From behind the hanging beads, a relic from the seventies, an almighty clattering sounded. Several diners glanced over at her accusingly, as though it were she who had just dropped what sounded like a dozen pots and pans. She avoided their gaze and shifted from foot to foot. Maybe she should just make a run for it because she didn’t fancy her chances of being given paid employment now. Before she could put her plan into action, a wiry little man burst through the beads and sent up a clacking symphony. He wiped his hands on a tea towel and he looked at her with the harried expression of someone who had far too much to do and not enough hands to do it with. Right, Annie thought as he arranged his features into one of greeting and picked up a menu from the stack by the till; best foot forward and all that. “Um, I’m not actually wanting to eat. What it is, you see, is—well—” Oh, get on with it girl, she told herself. She licked her lips. “Er, my name’s Annie, and I was wondering if you might need a waitress.”
Oh dear, she hoped that hadn’t sounded too much like the opening line to an AA meeting. From under his impressive thatch of silver hair, the man looked at her with disbelief. The next thing she knew, he clapped his hands delightedly and then reached forward to grab her face and plant a big kiss on both cheeks. She could take that as a yes then, Annie thought as she took a startled step backwards.
“Paidi mou, you are an angel. An angel has been sent to me on this day.” He beamed and displayed a gleaming gold tooth. It was like Mama’s. Gold teeth must have been all the fashion at some point, or perhaps they were a form of compulsory saving, Annie thought. She found herself propelled through the beads into the kitchen.
“I am Georgios and this is my daughter Koula,” he announced to the flushed woman in the apron who frantically stacked dishes. She looked to be in her late thirties and her hair had escaped from her ponytail in wispy bits. It was a look Annie could relate to and she knew instantly that she would get along with this woman. “Koula, meet Annie. She has been sent from the heavens to help us.”
Koula’s pretty face lit up and she stepped forward with her hand outstretched in greeting.
***
“Yes, it was perfect timing, Kas.” Annie had found her sitting down on the grass verge by the beach as she had headed back to Eleni’s that afternoon. The sun sat a little lower in the sky and the bite had gone out of it for the day by the time she flopped wearily down next to her friend. Nikolos wore nothing but a nappy as he waved a spade around and Mateo collected pebbles and interrupted his mama every now and then to show her a treasure he had found. “Because it turned out his waitress had telephoned him last night to say her uncle had offered her work on his boat. She only wanted work while she was on her University holidays anyway and she reckoned she could earn more helping this uncle of hers. So, that was that; she didn’t give poor Georgios any warning, which given how lovely he is, seems really unfair to me.” She shrugged. “Anyway, Koula—that’s his daughter; she’s about your age and gorgeous too—said the girl was hopeless and that she wouldn’t have known what fresh squid was if it inked in her the eye so good luck to her uncle. Her surly manner didn’t do much for their trade, either, so she was no great loss.” Annie paused and drew breath. “Koula helps run the restaurant, and she and Georgios muddled through last night but they’d have been up all night if they’d sorted all the dishes out. Her husband is a fisherman, so he keeps the taverna supplied with fresh fish and they have three children who are all at school.” Annie knew she was gushing but it had been an exciting afternoon. “Honestly, I don’t think I have ever washed and dried so many dishes in my life! Talk about getting thrown in at the deep end! And I have got to be back there in a few hours.”
“You say the taverna is called Georgios’s, yes?” Kassia frowned as she tried to place it.
“Yes, that’s his name too. It’s down by the port, not far from the clock tower.” Annie paused for a moment and laughed. “Actually, that’s not very helpful, is it? Because everywhere in Elounda is near the clock tower.” Her brain was mush, she realised as she rotated her ankles, and her poor feet were killing her. How she was going to get through another shift, she did not know! “It’s got a gorgeous grapevine growing over the entrance and Georgios said his taverna is famous locally for the fresh fish dishes he cooks up.”
Kassia nodded. “Ah yes, now I know where you mean! Spiros and I went there once. The food, it was very good. Mama knows Georgios from way back but then she knows everybody in Elounda. He runs the taverna with his wife too. She was working when we were there. I remember her because she reminded me a little of my own mama.”
“His wife died a year and a half ago, which has taken its toll on him. You can tell by the way he and Koula talk about her as though she is still with them. They had four children together but only Koula still lives nearby. The others are scattered in Hania and Rethymnon for work.”
“Ah, this is sad.”
Annie wasn’t sure whether she meant that his wife had died or that his children were scattered around different parts of Crete. She decided Kas probably meant both. The need to work away in Greece was something Kristofr had touched on when she had talked to him at the Acropolis. And look at the situation Kas and Spiros had found themselves in in Athens, she thought with a rueful glance at her toenails peeking out of her sandals. They were in need of a lick of polish; she’d do that before she headed back to work tonight.
“So you were put to work straight away?”
“Yes.” Annie nodded and her red curls bobbed madly. “I helped clear away the dishes from the night before and took the lunch orders. It was so busy, the time just flew by but from now on, I’ll just be doing an evening shift, which will work well with helping in the morning at Eleni’s.” The fiery ringlets bouncing up and down were a sight that caused Mateo’s eyes to light up. It was a look Annie recognised and as she saw him make a beeline towards her, she hastily pulled a hair-bobble off her wrist and twisted her hair back into a ponytail. She was already bone-weary; she didn’t need a sore scalp too. Disappointed but thankfully deterred, Mateo turned his attention back to a large pebble he had been inspecting and Annie laughed. It was then that she noticed that Kas didn’t join in with her. She realised there was something about the droop in her shoulders.
“Hey, I’m sorry. I have been so busy talking about myself and my day that I haven’t asked you how yours has been. Are you okay?”
Kassia sighed and picked at the grass. “It is just the usual problem. Mama and Alexandros and the way she takes over everything and the way he does nothing.” She threw her hands up. “I know this problem of mine, it is silly and I don’t like to feel this way, but I wish she would stop interfering with the boys and that Alexandros would pull his weight. That is why the boys and I came down here for a little while.”
Annie reached over and patted her friend’s hand. “A bit of breathing space?”
She nodded. “Spiros is busy with his book, which makes him happy. He loves his life here but me—” She shrugged. “Sometimes I just don’t know.”
Poor Kas. Annie studied her friend’s strong features for a moment. This new life they were making for themselves in Elounda hadn’t been hers by choice, but if she and Mama could find a way to make it work, to rub along together in harmony, then Annie was certain she would love it as much as Spiros did. There was nothing not to love. She glanced at the boys and saw that they were lost in their games. They had been so tiny when they had come to Elounda that they didn’t know any different now. The entire beach was their playground. At home, they were surrounded by people who loved them; a better life she couldn’t imagine. It was idyllic.
Unsure as to whether she should offer an opinion or whether Kas was just in need of a sounding board, Annie swallowed and decided to say her piece anyway. “You know, from where I sit, I think the problem is straightforward. Mama needs to be needed and that’s why she focuses so much of her time and energy on the boys and on Alexandros. Maybe if she had an interest or something—” She trailed off
lamely then because that was as far as she had gotten with her theory.
“You think perhaps she should take up golf?”
Annie swatted at her. “You know what I mean.”
“I do and you are right but it is, how you would say? Easier said than done.”
Annie nodded and Kassia smiled at her.
“I do feel better, though, because you, my lovely friend, can always make me smile.”
Annie felt pleased and sad at the same time because she knew she hadn’t really helped at all.
“Now you have lifted my bad mood. Tell me again what you did to our friend the bottom pincher.”
Annie formed pincers with her thumb and forefinger. “I pinched his bottom when he got up to leave the dining room. Really hard.” She grinned evilly. “He yelped and jumped in the air, which made his wife turn round to see what all the fuss was about. But of course he couldn’t say anything, so he pretended he had banged his toe on the table leg. Ha! Served him right. He scuttled off with his tail between his legs or cheeks clenched or however you want to word it!”
Kassia roared with laughter. “I can’t believe you did that!”
“Carl taught me not to let anyone intimidate me and that the best way to deal with a bully is to play them at their own game.”
“A wise man, that Carl.”
“Indeed and thanks to Carl, yours, mine, and every other bottom old Silver Top has ever pinched thanks him for his advice. I have a feeling he will be keeping his hands to himself from now on.”
The sun dipped a little lower. “You had better get back to the house and get yourself ready for your next shift.”
Annie hesitated, not ready to leave her friend when she knew she was down despite her feigned joviality but Kassia gave her a gentle shove. “Go! I told you I am being silly. I will enjoy the sunset and head back with the boys shortly.”
With a glance at her watch, she saw that Kassia was right. She did need to get going if she was going to have a shower and get back to Georgios’s in time for her evening shift.
***
She spied Spiros making his way towards where she had just come from as she headed up the front path of Eleni’s. Annie waved out but he didn’t see her. She hoped that some time alone with Kas and their boys might give them the chance to talk things through properly.
Ten minutes later, she was freshly showered and felt much revived as she slipped into jeans and a white T-shirt. It was an outfit that Koula had assured her would be perfectly fine for that evening’s shift when she had inquired earlier in the day. She found Mama in the kitchen, busy as usual as she stirred something divine-smelling in the pot on the stove. To her surprise, Alexandros sat at the table with the chopping board, a knife in hand as he sliced his way through a colander of tomatoes. Well, wonders would never cease. She looked at him preparing the salad with approval. The thought that he really was a handsome man crossed her mind not for the first time, and she forced her attentions back to Mama. She didn’t want him to catch her gawping and so she filled the older woman in on her new job and told her regretfully as she inhaled the herbed aroma from the pot that she would not be in for dinner.
Mama paused in her stirring, her expression suddenly wistful. “I know this Georgios. He was friends with my Abram but I have not seen him for a long time. Life, it gets so busy, you know?” She shrugged heavily. “I was very sad to hear of his Althea’s passing. I should have gone to see him but it had been so many years since I had seen them both and I was on my own here with a full house—” She shrugged again and shook her head sadly. “Pah! These are excuses—I should have gone. But then the time, it passes and the distance, it becomes too great, I think. But you tell him tonight, Annie, that his old friend Anya Bikakis sends her sympatheia for his loss. Tell him I am sorry I have not been to see him and that it has been too long.”
It was strange, Annie thought, to think of Mama being known as anything other than, well, Mama. It was rather sad, too, that Georgios and Mama had once been friends and yet despite their businesses being less than a half hour’s walk away, they hadn’t seen each other in years. She had heard it said that it was hard to be a widow because the friends you had shared as a couple tended to drift away. Perhaps that was what had happened to Mama after Abram passed away.
“Spiros and Kassia have been to his taverna and they told me they had a very nice meal. You have done well finding yourself work there, Annie. I think Georgios will love you as we love our girl with the hair made of fire.” She reached over and stroked Annie’s hair affectionately, her currant eyes full of warmth. Annie basked in that warmth for a moment. She had done well getting herself a job. It meant she could relax where her dwindling savings were concerned. She gave herself a mental pat on the back as Adonis brushed past her legs and mewled to be picked up. She scooped him up and cuddled him to her.
“You see, even the cat, he loves you.” Mama laughed.
Annie grinned and gave Adonis a kiss before she popped him back down on the ground to go on his merry way.
“But what will you eat if you don’t have dinner with us? Will Georgios feed you? You will be busy, no?”
“I don’t know, Mama, but I’ll be fine.” It wouldn’t do her any harm to skip a meal, Annie thought, not with all the wonderful dinners she’d been scoffing since she’d arrived at Eleni’s. It was thanks to Mama she’d had a battle with the zipper of her jeans earlier.
Mama made a peculiar tsking sort of noise with her tongue on the roof of her mouth before she abandoned her spoon to the pot to break a hunk off the loaf of bread sitting under a tea towel on the bench. She dunked it in the pot and brought it up, covered in the thick fragrant thyme and lemon sauce that bubbled away inside it and handed it to Annie. “You are too skinny! Eat this kopelia mou; it will fill your tummy for a while and I will leave you a plate in the kitchen for you to heat up when you get home.”
Annie didn’t need to be asked twice. As she chomped into the bread, Alexandros watched her with amusement. She raised a hand to her chin self-consciously as she felt a trickle of sauce dribble down it.
“And what time will you finish?” Mama waggled the wooden spoon and sent drops of sauce flying. It was a gesture that warranted a prompt answer, so Annie replied despite her full mouth and tried to move the bread over to her cheeks.
“Um, around eleven, I think. Koula said things have usually wound down by then.”
“Koula—she is Georgios’s youngest daughter, yes?”
“Yes, she’s lovely.”
Mama raised an un-plucked eyebrow and glanced over at Alexandros. “She was always a sweet girl and very pretty—is she married yet?”
Alexandros rolled his eyes and Annie grinned. She could see where Mama was headed with this now. “Yes, she is. She has three children.”
With a disappointed look, she returned the spoon to the pot and carried on stirring while Annie munched down the rest of her bread. “Alexandros will pick you up when you finish tonight.”
Annie glanced over at Alexandros in alarm to see that he hadn’t paused in his chopping of tomatoes. “No, Mama, I am fine. It is not far to walk. I don’t want to be any bother.” She made to go before there was any further discussion but she should have known the older woman well enough by now to know that this wouldn’t wash.
“Alexandrosaki, tell her.”
“I’ll pick you up. You heard Mama-mou.” He looked up and fixed her with those maple syrup-coloured eyes of his just as she walked into the door.
***
Her face had flamed all the way back to Georgios’s taverna but she was greeted with such enthusiasm by both him and Koula that she quickly shelved the embarrassing incident. The taverna had a full house by the time nine o’clock rolled around and Annie had not stopped to gather her breath from the moment she had arrived. To her surprise, she was in her element and thoroughly enjoyed the banter with the guests, who were surprised to find a New Zealander so far from home.
By the time eleven o’clock roll
ed around, Georgios was ringing the till off for the night, pleased with the night’s takings, and Koula was in the kitchen. She loaded the dishes into the dishwasher that had seemed to run all night long and billowed steam into the small kitchen each time it was opened and emptied. Annie had wiped the tables down.
She was tired but it was a good tired, she realised. She paused to thank the last of their diners as the merry group made their way out the door and into the inky, star-lit night. She wondered briefly before she carried on with her task whether they headed home or off in search of somewhere to dance their dinner off. She put her hand in the pocket of the apron Georgios had given her to wear over the top of her clothes and felt that it was heavy with loose change. She reckoned she had probably earned a small fortune in tips tonight. Georgios slammed the till shut and came over to her with a wad of notes in his hand. “Your wages for the night.” He smiled; his gold tooth glinted under the lights. “You did well. Thank you, Annie. Like I said, you are an angel sent to us.”
She liked the way he accented the e at the end of her name just like Mama did and she couldn’t help but grin at the thought of Attila hearing what he had just said to her. “I enjoyed myself, Georgios—it was fun.” She had enjoyed herself; it was true. It had been so long since she’d gleaned pleasure out of working hard. It felt good, really good. Georgios’s old eyes crinkled as he flashed her another gleaming grin. He had such kind eyes, Annie thought, kind but sad eyes. She remembered what Mama had asked her to tell him. “Anya Bikakis, who runs Eleni’s guesthouse where I am staying, asked me to tell you that she was very sorry to hear of your wife’s passing and that it has been too long.”
Georgios’s bushy grey eyebrows shot up. “Anya Bikakis—my dear friend Abram’s wife! I haven’t heard that name for a long time. Such a lovely woman. How is she?”
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