’t know. I don’t know what I want.”
“You will. Hopefully sooner than later. What did your father leave you in the will anyway?”
“A hotel. A rundown, beat up hotel, badly in need of a makeover.”
“Oh my god! Let’s renovate it together! That would be so much fun. Oh let me in on this, please! I could come to Greece, and we could work on the hotel by day and drink ouzo all night. We would kick some serious ass together I know it.”
“Whoa, calm down. I haven’t even seen the numbers. I don’t know what the place is making and I definitely don’t know what it would cost to fix it up. Like I said, I don’t know anything. I’m still wrapping my head around this secret relationship my mom had and never told me about.”
“What?”
Joanna told her about the letters and what she knew.
“And you’ve only been there a day? You must be exhausted.”
“No actually… well I did take a nap, but I feel great, but I’m probably just on a vacation high. I’d better get going, though. I’ve got to get ready for a wedding.”
“OK, I’m serious. I’ll come to Greece and help you renovate. I don’t care about numbers. Whatever they are, we’ll increase them.”
Laughing at her friend’s enthusiasm, Joanna said goodbye to Donna and finished getting ready.
She had already given Nick a glimpse of her boobs, so now time to give him a taste of her legs.
Tonight, she was going to turn some heads.