Page 45 of One Hot Summer

“That was random,” I said. “I can’t remember the last time my brother was at my house. What was he really up to?”

“He was just passing after a work thing, like he said.” Zack shrugged. “So, we had a chat over a coffee. Are you hungry yet? I’ll go put some food in the oven. Then it’s time for an early night.” He kissed me on the head and made his way to the kitchen.

I pulled my phone out of my bag. There were several missed calls and a message. Quite a few were from Zack, who had been trying to find out where I was, but there was a message from Sarah too.

Please forgive me. I did a shitty thing. You didn’t deserve that. Call me. I’ll always be here. The Greek word for ‘tea’ is ‘toai’ if you need to use it. Xxx

I put my phone away. I wasn’t ready to call her just yet.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Crete was the most beautiful place I had ever seen. It had clear blue skies, even clearer seas and an air-conditioned taxi keeping us cool from the thirty-degree heat that almost melted me as I stepped off the plane. A heatwave back home was unbearable, but this felt perfect.

“This is Agios Nikolaos,” Zack said with an impressive accent as we drove through a busy town. “We’re nearly there now.” He looked around in wonder at the place he had spent many summers when growing up.

There were streets lined with shops and restaurants. The marina was full of yachts and there was an actual cruise ship in the port too! I spied all the touristy shops full of knick-knacks and tat. I loved those shops. They all sold the same stuff for the same price, but I still always felt the need to go in and buy something I would never buy at home. Like a ceramic Hercules, which I am sure every Cretan has in their home. I would need a mini statue of a Greek god to take home with me. If anything, purely because my mum would hate it. I wondered whether they might have one of Medusa that I could gift her.

“Could we come back and do some shopping?” I asked.

“Of course! We can do whatever we like. We have two whole weeks here.” He reached for my hand. “There will be plenty of time for shopping, exploring, sunbathing, relaxing. Anything you want.”

The taxi wove down narrow roads and out of the town. We passed huge five-star hotels and eventually made our way down a long driveway with a few villas dotted about. They were all painted white, with blue shutters on every window, and perfect manicured lawns out front with Greek pots decorating the doorways. All I could think was that ‘villa’ was a very modest term for these mansions, although I did not say that to Zack.

“And we’re here!” Zack squeezed my hand before getting out of the taxi. The driver was already at the boot getting our cases out for us.

“Hello, travellers!” Alistair came out of the palace before us, looking tiny in comparison to it, with his arms open wide to greet us. “How was the flight? Was there a long wait for your suitcases? I do hope there wasn’t any traffic. Oh, let me pay for the taxi.” He finally stopped to take a breath, whilst moving his sunglasses to the top of his pink head as he pulled his wallet from his pocket.

“Where’s Mum?” Zack asked.

“She’s just having a siesta.” He handed some money to the driver. “She’s been out in the garden all morning, seeing to the flowers. Tired the poor old girl out.” He picked up my suitcase once the taxi pulled away. “Don’t tell her I called her that.” He winked and led us both inside.

The entrance hall could have been a room on its own. In fact, I initially thought I was walking into the sitting room, as there were two large sofas as well as a coffee table. He took us to the bottom of the stairs in the far corner and plonked down my case.

“I’ll let Zack give you the official tour, I have to get back to Stan. He’s got the football on at his place and, whilst the ladies are having their afternoon naps, we aren’t getting any complaints.” He chuckled. “I will see you two kids later on.”

He put his sunglasses back on and sauntered through another door and out of sight.

“Who’s Stan?”

“Stan and Beverley, my parents’ friends who own the villa next door. They’ll be here with their daughter, Chloe.” Ah yes, the twenty-something who would be living next door to us for a fortnight. Marvellous. Zack picked up our suitcases. “Come on, I’ll race you upstairs.”

“Woah,” I laughed, “slow down, you cheater! You know where we’re going, I don’t.” I grabbed his arm. “Won’t we wake your mum?” I didn’t want to annoy her on my first day there.

“Not a chance, their room is in the opposite direction to ours.”

Looking up to the landing, I felt like I was in Downton Abbey. I don’t think I could even call it a landing. It was more like a gallery, with a huge window in the tall ceiling, allowing the sun to beam down the stairs. I followed my giddy boyfriend to the top and then down the corridor and through a door.

“Well, this just won’t do.” I followed him in and shook my head at the ridiculously large room. “It’s not even remotely big enough for the two of us.” I sat on the king-size bed, looking up to the double doors which led out to a balcony. There were two double wardrobes, a grey patterned chair in the corner next to a desk, and some shelves filled with books. If I were to wear a pedometer and walk once around the room, I was pretty sure I would have hit the recommended daily step count.

“Not big enough for you, m’lady?”

“Nope, sorry, you’ll need to sleep somewhere else. We can’t possibly both fit in here. I have standards, don’t you know?”

He put the cases down in front of the wardrobes and made his way to join me on the bed, pushing me so I was lying on my back, and climbing on top of me.

“You would kick me out of my own room?” He nuzzled at my neck, kissing me in the right places.

“Absolutely. You’d need to sleep in the servants’ quarters.”

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