Staying Out for the Summer

by Mandy Baggot

  Lucie slapped his arm. ‘Put your eyes back in your head. He’s not.’

  ‘You don’t know he’s not. Has he explicitly told you he’s only into girls? There’s so much putting into convenient boxes these days and we don’t all fit the same shape, you know.’

  ‘I haven’t asked him,’ Lucie replied. ‘But you are with Simon!’

  ‘Well,’ Gavin breathed. ‘Not exactly “with”.’ He made the quote marks in the air.

  ‘Come on, Gavin, what happened to being supportive and helping him on his journey wherever it may lead? It’s only been a few days and you’ve pined over him for the best part of a year.’

  ‘I know.’

  ‘And you remember how hard it was for you at the beginning? When we joined the hospital you were worried about fitting in.’

  ‘Everyone made their own assumptions about me,’ Gavin stated.

  ‘And what did you do?’

  ‘Dressed as Freddie Mercury at the very first social opportunity there was.’

  ‘Exactly! And you have tons more confidence than Simon,’ Lucie told him. ‘Simon’s softer and more cautious about everything. He literally caresses that coffee machine at work. Unlike Jez, who goes at it like he wants it to bleed.’

  ‘I really like him,’ Gavin stated, hands on hips.

  ‘I know you do. But you’ve played the long game already. You just have to play it a little bit longer, this time knowing that possibly there’s going to be this terrific reward at the end.’

  ‘Now you’re making Simon sound like an Amazon gift card.’

  ‘Loosely!’ Miltos shouted, even though he was only a few steps away. ‘My grandmother says you have to keep still. You do not have to move your whole body to talk.’

  As he said this, Miltos’s arms were flailing around expressing himself like they always were. He flattened them to his sides quickly and frowned. ‘You are not Greek,’ he said by way of explanation.

  ‘So… what’s going to happen with the good doctor when we go home?’ Gavin asked, plumping his bottom down on the edge of a wooden cart stacked full of watermelons.

  ‘I don’t know,’ Lucie breathed. ‘And I almost messed up the day he took me paddleboarding.’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I said the “f” word.’

  ‘Darling, we all say the “f” word.’

  ‘Forever,’ Lucie said on an out breath. ‘I said “forever” and, when we made love in the water, I almost almost said I loved him.’

  ‘Fuck!’ Gavin’s gaze then went to the two Greek women still buzzing around Lucie’s dress. ‘Sorry, ladies. What was it again… signomi.’ He lowered his voice. ‘Do you love him?’

  ‘I can’t, can I?’ Lucie said. ‘It’s too soon. Who falls in love this quickly?’

  ‘Most romantic comedy heroines are in lust in the first five minutes of the movie and in the deepest love known to Hallmark by the end.’

  A gentle voice broke in. ‘And I was definitely in love with Petros.’

  Sixty-Two

  Lucie turned around.

  ‘Meg! You’re here! I was worried when you didn’t call me back. We were going to come and pick you up.’

  ‘Stop worrying about me, Lucie-Lou. I’ve been getting out and about to some of my old haunts from when I was here before,’ Meg said. ‘I’ve ridden a bicycle for the first time in years and I’ve spent time listening to the anecdotes of a real life man from the mountains. Oh! Don’t you look so beautiful in that dress?’

  ‘Well,’ Gavin began. ‘It’s not quite Valentina but it does have a certain je ne sais quoi I guess.’

  ‘Do you mean Valentino?’ Meg inquired.

  ‘No, he doesn’t,’ Lucie replied.

  ‘Right, time for more refreshments,’ Gavin said, clapping his hands together. ‘Is this going to take all day do you think? Or are we going to have time to meet Simon at the beach?’

  ‘I’m not standing in this dress all day,’ Lucie told him.

  ‘Frappe?’ he asked her. ‘One for you too, Meg?’

  ‘That sounds divine,’ Meg answered.

  ‘Sit down, Madame Meg,’ Miltos ordered, arriving with a fold-up chair whose mechanisms were crusted with rust. ‘Relax! Take in all that a Sortilas festival is going to offer. This is my grandmother and my great-aunt.’

  ‘Goodness!’ Meg exclaimed. ‘Kalimera sas. Xero poli.’ She smiled at Lucie. ‘I said “good morning” and “nice—”’

  ‘Nice to meet you,’ Lucie said. ‘I’ve been learning a bit of Greek too.’

  ‘From Michalis?’ Meg asked, adjusting her sun hat.

  ‘Yes,’ Lucie replied.

  ‘You sound a little sad,’ Meg said. ‘Is something wrong? I’m sorry if I butted into your conversation with Gavin.’

  ‘I’m not sad,’ Lucie replied. ‘Just wondering, I suppose.’

  ‘About your feelings for Michalis?’

  She nodded, gaze going back over the square where Michalis was having an elaborate headpiece put in place. ‘I came here to… clear my mind and try to move on from how hard last year was, and I have done that, but…’

  ‘But?’ Meg queried.

  ‘But it’s been so much more than that. This place,’ she breathed. ‘Greece, Corfu… Sortilas. It’s got into me like nowhere I’ve been before. It’s not a step back in time as such, it’s… a giant leap away from how I’ve been living at home. Here I never know what time it is and that’s such a good thing. I’ve read books, I’ve swum and I’ve eaten foods I never would have even thought of. And, I’ve met someone who makes me feel so comfortable with myself. I haven’t ever had that before.’

  ‘And that is exactly how I felt with Petros,’ Meg admitted, nodding.

  ‘And you never saw him again after your holiday.’

  ‘And that was a mistake,’ Meg said very definitely.

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Yes,’ Meg concurred. ‘I know that I never met another man who made me feel the way he did. I don’t know how to explain it fully, but it was almost as if he instinctively saw things the way I saw them, thought the same way, breathed in life at the same pace somehow.’

  ‘Oh, Meg… I don’t know what to say. Do you think maybe you could find him again?’

  Meg shook her head. ‘I can’t do that. Look at me, I’m nothing like the pretty young thing I used to be. And Petros, he was so handsome, someone more courageous than me will have snapped him up years ago.’ She sighed. ‘I imagine him bouncing grandbabies on his knee, singing and watching his wife dance around the kitchen.’

  Lucie reached for her aunt’s hand and held it tight. ‘You are beautiful,’ she insisted. ‘I’ve always been a little jealous of your amazing skin. And… you don’t know that Petros is living the perfect life. He might be miserable and alone and remembering a girl he loved and lost long ago.’

  Meg shook her head. ‘It just wasn’t meant to be. Perhaps it was because I needed to be somewhere else so that someone else could take a chance on another Greek man years later.’

  Lucie looked over at Michalis again. ‘I’m not used to jumping into things without due consideration.’

  ‘And I think during our conversations on this island we’ve both agreed that jumping should be… jumped at.’

  ‘But… what if he doesn’t feel the same?’ Lucie asked. ‘What if it’s been a lovely holiday romance but that’s all he wants?’

  ‘Lucie-Lou,’ Meg began. ‘Don’t be so scared of the answers that you never end up asking the questions.’

  Lucie nodded. She felt better having asked Meg all about her mum. It hadn’t taken away the fact that Rita was gone but it had helped to know that it was accidental, that Rita had loved her. Maybe that was all she ever really needed to be certain of.

  ‘I don’t want to be afraid anymore… and I have been. Without truly acknowledging it.’

  ‘Then, my darling girl, you must ask the questions,’ Meg told her.

  Lucie drew in a deep breath, looking once more a
t the gorgeous man who had been ever-present during this Greek escape. ‘I’ll ask the questions,’ she told Meg. ‘And whatever the answers are, I’ll accept them.’

  ‘Oh no!’ Meg interjected rapidly, swatting away a mosquito. ‘I never said anything about accepting the answers. No matter what Michalis says, you must fight for what you want. Because sometimes, people answer with their head and not with their heart.’

  ‘So, if he doesn’t want me I have to force him to change his mind?’ Lucie asked. ‘That doesn’t quite feel right.’

  Meg shook her head. ‘I’m not saying you try to force him to do anything he doesn’t want to do. I mean, for example, if someone asks you to stay and live somewhere… let’s say Corfu. Then, as well as considering the practicalities… like… what would people think? Where would I work? Or I’m too young to make a decision like that, what if I stay and it all goes wrong and I have to go home with egg on my face…’ Meg took a breath. ‘Instead, think about joy. And happiness. And what if things go right.’ She smiled again. ‘Ask the questions, hear the answers and then listen to both your hearts. Together.’

  Lucie squeezed her aunt’s hand. ‘OK,’ she agreed. ‘I will.’

  ‘Who knows,’ Meg began. ‘You might be wearing that beautiful traditional dress up a real aisle one day… not one adorned with fur and tortoise excrement.’

  ‘Thank you, Meg,’ Lucie breathed, putting her fingers to the lace and revelling in the texture.

  ‘What are you thanking me for?’ Meg asked.

  ‘Well, from what you’ve just said, I think I’m most probably thanking you for not listening to your heart when Petros asked you to stay.’

  Meg nodded and looked a little wistful. ‘Well, that was my decision and I wouldn’t have missed your growing up for the world.’

  ‘But, if you had the chance again?’ Lucie had a feeling she already knew the answer.

  ‘I might know a lot more of the Greek language than I do now,’ Meg whispered.

  ‘Loosely!’ Miltos called, coming back towards them. ‘It is time for you to get into position for the dancing.’

  ‘What?!’ Lucie exclaimed. ‘No… wait… dancing? I’m… not a part of the festival. I’m just here to be fitted for this dress… out of kindness to your—’

  ‘Every year my grandmother and aunt make a traditional Corfiot dress that is worn in a parade at one of our festivals,’ Miltos informed. ‘And this year it is this new festival.’ He grinned wide. ‘And they have decided it is also this dress!’

  ‘Of course they have,’ Lucie said through gritted teeth and a smile to the old ladies.

  ‘So, you need to learn your movements for the big evening. Ela! Come!’

  ‘Meg,’ Lucie said as Miltos prepared to drag her into the centre of what was about to become dance space. ‘I’m not altogether sure about staying in Greece. It might move at a different pace to the UK, but your time is never ever your own unless you lock all the doors!’

  Meg laughed as Lucie picked up her skirts and followed the fruit van man.

  Sixty-Three

  Theotoky Estate, Ropa Valley

  ‘It says here,’ Gavin began, reading from his phone, ‘that the Theotoky family are one of the oldest families in Greece.’ He smiled. ‘I wonder if they come from Sortilas?’

  ‘Sshh,’ Lucie said as they made their way across the courtyard to a white-washed stone building, a brick archway surrounding the heavy-looking door, two iron benches set outside. It felt like so long since they had altered their visit to the winery due to the landslide on the Sortilas road and Lucie wanted to soak up every tiny bit of this visit and her last few days on this beautiful island.

  Finally in a luxurious minibus they hadn’t seen the like of since they’d left Corfu airport, they had been driven down the very centre of the island, then across almost to Paleokastritsa, passing near Doukades where they had visited the donkeys, until finally ending up here in the Ropa Valley. Unlike most of the rest of Corfu, this area was exceedingly flat. Grassy fields like cricket pitches stretched out, some containing flocks of grazing livestock, or, like here, row upon row of vines.

  ‘You didn’t mind me inviting Meg, did you?’ Lucie whispered to Michalis as they were taken into a room containing large metal vats.

  ‘No,’ Michalis answered. ‘Why should I mind?’

  ‘Well, because it started out as being you and me and Gavin and Simon, and now Meg’s here and Gavin asked Nyx too and—’

  Michalis silenced her with a kiss and she melted like she always did when he touched her with any part of his anatomy. It was very difficult to keep her head straight when he was constantly giving her all the heart vibes…

  ‘It is good my sister is not in the shop for a while. She works too hard,’ Michalis replied.

  Lucie looked ahead of them to where Gavin, Simon, Nyx and Meg were grouped around their guide who was shortly going to be explaining to them the process of converting grapes into their organic award-winning wine. It was so peaceful here and yet another step back to simpler times.

  ‘But,’ Michalis stated, ‘Nyx will drink the wine like it is water. And sleep all the way back in the coach.’

  Lucie laughed and it earned her a very stern shush from Gavin.

  *

  The tour had taken them from the room where the raw product was turned from fruit into wine, to the most magnificent cellar. Scores of dark glass bottles surrounded them, stacked side by side, corks facing outwards, kept at the most precise temperature. Everyone had marvelled at the room with its wooden beams and stone walls, taking photos of the mammoth stack of full bottles and being very careful not to knock into any of them. But it was the room they were in now that was the real spectacle. There were more rugged stone walls and beams, but this time huge wooden barrels sat the length of the long room and running down its centre were tables and chairs, each decorated with glowing candles and rings of olive branches.

  ‘Oh, this is simply wonderful!’ Meg announced, stepping into the room, camera already out and snapping.

  ‘It’s so cool!’ Gavin said, fanning his T-shirt a little.

  ‘I think it is very cool,’ Nyx replied.

  ‘I meant it’s actually cool,’ Gavin said. ‘The temperature.’

  ‘Yes, that is what I mean also,’ Nyx answered.

  ‘I have never been anywhere like this,’ Simon said, standing close to Gavin.

  Lucie swallowed as her mind conjured up visions of what this room could be used for if it wasn’t hosting their wine tasting. It would make the best venue for a party or perhaps a murder mystery or even… a wedding. That dress had so much to answer for and now, tomorrow night she was going to be ‘performing’ in it. How had that happened?

  ‘You do not like the room?’ Michalis asked her.

  ‘Oh, no,’ Lucie began. ‘The room is absolutely breathtaking. Really, really gorgeous.’

  ‘But something is wrong?’

  She shook her head. ‘No, nothing is wrong.’ Except for the fact that she was going back to the UK soon and she hadn’t yet been brave enough to ask Michalis what happened next for them.

  ‘I have never been here before,’ Michalis told her.

  ‘No?’

  ‘People often think that people who live on Corfu have been everywhere there is to go. But, there is much to do here and we are always working. Plus, it is a much bigger island than some think… because of its many little places.’

  Many little places. Yes, that was another plus point of this island. There were hundreds of tiny gems of villages tucked away around a tight bend or sprinkled down through narrow roads surrounded by olive groves and wildflowers.

  ‘Shall we try some wine?’ Michalis suggested.

  Lucie nodded. Perhaps a little organic wine on her tongue would give her the kick she required to start an important conversation.

  *

  ‘This wine is the rosé from 2018,’ their guide informed them.

  ‘It smells wonderful,’ Meg said, lif
ting the glass to her nose and inhaling like it might contain a fragrant spray of flowers.

  ‘Perhaps sip this one?’ Gavin suggested, giving Nyx a nudge in the ribs.

  ‘I am sipping the water,’ Nyx replied with a scowl.

  ‘Don’t let him boss you around,’ Simon said to Nyx. ‘He can be a bit like that sometimes.’

  ‘Hey!’ Gavin replied, but he sent Simon a smile and raised his glass to him.

  ‘It has a very discreet nose,’ the guide continued, finishing off the pouring.

  ‘Unlike you, Michalis,’ Gavin said.

  ‘And there are notes of pink grapefruit,’ the guide said. ‘It should feel fresh, like crunching fruits but also with a beautiful thickness to it.’

  Michalis looked to Lucie then and watched her as she slowly put the rim of the glass to her lips. The liquid finally met her mouth and Michalis continued to watch, imagining the sensation as it hit her tongue and rolled into her senses. She closed her eyes then and seemed to take a moment before opening them.

  She smiled at him. ‘Aren’t you going to try some?’

  ‘I was watching you try a little first.’

  ‘It’s so nice,’ Lucie admitted. ‘Refreshing and cool and light.’

  Michalis drank a little and nodded. ‘I like it.’

  ‘We should buy some,’ Lucie suggested. ‘Maybe we could find somewhere private and have another picnic before I go home… you know, if you have time and… you want to.’

  ‘This is the perfect wine to go with sausage,’ their tasting expert interjected.

  ‘Did you hear that, Simon?’ Gavin asked loudly.

  ‘I would like that very much,’ Michalis said, leaning a little closer to Lucie. But, as he moved, something in his peripheral vision distracted him. It was someone coming into the entrance area. He couldn’t see very well, but the shadow being cast had an odd air of familiarity about it…

  ‘Would you?’ Lucie asked softly. ‘Because I have to leave soon and—’

  She stopped talking when there was a crashing noise from outside the tasting room and Michalis got to his feet, hurrying to investigate. He pushed open the door and couldn’t quite compute what he was seeing in front of him.