Desperately Seeking Summer

by Mandy Baggot

  ‘I told you, didn’t I?’ Theo said, greeting Leon as he came past the bar. ‘Spyridoula is here with her friends. Checking up on me.’

  ‘Perhaps she is just here for drinks,’ Leon suggested, sipping at his beer.

  ‘You do not believe that any more than I do,’ Theo stated.

  ‘What time does your shift end?’

  ‘When the place closes,’ he answered, placing plates on a tray destined for the kitchen. ‘I suspect Spyridoula will get out her pack of cards and begin a game of bridge that will last the whole night just so she can keep me here.’ He still wasn’t entirely sure why he was being punished. Didn’t everyone deserve a time out? Space to self-reflect?

  Leon laughed. ‘Perhaps I will stay for the cards. The scenery is good tonight.’ He hitched his head towards the outside tables as if indicating something of interest.

  Theo looked to the seating by the water, then a little further to the boats moored close to the cove. Anchored in deeper water were the large, uber-expensive superyachts. He could tell a potential buyer everything there was to know about those boats and convince someone to buy with minimal effort. That was the business he was more familiar with, not mixology. But it felt like a lifetime ago. He looked back to Leon. ‘There is no way, even with my heaviest discount, that you are going to be able to afford a boat like that.’

  Leon laughed hard. ‘I was not talking about the boat. I was talking about the English girl. I cannot remember her name.’ He moved his head, as if trying to remember. ‘From my taxi today.’

  Theo regarded the guests he had been serving all evening. There were family groups, two men in business suits, a party celebrating a sixtieth birthday … that only left Abby and her mother.

  ‘Wearing the blue dress?’ Theo breathed.

  ‘Yes!’ Leon exclaimed. ‘She is cute, no?’

  ‘Her name is Abby,’ he stated. He watched her take a spoonful of honey ice cream and slip it into her mouth. He had been watching her all night and he had no idea why. She was pretty, without any of the heavy make-up and tight, figure-skimming dresses of his previous conquests. Nothing like the women he had actively pursued since he had left the mainland. Maybe it was time for a change. And there was definitely something different about her. The way she looked at everything so intently as if sucking in its very deepest fibre – the blue of the sea, the ruggedness of the mountains – the way she had slowly eaten her spanakopita as if every morsel were the finest caviar …

  ‘Yes, that is it,’ Leon said. ‘Now I remember.’ He took a swig of his beer. ‘Do you think I should invite her to the panegyri maybe?’

  Theo shrugged. ‘I do not know.’ He hated that idea. What was wrong with him? A blonde-haired tourist at a table just behind them had already made it very clear she would enjoy hooking up with him later.

  ‘Who are you going to take to the village festival?’ Leon asked.

  ‘I have not thought about it.’ Given the situation with his father and his father’s spy, he didn’t even know if he was going to be hanging around for any of the summer festivities.

  ‘We are here! We need vodka!’

  The loud, Russian accents boomed over the sound of the bar’s subtle chill-out vibe and a handful of men burst through the entrance, beginning a roaring chant, then moving to the bar and drumming their hands on the wooden top. Straightaway Theo prickled, putting down the last of his plates and standing tall.

  ‘Ugh,’ Leon stated with a shake of his head. ‘The tsars are back.’

  ‘Who are they?’ Theo asked.

  ‘The owners of that boat you were just looking at,’ Leon said.

  ‘Waiter! We need drinks!’ one of the men bellowed, directing the request at Theo.

  ‘Tora!’ another man ordered.

  And then began a chant of the Greek word for ‘now’. ‘Tora! Tora! Tora!’

  ‘What’s that dreadful noise?’ Jackie asked, looking towards the building.

  ‘I’m not sure,’ Abby replied. She sat back in her seat, stomach over-content now it was filled with seafood, pastry and the sweetest ice cream. The food had been heavenly. All she had remembered about Greek cuisine and so much more.

  ‘Well,’ Jackie sighed. ‘Diana was right about the divine sausage. I wonder where they get them from? I’ve not found anything like it in the butchers in Acharavi. Maybe I could ask Hera and we can do some for the Desperately Seeking party!’

  The party-to-end-all-parties was all Jackie had spoken about over dinner and Abby was glad. Her mum was back to seeming her jovial self and there had been no awkward pauses or asking about The Travellers’ Rest … or Darrell. She just hoped that everything Jackie was planning – table magicians, gourmet food, a Tom Hanks look-a-like – wasn’t going to be beyond them.

  ‘We need more chairs! Mum! Quick! More chairs! Igor, Andrei, Boris and Kevlar are here. Valentin’s coming and Diana’s on her way so we need to make sure the men sit down with us!’

  It was Melody, still wearing the cabaret outfit but the pizzazz not quite reaching her eyes. And had she said there was someone called Kevlar? Who named their child after body armour?

  ‘Abs! Come on! Help me!’ Melody screeched. ‘We’ll pull two tables together.’

  Abby watched her mum leap into action, backing away from their own table, picking vacant chairs up and rearranging. What was this frenzied almost-circus behaviour?

  ‘Abby! Come on!’ Melody hissed, beginning to haul a large table towards the one they had been sitting at in seashore tranquillity a few moments before.

  ‘What’s the rush?’ Abby asked, as she finally moved to help her sister. ‘I mean, if Igor’s your boyfriend he’s going to be sitting here with you, not with anyone else, isn’t he?’

  ‘It doesn’t work like that here,’ Melody answered almost under her breath.

  ‘What do you mean?’ Abby inquired.

  ‘Igor isn’t my boyfriend – not yet.’

  ‘Well, what is he then?’

  ‘You don’t understand. Things aren’t the same here as they are in Romsey. It’s not all holding hands and trips to the New Forest show. It’s more organised than that.’ Melody finally stood tall, hands on her hips as the table was set in place. ‘It’s tactical.’

  Abby shook her head, wanting to replace the conversation with something much more normal. Was she mistaken or had her sister just described relationships like they were planned out in a battle-room bunker?

  ‘Tactical?’ Abby hadn’t meant to say the word aloud but out it had come.

  ‘Things aren’t all feta cheese and bouzoukis like they were here when we were kids,’ Melody stated a little wistfully.

  They weren’t? But she was sure the traditional Greek charm was what their mum had moved here for. To try and recreate some of that positive peace and relaxation they had all felt on that family holiday with their dad. Or perhaps she hadn’t listened hard enough when the move had been in the works. Maybe she had been too caught up with Darrell when he’d asked her why she was even thinking of Greece when their whole lives were in the UK …

  ‘Mel-o-dy!’

  The voice was super-loud and eastern European. Abby turned around and saw four men moving across the road towards them in a way that could only be described as a swagger-cum-stagger. Dressed almost identically in cream-coloured trousers, brown shoes and slim-fit short-sleeved shirts in various colours, they moved towards the two tables pushed together as confidently as their alcohol-saturated bodies seemed to allow.

  ‘Igor!’ Melody exclaimed in obsequious tones, rushing to meet him.

  ‘That’s Igor?’ Abby remarked to Jackie, who seemed to have her hands down the front of her kaftan adjusting her boobs in her bra.

  ‘He is lovely,’ Jackie replied. She picked up her wine glass and checked her reflection in it.

  ‘He’s drunk,’ Abby stated.

  ‘Oh, Abby, they’re on holiday, just like you.’

  But, so far, she had managed to have half a carafe of wine and an Old F
ashioned and still keep her voice a normal level. And was able to walk without looking like she was doing a Korean pop routine.

  ‘Jac-kie!’ Igor greeted, swaying up to the table. He had a cigar tucked into the pocket of his shirt and a large bottle of vodka in his hand. He was attractive in a rather hard, surly, solid way but Abby thought his eyes were a little beady. She had never been fond of eyes that looked like they could be set inside the head of a creepy doll.

  ‘Kalispera, Igor,’ Jackie greeted, blowing him a kiss and smiling like a contestant on Take Me Out.

  ‘No kalispera!’ Igor roared. ‘You must learn Russian!’ He waved his hands until his comrades all grunted their agreement. He said a word that sounded like ‘Dobby’.

  Jackie attempted to repeat it and all the men fell about laughing. Abby was intensely annoyed.

  ‘Igor,’ Melody interrupted the laughter. ‘This is my sister, Abby.’ Her attention then went to the man next to him. ‘The one I told you about, Andrei.’ He was a little shorter than Igor and had fairer hair.

  ‘Ab-by!’ Igor announced.

  ‘Hello,’ Abby said. All at once she felt like the fish out of water she was. So much for thinking earlier that flying here had been the right thing to do. In this moment, all she wished she was doing was huddling up to Poldark – even if he had taken to sneering at the Tesco cat treats lately – and watching an episode of Narcos.

  ‘Hello, beautiful lady,’ Andrei said. He was moving towards her, swaying past his brother and Boris or Kevlar – she wasn’t sure who was who – until he was next to her. He too had beady eyes, and halitosis. He reached out a hand and Abby backed up fast.

  ‘I must go to the loo,’ Abby said, rising to go towards the building across the road.

  ‘Not now,’ Melody hissed, taking hold of her arm. ‘We need to get them settled.’

  ‘Settled?’

  ‘In place.’

  ‘In place for what?’ Abby asked in the same hushed tones her sister was using.

  ‘You don’t understand,’ Melody said with an annoyed shake of her head.

  ‘No, I really don’t. So why don’t you tell me what’s going on.’ Abby swallowed. ‘Are you in debt to them somehow? Like Liam-Neeson-needed-to-kick-arse kind of debt?’

  Melody didn’t even smile, let alone laugh. Now Abby was worried.

  ‘This isn’t a film, Abby,’ her sister replied.

  ‘I know, I think, but I can’t do the right things if you don’t tell me the whole story.’ Abby sighed and looked to her sister’s tiny shorts. ‘And I know there’s more to that outfit than giving a seventy-year-old man sweet dreams.’

  ‘Mel-o-dy! Come sit on me!’ Igor called.

  ‘Please tell me he meant “with” not “on”,’ Abby begged.

  Immediately Melody’s bubbly exterior began to overflow again, and she let go of Abby as soon as she saw Igor sit down in one of the chairs at their tables and pat his lap. ‘Don’t be long,’ Melody said. ‘You need to meet Andrei properly.’

  Abby looked to Igor’s brother, who was currently trying to get a slice of bread to stick to his forehead. She really didn’t want to spend any time with him at all, but she needed to find out who these people were and just why they were so important to her family. But to do that she definitely needed another drink.

  Thirteen

  ‘I will be glad when they all leave,’ Spyridoula announced. Theo watched his aunt’s eyes go to the group of Russian men outside, and she tutted, shaking her head as he prepared her table some more drinks.

  ‘Hera tells me they come here every night for the past two weeks.’

  ‘Did she also tell you they spend hardly any money? Come in here and order bottles of water then drink their own vodka.’

  ‘What?’ Theo queried.

  ‘We all know they have money,’ Spyridoula continued. ‘They show it off with their gold jewellery and their boats the size of the Parthenon. So why they think they can disrespect our island by taking over our bars and restaurants and not paying for that privilege I do not know.’

  Theo looked to the men again. He knew all about this sort of person. He had sold boats to scores of them over the past five years. He had turned on the charm to persuade them into parting with their millions of roubles. Here they were irritating and seemingly taking advantage of his new employer.

  Spyridoula let out a sigh, hands toying with the bracelets on her arm. ‘I expect Jackie is getting involved with them so they can donate towards more of her ugly pink painting!’ She shook her head. ‘It cannot stay. We are having a meeting about it this week.’

  ‘A meeting?’ a woman’s voice gasped. ‘About my mother’s business?’

  The bottle of retsina almost slipped out of Theo’s hands as he looked up to see Abby at the bar, next to his aunt.

  ‘Kalispera,’ Spyridoula said quickly. ‘I do not think we have met before. I am Spyridoula Pappas.’ She held out her hand to Abby and Theo watched the two exchange a somewhat awkward handshake.

  ‘I’m really sorry that my mother’s new rather garish shopfront is upsetting the villagers,’ Abby said softly. ‘I can see, well, it’s rather obvious, that it isn’t in keeping with the surroundings.’

  Spyridoula patted her on the shoulder. ‘If it were up to me there would be a place for everything.’

  Theo laughed internally. His aunt was skilled at saying everything and nothing all at once.

  ‘But,’ Spyridoula continued, ‘San Stefanos is a traditional place. We already have the Russians with their demand for borscht instead of avgolemono. And I fear the council will make orders against your mother if she does not change this of her own will.’

  Theo watched Abby, distracted from his fixing of the drinks. She looked suddenly despondent, those big, doe eyes reacting to the news, her expression one of heavy burden. Well, she couldn’t possibly be as worry-laden as he was.

  Then Abby nodded, somewhat more confidently, as if she had taken note of his aunt’s words and her mind was working on a plan. ‘I will speak to her,’ she said. ‘Could you give me a few days? Perhaps hold off the meeting?’ She sighed. ‘I can’t promise anything … but I will try my best.’

  Spyridoula smiled then and picked up her glass of ouzo and water, raising it slightly. ‘Of course,’ she said. ‘What is a few days between friends?’

  ‘Thank you,’ Abby replied, a long, slow breath leaving her body.

  Theo finished pouring the wine and looked to his aunt. ‘I will bring the drinks out to your table.’

  ‘You will not,’ Spyridoula snapped back. ‘I am capable of carrying a tray. You will serve the daughter-of-Jackie.’

  With that said, Spyridoula picked up the collection of drinks and began to meander through the bar towards her card-playing friends outside.

  ‘What can I get for you?’ Theo asked.

  ‘An escape would be good right now,’ Abby answered, another sigh slipping through her lips.

  ‘You wish to escape?’ Theo asked. ‘But you have only just arrived on Corfu, no?’

  His question seemed to wake her out of her thoughts. ‘Yes, I’m being dramatic. It’s still paradise despite the slightly odd company.’ She swallowed. ‘I didn’t mean you, sorry, I meant … the loud people.’

  He laughed. ‘I understand.’

  She took a breath. ‘Ti protinete?’

  He smiled. ‘What would I recommend?’ He looked to the vast array of bottles on the counter just below the sparkly granite countertop, liquid of varying colours inside them. He grinned, holding one up. ‘Something pink perhaps?’

  ‘That isn’t funny,’ Abby responded, but a smile was easing onto her lips.

  ‘Kalispera, Abby.’ It was Leon, climbing up onto the bar stool next to her. ‘You remember me?’ He smiled. ‘If not for me you would not be in San Stefanos.’

  Theo shook his head. His friend really needed to work on his lines.

  ‘Leon,’ Abby answered.

  ‘You do remember!’

  Theo ig
nored the curling of his gut and focused on preparing a knock-out cocktail.

  ‘So, you have had a good evening?’ Leon continued.

  ‘Yes,’ Abby replied. ‘The food was delicious and the sunset was to die for.’ She sighed, eyes going to the sea scene still visible from inside. The water was gently rippling now a soft, warm breeze had arrived. ‘I’d forgotten just how wonderful the sunsets are.’

  ‘One of the best places to see the sunset is 7th Heaven.’

  ‘I haven’t been there.’

  ‘It is at Logas Beach, on the west coast. I can take you.’

  Theo began to shake his chosen ingredients together as loudly as possible. He had not seen Leon act quite so forward before … and he wasn’t enjoying it.

  ‘Thank you, but I’m going to be busy helping my mum and my sister with their business,’ Abby answered. ‘Actually, Desperately Seeking is going to be having a party soon. You should come.’

  Leon slapped his hand to his forehead as if in sudden realisation. ‘The pink business!’

  ‘I’m hoping it isn’t going to be quite so pink for long … you should come too.’

  Theo realised that Abby had addressed him.

  ‘Theo is not sure how long he will be staying on Corfu,’ Leon said quickly.

  ‘Oh,’ Abby said. ‘I assumed you both lived here. My mistake.’

  ‘When is the party?’ Theo asked her.

  ‘Next week,’ Abby replied. ‘Probably. If my mum can find someone who looks like Tom Hanks.’

  Theo put a glass down in front of Abby, uncapped the cocktail shaker and began to pour. Watching her, not the glass, he caught her expression of delight as the turquoise liquid slowly slipped into the vessel. When he was finished pouring he added a lime wedge to the edge.

  ‘It looks beautiful,’ Abby breathed.

  ‘It will taste even better,’ Theo assured.

  ‘What is it?’ she asked him.

  ‘An escape,’ he replied, offering her a hint of a smile.

  She laughed. ‘Efxharisto.’

  ‘Parakalo.’

  ‘You should come to the panegyri,’ Leon jumped in, lightly touching Abby’s arm. ‘We have wine, of course, but there is food and dancing and good times.’