Page 56 of The Actor and His Secret

There’s a hill - a ridge - in the distance, a natural enclosure encircling the area where Nikos’ family home is.

‘I love that.’ I lean into him, relishing how solid and strong he is. ‘That even as you started a new life, you kept a bit of your old life with you.’

Nikos rubs a hand up and down the outside of my arm. ‘I never thought about it that way. It’s…nice, when you put it like that.’

‘I’m happy to help.’ Because I am. I like being the one here with Nikos as he confronts his past and reclaims a part of a place that clearly means so much to him. ‘So what’s your real last name?’

He doesn’t even hesitate. ‘Drakos.’

The trust in the confession warms me through. ‘Thank you,’ I say, and Nikos drops his arm from around my shoulders and takes my hand in his, squeezing. ‘Nikos Drakos. It sounds right. It fits you.’

‘It’s a common surname in Greece. In fact, you’ll laugh at this, but it translates to dragon.’

‘Dragon?’ I gawp.

‘Or ogre.’

I can’t help but smile. ‘If your management finds out about that, they’d have a marketing field day.’

‘No one will find out,’ Nikos says almost too seriously, as if the mode is suddenly ruined. ‘No one can find out.’

Anonymity is important to the rich and famous, but I can’t help his reasoning is tied to the trauma of his childhood.

We keep on walking - it’s not too far to town to walk, but it’s definitely a bit of a hike. When we round a bend, I stop. There’s a donkey standing by the side of the road.

‘Is that a donkey?’

‘Yeah,’ Nikos replies. ‘They’re all over in this area. They’re wild, but they’re not going to bite, if that’s what you’re afraid of. Not unless you really annoy them, or you tease them with food you won’t give up.’

‘No, I love it. I’m not afraid.’ I can’t help my grin. I love animals, especially the four-legged sort. ‘They just…wander around here?’

‘Yeah,’ Nikos says, his arm slung around my waist. ‘They trim the grass and don’t bother anyone much. It works out great for everyone. They like to be pet, though. Or at least they did, last time I was here.’

The donkey is, indeed, looking at us with a hopeful tilt of its head. Nikos looks down at me, a smile lifting the corners of his mouth. ‘Do you want to?’

‘Yes!’ My enthusiasm makes him chuckle, but he takes a hold of my wrist with the hand not wrapped around my waist and stretches my arm out.

I squeal as the donkey trots forward and butts its head towards my waiting hand. I touch its velvety-soft nose and it makes a happy noise, so I keep going, stroking its forehead. I feel like Snow White, except in the middle of Greece.

‘Do you know they have a button that makes their ears go back?’ Nikos asks. I love the humour in his tone, so unlike the sadness in his voice yesterday.

‘Huh?’ I turn to him, pausing my petting, and the donkey nudges against my hand insistently until I resume.

Nikos looks at me, the edges of his eyes crinkled with his smile, and such a look of adoration on his face that it honestly almost hurts. He picks up my hand again and presses it firmly to the donkey’s forehead. I break out into laughter when the donkey’s ears go from upright to back behind it like airplane wings. The donkey looks affronted and gives a huff before it trots away to the side of the road to eat some more grass.

‘See?’ Nikos bends down and captures my lips in a tender kiss.

I wind my arms around the neck of this man who misses his mother, who likes animals, who can cook a mean honey donut, who takes a good five minutes to become coherent after he wakes up. It’s like double vision. The real Nikos, versus the one that the rest of the world gets to see. I don’t know how many people are gifted with the real Nikos. I’m honoured to be one of them, but in a way that feels like the sweetest kind of pain.

‘My Yiayia used to sing a song to me, about a donkey with big ears.’ Nikos closes his eyes, giving in to the memory. ‘I used to remember it, but now, like the other memories, they’re lost to me.’

There are tears pricking at the corners of my eyes, and I struggle to hold them back. Nikos notices anyway, pulling out of the kiss and running a thumb beneath my eyelashes to catch an errant tear.

‘What’s wrong?’ He bites his lip.

I shake my head, not able to say much over the lump in my throat. The trust that he’s put in me is incredible, the way he’s let me in. It’s a gift, to see the truth of a person, to get down to the heart of them. He’s bared his soul for me, but it won’t matter.

It can never matter, because he’s Nikos Ridge and I’m just his secret, no matter how much I wish that wasn’t true.

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