by Mandy Baggot
He was right. How many people had stood in this very spot over hundreds, even thousands, of years? What had changed? What had stayed the same? This resilient striped rock, both eroded and bound together by the sea, put everything into perspective. She closed her eyes, drawing in a breath, letting the whisper of the waves soothe her. When she opened them again Yan was wearing a wistful expression as he looked out over the water.
‘Do you miss Bulgaria?’
* * *
Ellen’s question tugged at him and he took a step back from the edge and moved to a flatter piece of ground. He sat down on the floor, opened his rucksack and held out a bottle of water to her.
She moved towards him, accepting the drink.
‘I miss village where I live,’ he finally replied.
‘You have family there?’ Ellen asked, drinking some of the water.
He nodded. ‘My parents and my brother.’ He opened up his bottle of water and took a swig from it. ‘I have not lived there for some time. I have to leave to work in the city. More opportunity. You understand, yes?’
‘Yes, I understand.’
He looked at her, standing in front of him while he sat. He pulled off his t-shirt and lay it down beside him. ‘You want to sit?’
‘Oh, thank you.’
She moved then, carefully folding herself down onto the shirt, crossing her legs.
‘I tell you last night, in Brashlyan I work with children. When parents work I teach children sport, games, to fish and to swim,’ Yan said. He swallowed. Why was he telling her this? This was something so important to him. Sharing things had turned out so badly last time he had done it. And he barely knew this woman. Shouldn’t know her.
‘But you had to leave?’
He nodded. ‘There was fire in factory where most people work. They do not need for someone to look after children anymore.’
‘And that’s why you’re in animation,’ Ellen stated.
‘It is better than meat factory.’ He smiled. ‘But not like your job with money.’
* * *
Her job with money. It wasn’t something to be held up and admired at the moment. But it would be again. One day.
She opened her mouth to reply but stopped as her eyes settled on his body without the covering of his t-shirt. What was there to say when you were in the presence of a man who looked like that? She admired every nuance of his physique as he drained some more water from his bottle.
‘You like this job?’ Yan asked her.
‘Yes.’ It was a quick, positive response that came from her gut. But in her current situation it wasn’t entirely the truth. She tried again. ‘It’s what I’ve always wanted to do. But I’m sort of between situations where I am.’
‘What does this mean?’ Yan asked, studying her.
‘Um, it means I probably won’t be working at the same office for much longer but that hopefully I will be doing the same kind of work somewhere else.’
‘For more money?’ he asked.
‘Maybe.’ She took a sip of her water. ‘I don’t know. It isn’t always about the money, is it?’
He nodded. ‘To be happy is better.’
‘Yes it is,’ she agreed.
Yan locked eyes with her. ‘You are older than your sister?’
‘A little bit.’ She wondered whether the sleepless nights were finally beginning to show on her face.
‘But you are not to be married?’ he enquired.
She shook her head. ‘No, not yet.’ That wasn’t a definitive answer for someone who didn’t have English as his first language. ‘I mean, no, not at all yet.’ English didn’t seem to be her first language either at the moment.
He nodded. ‘Me too.’
Rightly or wrongly, his reply made it felt like someone had dropped an Alka Seltzer into her stomach juices.
Yan scooted forward towards the edge of the rock and looked down. ‘You know, they say if you swim in the Canal d’Amour you will find your true love.’
Ellen swallowed and tried to quell her pulsing heart.
Yan let out a laugh that completely dispelled the electric tension coiling inside her.
‘I do not believe this! It is story for holidaymakers,’ he exclaimed, still laughing.
‘Yes, of course. Silly, gullible tourists,’ she responded, forcing a smile.
‘But we should swim,’ Yan announced, getting to his feet.
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ Ellen said, staying put.
‘Come, we jump,’ Yan said, holding his hand out to her.
‘From here? Are you crazy?’
‘Yes, crazy is good thing sometime,’ he said.
‘Not when it involves a rock metres above the sea.’
‘Come, we play animation game. It is called “jump into the water”,’ Yan teased.
‘What does the winner get?’ Ellen asked.
‘Last one into water must … ’
‘Buy beers on the beach?’
‘You will not do this, I know.’
She got to her feet then, stepping a little closer to the edge. It was high, it looked at least a hundred metres. The turquoise water was moving in gentle waves against the base. This was something Lacey would do without a second thought. But not her. She focussed on the sea, watching it reel back and forth.
She might not have ever taken physical risks before but her whole life lately had been one risk-taking move after another. And she wasn’t afraid of the water. Determination. She had plenty of that.
She turned to look at Yan, challenge in her eyes. ‘I’ll meet you down there.’
Without thinking a second more, she ripped her dress up and over her head and leapt up and out into the air. There wasn’t time to think about the distance she was going to fall, this was living in the moment taken to the extreme.
The warm salt water compressed her body as she landed and when she eventually surfaced she was coughing it out of her lungs, trying to get her breath back. Her whole body was tingling, every nerve crying out from the rush and the adrenaline. Her hair was clinging to her face, the sun beating down as she searched the water for Yan. Where was he?
‘Ellen!’
She heard his voice but she couldn’t locate him. It was taking a lot of effort to tread water.
‘Ellen!’ he called again.
She looked up and there he was. He was still standing on the rock metres above her. He hadn’t jumped.
‘You are crazy lady!’ he hollered. ‘I bring bags and buy beer!’
15
Ellen stretched herself out like a contented cat, turning her body towards the sun and letting its heat roll over her like a blanket. Here she was, on Sidari beach. A reggae tune was coming from somewhere close and there was the sound of mopeds buzzing by, the constant peep of their horns. Before she had closed her eyes and given in to the sun’s rays, she had stood and admired the ocean. It was glittering, endless, a blue carpet laid out beyond the taupe-coloured sand just asking to be enjoyed. Ellen had let it wash over her as she swam to shore knowing that Yan was waiting for her.
Now, lying here, it was all about tuning out, forgetting about everything else, just relishing this time. It was like she was sixteen again, isolating herself under the apple tree at the bottom of Al’s garden, with a book, a Diet Coke and prawn cocktail crisps. Books and the quiet had been her escape from the pressure of exams, the demands of Lacey, Al’s constant pushing towards academic excellence.
She was almost completely dry now and, having drunk a large bottle of Mythos, she was in that sleepy, drowsy, dream-like state where she was almost unreachable. It was a bit like a deep meditation only miles better.
‘We should get back to bus.’
Yan’s voice drew her back. That thick, sultry accent sliding between the words. She didn’t want to open her eyes yet. She wanted to replay his voice, remember the way his hand had fitted into hers last night, let the sun merge the two together wrapping her up in a beautiful mix of warmth and desire until it was one delicious dayd
ream.
‘So I can tell everyone that you were too scared to jump into the water,’ she said, a smirk on her lips.
‘You have done this before. They have rocks like this in England. You practice and cheat to win drinks,’ Yan said.
She let a laugh leave her lips. ‘Do you have an idea how cold the water is in England?’
Finally, slowly, she rolled her eyelids upwards. And there he was, standing just in front of her, his body accentuated by the light. Abs, pecs, she didn’t know where to direct her gaze first. She meant redirect her gaze. She wasn’t the man eater of the Brooks family.
She sat up, reaching for her dress and pulling it over her head.
‘Here.’ Yan held his hand out to her.
She accepted it, letting him pull her to her feet. She smiled at him. ‘We don’t have to run, do we?’
‘You would like to run?’ he asked.
She laughed, shaking her head. ‘After my water-jumping trick I think I’ve earned a rest.’
‘What would you like?’
Her cheeks heated up as all manner of things came to mind. She spoke quickly. ‘Tell me more about Bulgaria.’
* * *
By the time they had walked back to the Nik Nak bar then travelled the twenty plus kilometres back to Agios Spyridon, Yan had told her about his move to Sofia. But he had deliberately kept things back. Boyan. He didn’t want all the harsh realities he’d been faced with in his country’s capital to taint Ellen’s view of anything … including him. She didn’t need to know how he’d struggled to make ends meet and what he’d almost been forced into to survive. He had a clean slate here. He didn’t have to be the person Rayna and her father had tried to turn him into or the worthless individual they said he was. Besides, Ellen was a holidaymaker, interested in him only because he was from a different world. That had to be all.
The coach pulled to a stop outside the marble steps of the hotel and Yan got to his feet.
‘Thank you everybody. I see you for quiz tonight at the pool bar.’
* * *
Ellen got to her feet, sliding her body out from the seat and into the aisle. Lacey had texted on the journey home. She had ten minutes to get to the gazebo where her sister had arranged an appointment with the wedding planner.
She smiled at Yan. ‘Thank you for today. I had a nice time.’
‘I had nice time too.’
Her stomach was churning and she suspected it wasn’t from missing the all-inclusive lunch.
‘I see you for quiz tonight?’ Yan asked her.
She nodded. ‘Do you take bribes?’
He looked confused. ‘Is free to play.’
She laughed. ‘I’ll be there.’
He touched her arm and for a second she sizzled from her toes to her reddened shoulders.
‘I wait for you,’ he told her.
She swallowed, a quick-witted remark not forthcoming.
‘Are you getting off, dear?’ an elderly woman asked from behind Ellen. ‘Because it’s toasted sandwiches at half past four.’
She smiled at Yan. ‘Bye.’
* * *
‘So, you would have wedding on water platform, looking over beautiful sea and mountain of Albania. Then you come to beachside restaurant all decorated in colour of choice for reception.’
Zelda the wedding planner did have a moustache but she was nice.
‘And how many does it seat?’ Ellen asked, looking at the tables and chairs under an ornate wooden gazebo-style structure.
‘One hundred.’
‘Is that going to be enough, d’you think?’ Lacey asked. She looked to Ellen for an answer.
‘Goodness, Lace, how many people are you going to invite?’
‘Well, there’s all the girls from the shop and my mates. Then there’s all Mark’s mates from the golf club and his work. Plus Aunty Fil and Eric, Aunty Pearl and Robin, our cousins ...’
‘I’m not sure they’re all going to be able to come.’ The hotel wasn’t cheap to stay in, despite a wedding party discount, plus there were the flights. Al couldn’t be expected to cough up for travel arrangements for half of Wiltshire and not many people had that amount of spare cash for someone else’s wedding. She knew she didn’t. She’d already planned what she was going to sell to cover the cost. If she wasn’t back in the professional saddle by then.
‘But it’s my wedding. Of course they’ll come. Auntie Fil’ll love it. She’ll bring a hat for every day of her stay.’
‘If you like, I show you water platform now,’ Zelda said, preparing to lead the way.
Ellen watched the expression on her sister’s face. Was that joy or a sense of being overwhelmed? Neither of them moved and Zelda turned back.
‘I shall give you a moment, yes?’
‘Yes. Yes, just a moment to ... look at the glasses and the cutlery,’ Ellen jumped in. She could see Lacey’s eyes had a certain sheen to them and she was worried it wasn’t because she was overawed by the vases of bougainvillea.
‘It didn’t feel real in that castle in Kent. I liked the Tudor banqueting hall but it just seemed like it would be a fancy dress party. Here, it feels different,’ Lacey blurted out.
She knew exactly what her sister meant. Everything here in Corfu was heightened by the island’s beauty. But it wasn’t just the flora and fauna or the stunning scenery, there seemed to be an ambience about the place, a deep romanticism. It was the perfect place for being in love and falling in love.
‘Of course they don’t have a hog roast or go karts.’ Lacey sniffed loudly and broke the tension.
‘No, this is true.’ She didn’t really know what Lacey wanted her to say. She was just going with it, letting it play out, being supportive and encouraging. Hoping it was a blip.
‘I think I’ve seen enough for today.’ Lacey’s voice was soft as she raised her eyes to meet Ellen’s.
‘Are you sure?’
‘Yeah. I mean, it’s cool isn’t it? Anyone would be lucky to get married here.’
She sensed Lacey’s reservations and moved towards her. ‘They would. If it was right.’
Lacey nodded and Ellen slipped an arm around her shoulders.
‘We’ve got four more days. That’s loads of time for decision-making.’ Ellen lifted her sister’s chin with her finger, forcing her to look at her. ‘Let’s go and get a drink.’
‘And cheese pies? They do cheese pies at the outside restaurant at half past five,’ Lacey said. She sniffed.
‘Good, I’m starving.’ Ellen waved a hand at Zelda and encouraged Lacey back towards the path.
‘How was the place beginning with “S”?’ Lacey asked, looking up at her sister as they walked.
Made even more stunning by a person with a name beginning with “Y”. Ellen smiled. ‘There wasn’t one shop that did fake designer shoes.’
‘Waste of time then,’ Lacey answered. ‘Should have done volleyball.’
‘Absolutely. I won’t make that mistake again.’ She couldn’t keep the smile from her face.
16
‘OK everybody! Tonight, we have music quiz for you! Lots of questions of many different bands. To enter, collect sheet from Yan, Dasha or Sergei, choose team name and get ready to win wonderful prize!’
Tanja was standing on the stage with the microphone, taking charge of the quiz. For Yan, Dasha and Sergei it was almost another evening off. All they had to do was talk to the guests, help with any queries about the questions and ensure everybody had fun.
Yan took a swig of his lemon and lime and looked over to the tables at the front. Ellen and Lacey had come into the entertainment area about half an hour ago. Ellen was wearing a short cream dress with small flowers on it and her hair was loose on her shoulders, her face a little tanned from the Sidari sun that day. The sight of her had made his throat dry up. Spending the day with her had been one of the best days he had had since he’d been here. He’d felt relaxed, carefree, all the things he craved, all the things he’d lost. But she had to be out of bo
unds. Inappropriate feelings weren’t part of his plan for the future.
‘Tanja want you to collect team names.’ Sergei thrust a clipboard towards Yan.
‘What? We do not collect team names in quiz before,’ he responded, making no move to take the offering.
‘She has prize for a draw,’ Sergei repeated, pushing the clipboard against his chest.
Why was Tanja changing things? They had a routine, things worked more smoothly with a routine. There was no way he was going to do it. He shook his head at Sergei.
‘No, I do not do this.’ He crossed his arms over his chest.
Sergei studied him as if he was working out what he was thinking. ‘What are you afraid of? Is it the English girl? Ellen.’ A grin spread over Sergei’s mouth. ‘She go on trip to Sidari today. You like her!’
‘Sergei, I am not like you. I do not want a relationship here.’ He could feel the beads of perspiration forming on his brow. The more he said it, the more it might sink in.
‘It is OK, my friend. You know I know how to keep things secret.’ Sergei nudged his arm.
‘I have to help Dasha.’ Yan pushed the clipboard back at Sergei and fled. It was the only thing he could do.
* * *
‘We need a team name,’ Lacey said, pen poised over the quiz sheet.
Ellen didn’t respond. She was looking across the tables at Yan departing. He was tipping up chairs, squeezing himself by in some desperate hurry to leave. She carried on watching, right up until he disappeared along the passageway that led to the kitchens.
‘Ells, we need a team name for the quiz.’ Lacey tapped her pen on the table. ‘I know. How about “Brooksie Babes”?’
‘No.’
‘Bootilicious?’
‘No.’
‘Rule Babe-tania?’
She shook her head at Lacey. ‘How about something normal?’