Desperately Seeking Summer

by Mandy Baggot

  Next, before she even realised, the warm feeling had suddenly got more intense, a strong pair of arms were around her waist and she felt that lithe, athletic frame at her back. Theo.

  Hot lips grazed her neck and she shivered, wriggling to turn to face him, putting her hand to his face and halting his advance.

  ‘We can’t do this here,’ Abby whispered. ‘I’m one of the faces of Desperately Seeking. I have to maintain a certain degree of professionalism.’

  ‘Hmm,’ Theo said, brown eyes darkening almost wickedly. ‘How about we make degrees of our own … right angles together on the sand.’

  ‘Theo …’

  ‘I know you want to,’ he breathed, catching her lips with his.

  ‘I know I want to,’ she replied. ‘But we can’t. Not here. Not yet.’ She swallowed, the thought of breaking out of her comfort zone as well as her clothes was thrilling her. Then she smiled. ‘What was it you said when we were dancing? About not wanting to share our moment with your aunt and … Stathis.’

  He brushed a stand of her hair back from her face. ‘Stathis is not here.’

  ‘But Spyridoula is.’ Abby pointed to where Theo’s aunt and Mrs Karakis were kicking off their shoes and skipping across the sand like they were children. Behind them were her mum and George, carrying a picnic basket and blanket between them.

  ‘That is one of the troubles of Greek families,’ Theo responded with a sigh. ‘They are always everywhere.’

  ‘And I can’t leave my sister,’ Abby told him. ‘Everyone is paired up except Melody. I even thought Aleko and Diana were going to start holding hands on the trip over here.’

  Theo kissed her again. ‘I do not think you have to worry too much about Melody.’

  ‘No?’

  ‘She was introducing herself to the waiter at the restaurant.’ He spun Abby around, directing her gaze to where her sister was peeling off her denim shorts and being admired by one local in particular. Her lovely, uninhibited sister, using summer just the way it should be used.

  Abby looked back at Theo, drinking him in in all his deliciousness, before removing her sun dress, perhaps a shade provocatively, until her size twelve curves were revealed, clad only in a bikini.

  ‘Wow,’ Theo uttered, his voice rapt.

  ‘You are wearing far too much,’ Abby said, her hands going to the flimsy vest, fingers skidding through the side splits until they met skin.

  ‘I was thinking this same thing.’

  He wasted no time in removing his vest, revealing that honed abdomen she admired so much. Then he unfastened his shorts, dropping them to the sand to reveal Daniel Craig-style trunks. She swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry, then reached for his hand. ‘Let’s get wet.’

  The sea was the kind of turquoise transparent you never really believe exists until you see it for yourself. And now Abby was chest-deep, indulging in its coolness, swimming, splashing, feeling so light and free. It was an almost indescribable sensation, and opened her eyes about what was important in life and what wasn’t.

  ‘I’m here! I’m present!’ she shrieked at the top of her voice.

  ‘You are crazy!’ Theo called, swimming around her, splashing her.

  ‘I’m not,’ Abby insisted. ‘I’m serious.’

  ‘Very seriously English,’ Theo teased. ‘Would you like a cup of tea?’

  ‘How rude!’ She sniffed. ‘You know I’m a sucker for a cocktail.’

  ‘I think this is why you like me,’ Theo teased. ‘Only for the way I make your cocktails.’

  ‘It’s true,’ Abby answered. ‘When you told me you weren’t a professional mixologist I felt nothing but deep disappointment.’

  ‘Hey,’ Theo said, splashing her again. ‘Do not think I am not professional at this. My uncle has a bar. I have been learning to make cocktails since I was very small.’

  ‘A man of many talents,’ she answered.

  ‘And some of them you have not yet discovered,’ he said, his voice pure seduction.

  She clasped her arms around his neck, nestling close as the water swilled around them. ‘I am in the moment,’ she told him. ‘Deeply, absolutely, in this moment with you.’ She looked up at him, seeing him and only him, quietly, softly, with a different outlook. Just because forever wasn’t on offer it didn’t mean this time couldn’t count. She wanted it to count.

  ‘I am in this moment too, Abby,’ he whispered.

  She kissed him then, their mouths wrapping together, their bodies gently rocking with the movement of the water. With the warming sun on her shoulders, and this gorgeous, engaging man suddenly part of her summer, Abby realised exactly what she had been missing. Independence. Spontaneity. A combination of loss and fear and lists had made her rigid and unvarying. Well, no more. She was the mistress of her own destiny and nothing needed to be anally predetermined like it had been.

  She pulled away from him, touching her finger to the lush pad of his beautiful bottom lip, her thumb grazing the slight roughness of his jawline, the sea lapping her back and shoulders. Then she pointed, to the shoreline, but higher, to the flat-topped hill that towered over the sand. ‘I want to climb that hill.’

  Theo spun around, holding her in his arms, to look where she had pointed, the water splashing them both. ‘To climb we must have equipment. It is very steep and dangerous.’

  Disappointment shrouded her new-found bravado and she knew it was written all over her face.

  ‘Hey, do not look so sad, my opposite,’ Theo said, tickling her neck and making her squeal. ‘We cannot climb today but we can hike.’ He pressed his lips to hers again. ‘Ela.’

  Sixty

  Katergo Hill, Erikousa Island

  Theo sunk his teeth into the rich, ripe fig he had plucked from the tree. It was so good, fresh like this, the flesh sweet and yet heavy with its special syrupy liqueur.

  A groan of pleasure came from Abby, just a few metres behind him and it served to prick his desire.

  ‘Oh, Theo,’ she continued. ‘This is so good!’

  He swallowed, his mind delivering all manner of visuals involving her bikini. He took a moment, before turning to look at her as he continued to walk the dusty trail upwards. Her lips were wet with fruit, fingers sticky with fig juice.

  ‘It’s like the sweetest honey,’ Abby said. ‘It’s wonderful.’

  ‘Better than figs in England?’ he queried.

  ‘We don’t really eat many figs in England,’ she replied. ‘And when we do, we tend to put them in puddings and ruin them.’

  ‘Look,’ Theo said, pointing ahead of them. ‘Look at the dragonfly!’

  He held still as Abby came slowly, quietly alongside him, keenly seeking what he could see.

  ‘You see?’ Theo whispered. It was a particularly good specimen. A slender, bright teal body with wings of the same colour, a shining, swirling pattern on them, the tone of an abalone shell.

  ‘It’s beautiful,’ Abby declared.

  It was beautiful, as was this whole day. He couldn’t remember the last time he had absorbed the natural wonder around him. Even in his days of island-hopping he hadn’t really stopped and looked, he had just stopped and drank beer, stopped and switched off, disconnected. Here with Abby it felt like he was learning to fully re-engage again.

  The dragonfly took to the skies and Theo reached for Abby’s hand. ‘Come, we are nearly at the top where there is no vegetation.’

  ‘No vegetation?’

  ‘But there is a great view,’ Theo reassured.

  ‘This island is full of views,’ Abby answered with a contented sigh.

  A few more metres brought them to the summit and Abby let out a laugh, her feet finding not earth or greenery but tarmac. ‘What is this?’ she asked. ‘Don’t tell me this is a car park.’

  Theo smiled, shaking his head. ‘No.’

  ‘It seems odd,’ Abby said. ‘To have all this beauty then to have concrete up here.’

  ‘There is a good reason for it,’ Theo responded, as they walked to t
he centre of the space.

  ‘Did someone build something pink?’ Abby asked, a wry expression on her face.

  ‘It is a letter,’ Theo said. He scuffed his sandal on the ground. ‘See?’

  Abby looked, then took a few steps back and surveyed the area in its entirety.

  ‘It’s an “H”,’ she said.

  ‘Ne,’ Theo answered. ‘A helipad.’

  ‘Wow,’ Abby replied. ‘So, this is where Bruce Willis and Jude Law land their helicopters when they want to escape stalkers like my sister in Corfu.’

  ‘No.’ He smiled. ‘It is a little more serious than that.’

  ‘Oh?’

  ‘It is for the fire department,’ Theo explained. ‘There are very many fires on Corfu in the summer when it is so dry. It only takes one moment of carelessness with a cigarette or a bottle thrown into the grass that the sun catches and it can cause devastation.’ He sighed. ‘One summer there was a fire on the headland at San Stefanos. All the villagers, they work together with buckets of water to try to stop the spread until the helicopters arrive.’ Walking over to the edge, he pointed to the wide, wavy blue of the sea below them. ‘We have all the water we need to put out the fire but the helicopters must have somewhere to rest and refuel.’

  ‘And this is the place,’ Abby breathed.

  ‘This is the place.’ He turned his head to look at her. ‘Not as romantic as you thought, maybe?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Abby replied, matching his gaze. ‘You can see for miles up here.’ She took a breath. ‘And there’s no one else around.’ She moved herself a little closer to him, desire igniting. ‘And I’m pretty sure I don’t know anyone else who’s ever had sex on a helipad before.’

  ‘Abby,’ he breathed, his fingers gently touching her face. ‘You talking that way …’

  ‘What way?’ she half-whispered.

  ‘Of sex,’ Theo answered.

  Him saying the word only made her G-spot quiver all the more. She wanted his lips on hers again, then she needed to rip off her sundress, drop them both onto Black Hawk Down and … rotate.

  Suddenly an alarm sounded and all thoughts of propellers were whirled away.

  ‘Signomi,’ Theo said, reaching into the pocket of his shorts.

  ‘What is it?’ Abby asked, heart still thumping, her lady bits cursing the mobile phone interruption.

  ‘I set an alert,’ Theo pressed the screen of his phone and tried to shield it from the sun.

  ‘Lunchtime?’ Abby asked with a sigh of frustration.

  ‘No,’ he said, screwing up his eyes as if to focus. ‘It is a weather app. For boats. For sea conditions.’

  There was no way he was going to take any chances. Despite what his father and, apparently, his counsellor thought, he knew his craft and he hadn’t been about to voyage off in charge of a group of people without proper care and due diligence.

  ‘It sounded like someone was announcing the ten o’CLOCK NEWS,’ Abby said.

  This did not look good. There were several warnings in place from the Hellenic Meteorological Service. A storm was on its way, in a little over an hour. This was the last thing he needed.

  ‘What’s wrong?’ Abby asked.

  ‘Tipota,’ he answered quickly.

  ‘Your expression says more than nothing.’

  He didn’t know why he had said ‘nothing’. Keeping up appearances? That was what his father did. And lying about the severity of matters only made things better for a very short period of time. Then, either the truth revealed itself or you had no choice but to say what you should have said at the very beginning.

  ‘There is a storm on its way,’ Theo stated. ‘High winds.’

  ‘A thunderstorm?’ Abby asked.

  ‘Ne.’ But it wasn’t just a thunderstorm. Thunderstorms were common on Corfu, usually brewing up in the afternoon after a particularly hot day, but this, this was predicted to be a wind he had never encountered before. He needed to make a decision. They should either cut short their day trip and leave Erikousa now or … or what? Face battling the storm later? It was insane to even think of risking it. Even the most experienced of sailors wouldn’t be stupid enough to attempt it. But this was Abby’s big prize, a special day, a culmination of so much work since she had landed on this Greek island …

  ‘Theo,’ she said. ‘Please, tell me what’s wrong.’ She looked worried as well as beautiful right now. He reached out, touching the edges of her hair.

  ‘We need to make a decision,’ he told her. ‘A bad storm is coming, a very bad storm.’ He took a breath, looking at her as he delivered the news. ‘We need to leave Erikousa in the next thirty minutes or we will be, how you say, stranded.’

  ‘Stranded!’ She clapped her hands to her face, eyes wide. ‘What do you mean stranded?’

  Theo took her hands down from her cheeks and squeezed them in his. ‘Come, we must tell the others.’

  Sixty-one

  Porto, Erikousa Island

  Abby’s chest was tightening as the beachfront came into view. The descent from Katergo had been done at pace, with no time to pick any more figs or take in the scent of the floral beauty that lined the undulating tracks that made up this island. This was a tour organiser’s worst nightmare. Her lucky winners were not going to be happy whatever course of action was taken. Their day would be cut short, the event ruined, Aleko gleeful he had seen it all … but safety had to be paramount.

  The first recognisable shape that came into view was Melody’s bouncing hair as she jiggled herself out of her short shorts, one bare foot on a sunbed.

  ‘I will go and prepare the boat,’ Theo said to Abby.

  ‘Yes,’ she answered. ‘And I will deliver the bad news.’ She took a deep breath and approached her sister.

  ‘Melody,’ she began. ‘We have to get back to Corfu.’

  ‘Abs, honestly, relax. You’ve hardly had a day of holiday since you’ve been here and now you’re panicking about getting everyone back on time.’

  ‘Not back on time,’ Abby stated. ‘Back now, alive.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Theo says there’s a big storm coming. High winds and rough seas. We need to leave now or we might not be able to leave at all today.’

  ‘Is this a joke?’ Melody put her hand over her eyes to shield them from the sun. ‘The only thing I can see is a very blue sky and my afternoon with Milo over there, stretching out gloriously in front of me.’ She sent a non-coy wave over to the waiter.

  ‘I’m not joking,’ Abby said. ‘I’m deadly serious. Theo has a boating app and he’s looked at all these charts online and it’s not looking good for later.’ She had to make Melody understand. ‘We need to leave now. Help me get everyone together.’

  ‘You’re serious, aren’t you?’

  ‘Yes! Come on!’

  ‘We can’t,’ Melody’s eyes turning horrified. ‘Mum and George went off to the other side of the island on a tour.’

  ‘Well, we have to get them back.’

  ‘And how do you propose we do that? It’s a hike away with no car and I’ve only got flip-flops on!’

  Theo re-checked the weather warnings on his phone. The front was moving quickly. If they didn’t get going soon they would be chancing meeting the predicted high winds and dangerous tides.

  ‘What is going on?’ Spyridoula called out from the dock. ‘You are taking the boat around the harbour?’

  ‘No,’ Theo answered. ‘We have to leave very soon. Abby is getting everyone together now.’

  ‘There is bad weather?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘How quickly does it come?’ His aunt’s sense of urgency started to prick his already heightened concern.

  ‘Soon,’ he replied. ‘We need to leave within the next thirty minutes, to be safe.’

  ‘You are OK with this? Spyridoula asked.

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Then why do you check the life jackets three times already?’

  ‘We haven’t been here very long at a
ll. I’ve not even had petit fours,’ Diana complained when Abby had explained the situation to her and Aleko at the restaurant.

  ‘We have time for coffee, Diana, I am sure.’ Aleko raised his hand in the air. ‘Dhio kafedes, parakalo.’

  ‘No,’ Abby said. ‘We don’t have time for coffee. We don’t have time for anything! I’m serious! The weather might look beautiful now but—’

  ‘I can smell a storm,’ Aleko informed. ‘All I can smell right now is good Greek coffee.’ He stuck his hand in the air again. ‘Signomi.’

  ‘Are you listening to me?!’ Abby practically barked. ‘We need to leave and we need to leave now!’ As the words hit the air the bright sunlight suddenly diminished and Abby looked out over the sea that had been so still and calm just a few moments ago. The colour of the water had changed. No longer a deep, rich blue but a bright, dazzling, somehow foreboding turquoise. The hairs on the back of her neck stood to attention as the sky darkened.

  ‘Get your things, pay for your meal and get down to the boat straightaway.’ Abby’s phone began to ring and she pulled it out of her bag. Melody.

  ‘Melody?’ she answered.

  ‘Mum’s not picking up and neither is the guy from the hotel who took them off.’

  She closed her eyes, willing her body not to panic. But they couldn’t go anywhere without Jackie and George.

  ‘Just keep trying them both,’ Abby said. ‘And let me know as soon as they’re on their way back.’

  Sixty-two

  ‘Where are they?’ Theo looked at his watch again, only a mere minute since his last time check.

  ‘The sky is becoming black,’ Spyridoula commented. ‘Maybe we should just wait out the storm.’

  ‘But if we do that,’ Theo began. ‘It will mean everybody has to stay at the hotel. And everyone will expect Abby and her family to pay and they do not have the money.’