by Mandy Baggot
Imogen nodded. ‘I know you don’t and that’s absolutely right.’
Janie sniffed again. ‘And if we tried again… he’s here in Greece. There’s so much to think about.’
‘But you could think about it. It isn’t impossible.’
Janie nodded. ‘I don’t know whether it was the music or the wine but, last night… I think last night, if he’d asked me to marry him again I would have.’
‘Oh, Janie.’ Imogen squeezed her hands and watched the tears slip from her sister-in-law’s eyes. The dance of lovers had a lot to answer for.
The phone on the table began to quake and Imogen sat forward, looking to the screen.
‘Is that lover boy? Wanting another rustic rhumba?’ Janie asked, grinning.
Imogen held her breath and looked at the screen. Louanne Bartlett – Wyatt Hotel Group. Here it was. Confirmation that when she returned to the UK it would be to Old Joe coughing over hash browns and griddled mushrooms and helping Grace pick out soft furnishings. Which was fine. Absolutely fine.
Speed-reading over the first couple of lines, her jaw dropped.
‘What is it?’ Janie asked. ‘He hasn’t dumped you, has he?’
Imogen looked up, wide-eyed and exhilarated, her heart racing. ‘It’s…’ She stopped. She couldn’t tell Janie. Janie would tell Harry and Harry was just about to open a restaurant. He didn’t need anything else to think about. She quickly changed her expression. ‘I won… the lottery.’
‘What?!’ Janie exclaimed.
‘Yes,’ Imogen carried on. ‘Four numbers. Almost sixty pounds.’
‘Oh,’ Janie said, deflating. ‘The way you looked I was thinking it was at least enough to buy a boat.’
Imogen smiled and dipped her head back to her phone and the email. She had an interview for the intern programme. And she was down to the final five.
59
Elpida Dimitriou’s home, Agios Martinos
‘I have made omelettes,’ Elpida said, swinging around in the kitchen, a plate in each hand. She deposited one in front of Panos and another in front of Rhea. ‘After the amount of grapes we consume last night we all need a good breakfast.’
Panos wasn’t feeling hungover but he was feeling different, liberated. Last night with Imogen had been something he thought he would never experience. He had given himself totally, utterly, body and soul and the seismic shift was vast.
‘Oh, I couldn’t,’ Rhea stated. ‘I ate so much last night.’
‘Pfft! You will waste away,’ Elpida said.
‘My taxi will be here soon,’ the woman responded.
Panos looked at her. ‘You have ordered a taxi?’
Rhea nodded. ‘It was enough that you arranged the plane. I called them and we are leaving at midday.’
‘Pano can drive you,’ Elpida stated, bringing her food to the table and pulling up a chair.
‘No, it is OK,’ Rhea insisted. ‘You… did not expect me to turn up here and you have been so nice…’
‘I can take you,’ Panos said. ‘It is no trouble.’ It was the very least he could do.
She shook her head. ‘No, honestly, Pano, you do not have to.’ She smiled. ‘I think there is somewhere else you should be spending your time now.’
He shifted in his chair, saying nothing.
‘Ah,’ Elpida said through a mouthful of egg. ‘The dance of lovers.’
Panos pushed his plate away, reluctant for his personal life to be discussed over breakfast. ‘I will make some coffee,’ he said, rising from his chair.
‘Pfft! Sit down,’ Elpida ordered. ‘We need to make plans.’
His grandmother’s tone worried him but he sat back in his chair and prepared to listen.
‘What is your intention with Imogen? Because you know you cannot dance with someone to the song of lovers unless you are committed to them.’
Rhea let out a laugh. ‘Is that really true? In Crete we have the same old tradition but no one really takes it that seriously now.’
‘In Corfu we do,’ the older woman responded. ‘So,’ Elpida continued, looking again to Panos. ‘What are you going to do?’
‘I am going to take Rhea to the airport.’
‘That was not what I asked,’ his grandmother said. ‘Imogen lives in the UK. You live… You live where, Pano? Crete? Rhodes?’ She lowered her voice. ‘Here in Corfu?’
‘I cannot give you the answer you want yet,’ he said, standing to leave.
‘I just want to know that you are going to do the right thing this time,’ Elpida said, looking to Rhea.
The young woman shook her hands, bangles shaking. ‘You leave me out of this.’
He sighed. ‘It is not my intention to ever hurt Imogen.’
‘Not good enough,’ Elpida snapped in reply.
‘Yiayia, this is new for me…’
‘And she is a good person.’
‘I know this.’
‘And he is going to do his best. Aren’t you, Pano?’ Rhea chipped in, a smile on her face. ‘Because it is time for a new start. For all of us.’
‘You sound like you have plans,’ Elpida said, forking omelette into her mouth and turning her attention to Rhea.
‘I do,’ Rhea answered. ‘I called my sister last night. I am going to stay with her for a while. She lives in Chania and has a holiday property business. I thought I might help her a little, see a bit more of my home island, concentrate on me.’
‘I think that sounds like a wonderful idea,’ Elpida said. ‘But if you ever want a job in a kitchen, I’m sure Harry and Imogen would be very grateful to have you. I know I would.’
‘Thank you, Elpida. Will you say goodbye to them for me?’ Rhea asked. ‘And to Janie and the children.’
‘Of course,’ Elpida said.
‘I am glad I got to see where you were raised,’ Rhea said, her eyes going to Panos.
‘Me too,’ he answered with sincerity.
* * *
The taxi arrived on time. All that was left to say was goodbye and Panos felt so much sadder than he could ever have envisaged. Taking her hands in his, he looked at her, admiring the beauty he had always seen and the true person inside he had never really been open to knowing.
‘You have to stop looking at people like that, Panos,’ Rhea stated. ‘You have no idea what those eyes do to a woman.’ She smiled. ‘Thank you for letting me stay.’
He shook his head. ‘No, thank you for staying. For helping Elpida at the restaurant and… for helping me too.’
‘Don’t mess this up, Pano,’ she said, her eyes welling up. ‘If you feel what I think you feel for Imogen, don’t waste a second.’
She threw herself into his arms, hands pulling him close as her usually nauseating scent somehow surrounded him with comfort. He wasn’t sure he deserved her understanding after being so absent from the relationship they’d had but parting on good terms would mean they could both move forward.
Rhea stepped back, quick to press her hair into place before bending to pick up her large handbag. ‘Antio,’ she said softly.
Panos opened the car door for her and she pushed in her handbag before slipping her body down onto the seat. ‘Antio, Rhea,’ he replied.
He closed the door and stepped back as the taxi driver started the engine. From inside, Rhea waved a hand and he waved back, standing still and watching as the vehicle moved down the track and onward, out of the village. He sighed as the taxi disappeared, leaving him with the view down over the green of the mountain. He reached up, leaning back and stretching his hands in the air, releasing the tension in his spine. Today was going to be a new start. He had a different plan and it started with getting an answer today about who owned the piece of land next to Halloumi.
60
Acharavi Beachfront
‘Antio, Manilos,’ Panos spoke into the phone. He ended the call and sucked in what he hoped was a decision-affirming breath. He had just decided on something that might just be the most crazy business move he had ever made. It had
certainly felt that way when he was explaining the bare bones of it to Manilos. Could it work? There were no guarantees. It would also involve getting the business owners of Acharavi completely behind him. The idea had sprung from the community market plan but this was more personal. It was about giving something back.
‘What am I doing here?’ Elpida asked, appearing behind him and setting her eyes on the Dimitriou Enterprises sign outside Tomas’ Taverna. ‘If you are cutting a ribbon before the earthmovers come I really do not need to see it.’
He smiled at his grandmother. ‘No earthmovers,’ he stated.
‘They are running late already?’ she asked, raising her eyes to Heaven. ‘Only in Greece, huh?’
‘They are not coming,’ he said. He straightened his body, lifting his face to the sun. ‘They are not coming at all.’
He watched Elpida’s lips disappear into her face like she was sucking out the stone from an olive. ‘Do not make jokes about this, Pano. Joking around the heart of an old woman is worse than her smoking herself into an early grave.’
He shook his head. ‘I am not joking.’
She looked even more confused, the lines etched into the swarthy skin on her forehead creasing. All the pain her sons had put her through and both dying too young. Him resenting everything and everyone. How was Elpida still standing eternally strong?
‘I am not going to create an entertainment complex here, yiayia,’ Panos clarified.
‘But… the signs and… you have bought Tomas’ Taverna…’ Elpida spluttered, as if still trying to make sense of his words.
‘I know,’ he answered. ‘And I still hope to buy Avalon and the other three restaurants on this section of Beach Road.’
Elpida shook her head. ‘Then I still do not understand.’
He smiled. He wasn’t sure he had quite got his head around it himself yet but suddenly it all seemed to be making sense.
‘I am going to offer to buy the restaurants. And then I will lease them back to the restauranteurs at a minimal rent,’ he stated.
Elpida blinked, then blinked again, as if the words were foreign to her. She patted the pockets on the front of her green leopard-print dress. ‘Where are my cigarettes? I need to smoke.’
‘No, yiayia, you do not.’
‘This sound very much like a trickety trap,’ she stated. ‘How would you be making your millions grow by doing that?’
‘I would not,’ he said. ‘This would not be about me making any more money.’ He took a breath. ‘It would be about me giving something back to Acharavi.’
‘I need to smoke,’ Elpida repeated.
‘I know these restaurants are still going through troubled times. Tomas had re-mortgaged. Lafi at Avalon is doing a little better, but I suspect the other restaurants are running on empty.’ He looked straight at his grandmother. ‘By giving them a lump sum they would be able to be debt free and keep their businesses, paying me a small amount each month they can afford, re-establishing themselves. By buying the properties I can ensure that no other developer can ever decide to rip up the beachfront. Because…’ He paused. ‘That would be a stupid idea.’
‘Pftt!’ Elpida exclaimed. ‘And what if you change your mind? You will own everything. What is to stop you getting bored in a few years’ time and demolishing it then?’
‘Alejandro Kalas has made it quite clear that developments such as mine would not be welcomed by the council. But,’ he said. ‘I am going to try and make sure the whole area is protected from people like me in the future.’
He swallowed. He realised it was a complete about turn, but over the past week Corfu had slowly seeped its way back into his heart and the blinkers that had been so permanently fixed in place had started to shift. All the women in his life had had a hand in it. Elpida, Imogen, even Rhea. The next thing on his list was reconnecting with his mother. If she would accept the offered olive branch.
‘This sounds a little too good to be true,’ Elpida responded.
‘There’s more,’ Panos said, wetting his lips. ‘I want the restaurants on the front to work together. They will not be my businesses, I will just be the landlord, but I hope they will take on board an idea I have had.’
‘What idea?’ Elpida asked with a sniff.
He sucked in a breath of the sea air and gazed out in the direction of Roda.
‘Vouchers,’ he said. ‘I remember seeing Risto giving out vouchers for money off meals at Halloumi for opening night.’
‘Go on,’ Elpida urged, her eyes still monitoring him.
‘Each restaurant along the strip will give out vouchers for one of the other restaurants.'
‘Their competitors? Pfft!’
‘No, their colleagues. Businesses all with the same aim. Making a living,’ Panos countered. ‘The very best way in business now is to work alongside one another, gain new business as a group, help to promote the sea-front restaurants as a whole.’
‘Are you talking about community, Pano?’ Elpida asked, looking a little suspicious of his motives.
‘Yes,’ he said. ‘I am.’
She shook her head, tears in her eyes. ‘Now, finally, you begin to understand,’ she whispered.
Her expression cut him to the quick and he looked from her to the beach where Spiros the doughnut man was beginning his afternoon walk along the sand. He had come here intent on making his mark on the village but he had come at it from entirely the wrong angle, from the same direction he had been coming at everything since he had left the island all those years ago. It had been about wanting to be better than his father, to be better than John, to prove the Dimitriou name was about success not failure. Except all he had proved was success in that form meant nothing if you were alienating everyone around you.
‘The hotels were not Christo’s dream in the beginning,’ Elpida said wistfully.
Panos raised his head, his eyes meeting hers. ‘What?’
She shook her head. ‘I do not think you remember how close Christo was to his brother Spiro. The hotels were always something Spiro talked about. Spiro wanted them to go into business together but Christo was not sure about the change.’
Panos swallowed. Risto’s parents had died when Risto was only two, he a few years older. It was just after that Christos would have purchased his first hotel.
‘I think your father’s grief played a very big part in shaping the man he was to become. It was like he was on a missionary to be the best… but not for him… for his brother.’
Panos shook his head, inhaling deep. It sounded such a familiar tale, trying to better his father but by making the same selfish choices. And now he was being told they weren’t really his father’s desires but his Uncle Spiro’s. ‘All of us Dimitrious have made many mistakes.’
Elpida nodded. ‘But it is not too late for you.’
‘That is what Imogen says and I hope she is right,’ he admitted, slipping his hands into his pockets. ‘Because there is one more thing I need to ask you.’
‘Pfft!’ Elpida exclaimed. ‘You think this is enough to make me stop smoking? I think this is a wonderful idea but Harry’s attempt at grilling the cheese his restaurant is named after is enough to make me need a packet a day.’
He smiled, settling his eyes on his grandmother again. ‘It is not to do with smoking this time.’ He moved his vision to the patch of land they were stood next to, the crop of grass gleaming in the sunlight. ‘Yiayia, I got Manilos to find out who owned this piece of land.’ He paused. ‘With the mapping how it is in Greece it took him a while, but today he gave me the answer.’
He watched Elpida study the rough tarmac on the ground.
‘You own it, yiayia,’ he said.
She shrugged her shoulders, finally lifting her head to face him. ‘And it seems to be the piece of land that everybody wants to buy around here.’
‘Why did you not build on it? Make the restaurant bigger?’ Panos asked.
‘I get Nico to cut the grass,’ she said, stepping onto the lush oasis of the
turf. ‘To keep it green like the trees in the mountains.’
He watched Elpida slide off her shoes and embed her feet into the lawn. She sighed, tipping her head back and rubbing her bare soles against the grass. ‘I do this every time I go past here, Pano,’ she informed. ‘This is where your grandfather and I had our first date. Right here, before all of the beachfront was built. On this patch of grass.’ She smiled. ‘Olives and Cooky’s father’s bread never tasted so good.’ She smacked her lips and let out a laugh.
He nodded, finally understanding.
‘You want to buy this from me?’ Elpida asked, dabbing her feet up and down like she was treading grapes.
‘Not now I know how much it means to you,’ he responded.
‘What do you want it for?’ she asked.
He sighed. ‘It does not matter.’
‘Pfft! Take off your business shoes,’ Elpida ordered.
‘What? No, do not be crazy.’
‘Pfft! Awful things that make your toes sweat. Take them off!’
He shook his head. ‘Yiayia…’
‘Off!’ Elpida ordered. ‘Or I will smoke twice as much as soon as you are out of sight.’
She was staring him down with that age-old expression he knew there was no escaping from. He used the heel of one shoe to pull down the side of the other and slipped it from his foot. He then bent, pulling off the second shoe with his hands, before dragging the dark socks loose and leaving himself barefoot.
‘Now come,’ Elpida beckoned. ‘Come onto the grass.’
He strode off the stony road, ignoring the jab of gravel on his soles and sunk down into the green layer, letting the coolness soak into his skin.
He felt Elpida take his hand in hers, squeezing it tight.
‘Now close your eyes,’ she ordered.
‘I really do not want to be thinking about you and my grandfather sharing olives, bread and Zeus knows what else,’ he stated, his eyes closing.
‘We do not share anything more than that the first time. Your grandfather was a gentleman,’ Elpida reminded him. She breathed in, her hand tightening in his. ‘Do you feel it?’ she asked. ‘The very roots of the island moving underneath you?’