Page 53 of One Hot Summer

“Oh, that’s our boat, come on.” Zack stood and pulled me up. “If we get on first, we can get to the side with the shade… Steffan! How’s it going?”

A man in his mid-to-late twenties was jogging towards Zack, seemingly pleased to see him.

“Zack, my old friend!” They embraced, lightly slapping each other’s backs. “It’s good to see you, man.”

“You too, it’s been a while.” He pulled back. “This is Jenny, my girlfriend. Jenny, Steffan’s dad used to manage the estate for both villas. I haven’t seen him for a couple of years.”

“It’s nice to meet you.” I held out my hand to him, but he pulled me in for a hug instead.

“It’s great meeting you,” he said. “I hope you are enjoying our island.”

“Steffan and his family were originally from mainland Greece,” Zack said to me. “But they moved across to Crete when he was younger. So, if you want to know anything at all about Crete, this is your guy.” Zack looked so pleased to be reunited with him. “I can’t believe you’re here, this is so random.”

“Ah, not so random, my friend, I am working on the boats today to help out. Not yours, unfortunately, I just brought a group across. I can’t stay, but when I saw you I had to come across and say hello.”

“I’m glad you did. Will we see you at the villa? You could come by for a drink, or–”

“Steffan!” an older Greek man by the boats shouted across to him.

“Sorry, I’m going to have to…”

“Don’t apologise,” Zack reassured him. “It was great seeing you. We’re here for another week, if you get a chance to come over at all.”

“I’ll try.” Steffan put his hands on his hips. “I want to, but you know how it–”

“Steffan!” the man shouted again.

“Go on,” Zack said. “We’ll catch up another time.”

Steffan nodded and slowly walked away to the angry man who had been bellowing his name loudly enough for the whole island to hear.

“What was that about?” I asked as soon as he was out of earshot.

“That was his dad shouting to him.”

“The one who managed the estate? Why didn’t he come over, if he knows you too?”

Zack put his arm around me and led us to our boat, which had started to fill up. We would be able to get a seat, but unfortunately there would be no shade. Once again, I was grateful for the hat.

“It’s a long story and I don’t want to speculate too much, as I wasn’t there when it all kicked off. All I know is there was a huge falling out between him and Chloe’s parents. My parents tried to calm the situation, but Steffan’s dad really wasn’t happy. They quit immediately and I haven’t seen Steffan properly in a long time. It’s quite complicated. I’ll try to explain it better sometime. Come on, hop aboard, m’lady.”

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The day after our excursion to Spinalonga, we had planned to have another trip to the beach. Zack and I were going to take a picnic and our own deckchairs so we could spend the day there again, but the weather had different ideas. The beautiful blue sky had disappeared completely. Clouds in a multitude of colours covered the sky, threatening to unleash the fiery wrath of Zeus, so all four of us decided to stay indoors where it was safe. By late afternoon, the sky was almost black.

“The storms here are something else,” Zack said as we stood right by the open sliding doors, gazing out. It was still quite warm, but I suspected the rain would descend very soon and cool things down. “Dad, when was it that we lost power for days after that huge storm?”

“Oh, a few years ago now. You were just a teen, I think.” He joined us to look outside. “Lightning struck just up there, on that hill where the powerline is. Knocked it off for three days. Some holidayers packed up and went home early.”

“Wow,” I said. “Could that happen again?”

“No,” Alistair assured me. “After that happened, they installed a backup system. They don’t want holidaymakers being put off by the thought of no electricity. If it ever does go out now, it’s not for long. Oh, wait, did you hear that?”

We fell silent. There was another rumble in the distance.

“You might want to close those doors,” Miranda said. “It won’t be long now.”

As though the mighty god Zeus could hear her, the clouds finally unleashed the rain and I had never seen or heard anything like it. I jumped back as Alistair and Zack quickly slid the doors shut and the rain battered down on the patio.

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