Claudia's Big Break

by Lisa Heidke

  ‘So instead you brought him out here to listen to you swear?’

  ‘If you could spell I wouldn’t have to.’

  I ignored her. ‘So, what did you do with Jack this morning?’ I asked Levi, pulling him up onto my knee.

  ‘Looked at poo.’

  ‘What else?’

  ‘Patted donkeys. Jack let me sit on one.’

  ‘Jack’s nice, isn’t he?’ Looking for positive reinforcement from a three-year-old. Pitiful.

  ‘Yeah. Not as nice as my daddy.’ Levi started crying. ‘I want my daddy.’

  Before long, he was sobbing. Thankfully, Sophie heard the commotion and came rushing out.

  ‘Here, Leev,’ she said and handed him her phone. ‘It’s your turn to talk to Daddy.’ Levi looked up, took the phone and jumped off me, but only after he’d wiped his nose on my shoulder.

  A couple of minutes later, he waved the phone in Sophie’s face. ‘He’s gone now but he’s gonna play ball with me when we get home and take me to the beach.’ Levi was beside himself with happiness. Sophie looked exhausted.

  ‘You okay?’ I asked her.

  She nodded.

  ‘What did Alex say about Bryan?’

  ‘He said that I should do whatever makes me happy.’ Sophie threw her hands into the air.

  ‘That’s a bad thing?’

  Sophie glared at me, before stomping back into the apartment.

  I checked my messages. A text from Marcus, apologising for being abrupt on the phone the other day and adding, Twenty grand has been deposited into your bank account. What you do with it is up to you.

  Yippee! I texted back. Twenty thousand thankyous! I promise I’ll track Con down, even if it takes me another month!

  It was close to one o’clock by the time I walked into Fira. I had a spring in my step at the thought of meeting Jack for lunch. The fact that I was almost officially debt-free didn’t hurt either. But just to be sure, I stopped at an automatic teller, not quite believing Marcus had actually paid me. I punched in my four numbers, asked for the account balance and the machine spat out a slip of paper. I read it and almost keeled over. I had twenty thousand, three hundred and forty-two dollars in my savings account. This was officially the best day of my life!

  Not only was I rich (okay, I had to pay all the money to my bank and American Express, but today I was rich!), now that I’d put things right with Jack, I was happy too.

  I loved this place: the cobbled pathways; the donkeys vying for road space with scooters, cars and pedestrians; the funky boutiques and fabulous cafés and bars. But it was the spectacular views that got me every time. Like nothing I’d ever seen before.

  As usual there were crowds of tourists taking pictures, shouting in a jumble of foreign accents, but the town still had a casual, unhurried vibe about it. I bought a great straw bag and a couple of postcards. I even stopped by Nikos’s place to praise him on the craftsmanship of my stunning turquoise necklace.

  ‘You like?’

  ‘Yes, very beautiful,’ I told him.

  ‘Now, you buy matching earrings? Come, I show you.’ Nikos led me inside the shop, thrust a glass of red wine in my hand and proceeded to show me several sets of exquisite earrings.

  ‘Best price for you, Clow-di-ah.’

  Several minutes later, I waltzed out of the shop with an enormous smile on my face, feeling rather virtuous at having walked away from Nikos’s shop empty-handed. No sparkling turquoise jewels would be dangling from my ears for the foreseeable future.

  I was making my way to the café when, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Con. He was hurrying out of a shop, then he disappeared around the corner. I raced after him but he had vanished. I thought about searching for him — after all, I’d promised Marcus, and he had paid me all that money — but the narrow alleyways were a maze and the chances were I’d only succeed in getting myself lost.

  Jack was drinking a short black when I spotted him. My heart skipped a beat — he was actually at the café, waiting for me. I tried to remain outwardly calm and cool, which was difficult given the blazing heat.

  ‘Well, hello there,’ Jack beamed as I sat down. ‘You know, I’m glad I looked over your shoulder that morning at the airport.’

  ‘So am I. Though who knew we’d end up here?’

  Jack’s eyes were bright and playful. ‘Santorini’s special, isn’t it?’

  Now was my opportunity. I still hadn’t asked Jack whether he had a significant other and the time had come to make a few inquiries. Despite me musing whether or not he had a wife or girlfriend at home, I assumed he didn’t. Normally, people volunteer that information straight up. ‘You should meet my wife . . .’ Or ‘You’d get on really well with my partner, Jenny . . .’

  ‘Jack,’ I began slowly, opening my mouth and speaking before I had fully constructed the question in my mind, ‘I should have asked this days ago, but do you have a girlfriend or —’ I gulped, ‘a wife back home?’

  Jack shook his head. ‘No. Do you? A husband or boyfriend, I mean.’

  ‘No.’

  ‘And I don’t live with my mother if that’s your next question.’

  Just then I saw Con again . . . this time, walking out of a small convenience store barely twenty metres down the road.

  ‘Back in a minute . . .’ Distractedly, I stood up, and before Jack could say a word, I was off, doing a feeble half-run, half-skip up the uneven road, dodging mopeds, dawdlers and donkeys.

  ‘Hey, Con! Parakalo. Me lene I. Ela dho, Con!’ I yelled up the road as he disappeared further into the crowd. Con was gone. At least the Con I wanted was gone. Two other Cons stopped and turned my way.

  In the process, I hurt my foot again. Miserably I hobbled back to Jack, gasping for breath. I was definitely joining a gym when my real life began next week.

  ‘That’s it. That’s it,’ I cursed under my breath when I’d resumed my seat.

  ‘What’s up?’ Jack looked puzzled.

  ‘Nothing. Just a business transaction I’m supposed to complete.’ I took a huge gulp of water. ‘Only I haven’t been able to do it yet.’ A few drops of water fell on my shirt.

  ‘I didn’t know you spoke Greek.’

  ‘I don’t. Well, I speak enough to get by,’ I replied, wiping the spilt water from my chest.

  All I wanted to do was relax in the sun in Santorini, the jewel of the Greek Isles, with Jack Harper. Not spend endless, thankless hours chasing Marcus’s mate. And now I couldn’t give up. There was no way in hell I was handing the money back.

  I sat and fumed while Jack stared at me, bewildered. ‘I thought you were here on holidays.’

  ‘I am. My boss asked me to do a bit of work as well . . . It’s no big deal.’ There was no point telling Jack about Marcus and Con; that was a whole can of worms best left unopened.

  ‘Really, it doesn’t matter.’ I smiled awkwardly. ‘Now, where were we?’

  But Jack had his head in his BlackBerry and was reading a text.

  ‘Jack?’

  He looked up, clearly agitated. ‘Something’s come up. I need to go.’

  ‘What? Now? But we’ve —’ ‘Claudia, I said I need to go.’

  All right. I heard you the first time. ‘Okay,’ I said quietly. ‘Will I see you later?’

  ‘I’m not sure what I’m up to this afternoon.’

  Heck, we were on holidays — what was there to do but relax and enjoy the sunshine? Where was the sweet guy from a few minutes ago who said he’d been glad he looked over my shoulder at the airport? He’d morphed into a cocky, not sure I can catch up later guy.

  I felt sad and confused. I know I’d dashed off unexpectedly for a few minutes, but why would he suddenly change his tune? Maybe he’d decided that last night had been a mistake. Or perhaps he was paying me back for my stupid Adonis comments this morning.

  He must have sensed my hurt because he said, ‘We could go out for dinner tomorrow night. How about I pick you up at seven?’

  ‘Sure,’ I said,
surprised at how disappointed I felt.

  Tomorrow night? That left all of three and a half days before I would never see Jack again. Shouldn’t we be making the most of our time together, even if it was only a holiday romance? Weren’t we supposed to be strolling through the quaint cobblestone pathways of Fira, nibbling each other’s ears? And when all the nibbling became too much, shouldn’t we have been running full speed back to the apartment for mind-blowing sex? Wasn’t that the way it was supposed to be? Obviously not. Those romance books had it wrong. Jack didn’t even try to kiss me, let alone race me off to bed.

  I spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the streets. Whichever direction I glanced, I could see smitten couples kissing. Eventually it was too much to bear and I headed back to the apartment. I wasn’t hungry, but given that I was arriving home just before dinner, I thought of Tara and Sophie and stopped to buy some essentials.

  I picked up feta, olives, tomatoes and eggplant. All right, so I bought a couple of pizzas too. I ordered the Santorini Special and the Seafood Surprise, which was a surprise, given that the prawns were the size of pinheads. Levi would appreciate it, I reasoned, even if the others didn’t. I also didn’t show any restraint when it came to buying chocolate — white chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, fruit and nut chocolate and liqueur chocolate. That should do it. Along with wine, of course. Wine and chocolate. Comfort food at its best.

  By the time I made it back to Marcella’s, laden down with goodies, the sun was setting. I was quite looking forward to dinner with the girls. In fact, I’d forgotten about Jack. Jack who? I didn’t care.

  So what that he seemed to be running hot and cold: one minute playful and intimate; the next minute cool and standoffish. I had girlfriends who loved me. What did it matter that Jack wasn’t as fond of me as I’d hoped? It was a fling, after all, and Tara and Sophie were more important than a hot heaving date with Jack the lad.

  Our apartment was securely locked. I hadn’t factored in the possibility that no one would be home. No one! Where were Levi and his mother? How irresponsible was that? The poor child should have been back from the beach by now.

  Unlocking the front door, I let myself in and hit the light switch. Then I dumped the goodies on the kitchen bench, scrounged around for a bottle opener, opened the wine, poured myself a large glass and grabbed a slice of the Santorini Surprise. I walked back out on the patio and watched the sunset. It was pure magic. The Santorini sky was mesmerising.

  And here was I, watching it by myself. Less than a kilometre away, people sipped exotic cocktails at the Sunset Bar; all around me couples in other apartments nuzzled each other’s ears, necks and breasts, toasting their good fortune. But I was home alone. Not even Marcella’s cat, Ari, was around.

  As time ticked slowly by, I kept an eye on the stairs, hoping to see my friends. I’d texted both of them a couple of times but either they hadn’t seen my messages or were ignoring me.

  My third piece of pizza, third glass of wine. Still no one. The sunset faded. It was dark and decidedly chilly. I checked my messages again. None. (There was one from Marcus, but he didn’t count.) At least they could have texted me.

  I retired to my room at 8.30 pm, but not before I’d scrawled a note to Tara and Sophie telling them about the leftover pizza and wine in the fridge, not that you deserve any for leaving me alone! I waited until a quarter to nine before completely closing my bedroom door. Lying in bed I started thinking about the crazy things that had happened since the holiday began. I couldn’t get in touch with Sophie and Tara. What if something sinister had happened to them? I was determined not to get spooked but I was still worried. As I drifted to sleep I heard nothing, nothing but silence. It was eerie.

  19

  The next morning I woke up crying, which was a little unexpected. The more I tried to stop the tears, the more I cried and the more the room seemed to crowd in on me. I was a shivering mess. The fiasco with Marcus, meeting Jack, the odd almost lunch with him yesterday, the Con business. I seemed to be digging ever deeper holes for myself.

  I’d always lived in the present, assuming that tomorrow would take care of itself. And it was precisely because of this attitude that I’d ended up where I was now. I wanted to turn the clock back. Five years ago, I was happily working for Riesling Renaissance and living contentedly in my funky flat in Toowong. I was single, in a good place both emotionally and financially, and was loving life. My life specifically. I still remembered the shock at being retrenched from Riesling Renaissance, then that same week Marcus mentioned that his office manager had left. The job landed in my lap, and being one to believe in destiny and the universe having her own plan for each of us, I assumed this was her plan for me. Little did I know, Ms Universe has a perverse sense of humour.

  My phone beeped. A text message from Marcus announcing that Con would come to the apartment to collect the envelope. He didn’t tell me when, but the message distracted me enough to stop the tears and kick-start my thinking.

  I needed to square things with Marcus — formally resign and make a real effort to find a job I could enjoy and stick with. With the economy picking up again, I was hopeful I could go back into events management. It might mean starting at the bottom and working my way up, but I could at least contact people I still knew in the industry. I wasn’t totally out of the loop.

  As for accommodation, I hadn’t spoken to Tara about our living arrangements but I hoped she’d still allow me to live in her house, provided I continued paying rent at the going market rate. I didn’t want to move out on my own just yet.

  I glanced at Things To Do Now That You’re . . . 40 and reached for it. It bugged me that I was reading it, especially as it wasn’t aimed at my age group, but then again, neither was Cosmo and I always managed to get past that.

  Opening the book randomly, I found such gems as: ‘Learn to play “Stairway to Heaven” on a guitar.’ Like that would ever happen! ‘Practise juggling three balls in the air and become proficient at it.’ So, I assumed, once people reached forty, they had nothing better to do than learn a musical instrument and master magic tricks. As I read through all the things I would need to do once I eventually reached that milestone, I started to feel exhausted and my eyelids grew heavy.

  Seconds later, I fell asleep.

  It was sometime after eleven when I finally made my way downstairs.

  ‘Well, well,’ I said when I saw Sophie and Levi playing on the patio. ‘Nice of you to finally come home.’

  ‘Sorry, love. I got your note. Thanks.’

  ‘I went to all that trouble to buy pizza and no one came home.’

  ‘Tara and I assumed you’d be out with Jack.’

  ‘Jack Spack. I was here — alone.’

  ‘Was it really as bad as all that?’

  ‘Yes. No. Not really. I went to bed early. What did you get up to?’ I asked as I inspected my cut foot. I’d taken off the bandage last night to let the skin breathe.

  ‘After the beach, we met up with Angie and Harry. The boys played together and we ate dinner overlooking the sunset at Kamari.’

  ‘Nice.’

  ‘Sorry, Claud, had we known you were at a loose end, I would have phoned.’

  I rolled my eyes.

  ‘Don’t be like that. Leev wants to go on a boat so I thought I’d take him to Folegandros for the afternoon. It’s an hour away. Want to come?’

  ‘Sure, sounds good.’ It’d help take my mind off Jack and aimlessly hanging around waiting for him to turn up tonight. ‘I’ll just knock on Tara’s door and see if she wants to come.’

  ‘Let her sleep. She was having a raucous time when I left to bring Levi home last night. Who knows what time she staggered in.’

  ‘I’ll come,’ Tara said huskily as she peered out from behind the bathroom door.

  Within the hour, the four of us were on our way to Folegandros. The name meant rocky — good call because the island was tiny, stark and very rocky. It was traditionally a place of exile and I coul
d understand why. The island was wrapped in huge cliffs, making escape almost impossible.

  Nervously, we peered out the windows of the bus taking us to the town centre as it veered precariously close to sheer cliffs. To take my mind off the treacherous road, I focused on the endless series of dry walls that had been erected over the centuries to create terraces on the slopes of the island. It didn’t help with my anxiety, but nevertheless I appreciated the effort that had gone into their construction.

  Happy to have made it into town alive and in one piece, we strolled through the market square, which overflowed with pink bougainvillea and red hibiscus. Every now and again we stopped to take a picture and wait for Levi to catch up.

  He was a wanderer, that child. The slightest distraction and he was off.

  We continued meandering along a maze of crazy paved alleys that were home to masses of brightly coloured geraniums and houses with brightly painted wooden balconies.

  The three of us could have explored the tiny hamlet for hours, peeking into the locals’ homes, checking out their décor, sampling their cuisine. But Levi quickly tired of sightseeing. After grabbing lunch from a tiny taverna offering an extraordinary range — including over twenty types of ice cream, seventy different kinds of beers, as well as traditional Mediterranean dishes such as stuffed peppers, moussaka and smoked aubergine — we sat under a row of magnificent lime trees and watched the locals go about their business. Then, at Levi’s insistence, we caught another bus to a nearby beach.

  ‘Have you spoken to Alex again?’ I asked Sophie while Levi and Tara amused themselves throwing pebbles into the ocean.

  ‘Not since I blew up at him yesterday.’ She paused. ‘You know when you asked me the other day if everything was okay . . . well, it is. Don’t get me wrong. But every now and then when these feelings bubble up inside me, I feel like I’m going to explode.’ She took a breath. ‘And it scares the hell out of me. I’ve got to deal with it before it takes over again. I don’t want to be a sick or weak person. I want to be in control of my life.’