Page 32 of Take a Chance on Greece

‘And I should… Actually, I don’t think there is anything Ishouldbe doing. I’ve finished my work, and my time is my own. It’s strange not to feel like I need to be accounting for every minute, not having to justify myself to anybody. Beyond Yiota, of course, and I’m beginning to realise that she doesn’t really mind how I go about it, as long as the work gets done.’

I was babbling again, but I needed to fill the silence. Fortunately, Alexis picked up the conversational baton.

He nodded. ‘Yes, my sister likes to create an initial fiery impression, then softens as you get to know her. She is obviously pleased with you, otherwise she would have made it very clear to me. And to you, of course.’

‘It’s better to know where you are with a person. As a boss, Jim always liked to keep people on their toes. He was a master at being non-committal, which he said allowed staff to come to their own solutions, but in reality, it made us spend half our time second-guessing what it was he really wanted.’ I mimed a zipping motion across my lips, inwardly cursing that my verbal diarrhoea had led me down the Jim route. The last thing I wanted to do was to drivel on about him to Alexis, highlighting my previous bad decisions and poor judgement of character. ‘Sorry, I’m at it again. I promised myself I wouldn’t badmouth Jim or keep going on about him, and here I am doing just that.’

Alexis spread his palms. ‘It helps to talk about these things. It is much worse to keep things to yourself and let them eat you up inside. And I don’t think you are badmouthing Jim. You are working through how you feel now, which is a good thing to do. He was a big part of your life and he obviously had a big influence on the choices you have made both during and since the relationship. It is not surprising that the echoes of your time with him will still be in your thoughts.’

‘I reckon if you didn’t own a bookshop, you would have a very good career as a therapist, Alexis. You’re being incredibly patient listening to me mithering on and on.’

‘Mithering? This is a new word for me.’

‘It means moaning or groaning, which is exactly what I’ve been doing too much of.’ It was too easy to talk to Alexis. He was such a calming presence that I felt able to say whatever came into my head, something I wasn’t really used to with anyone except Kat and Amira. But I needed to stop taking advantage of that. Time to change the subject. ‘And speaking of new vocabulary, do you know of any Greek language classes being run in the area? I’ve been diligently working through the phrasebook you gave me and adding to my notebook, but I think I need more help.’

‘My offer to assist still stands,’ said Alexis. ‘I have not much experience teaching, but I am happy to do some conversation practice. I would normally recommend the local lyceum which does evening classes, but this is not a good time of year for them. Everything stops during the main tourist season as people are very busy working.’

His expression was hard to read and I couldn’t tell whether he was offering because he wanted to spend more time with me, or because he felt obliged to help. My heart hoped it was the former, but my head feared it was probably the latter.

‘Then if you are sure you have the time, that would be great,’ I said, deliberately not pushing to arrange when this conversation practice would happen in order to give him an opportunity to back out.

I thought Alexis might be about to say something else, but the noise of my phone ringing again interrupted us. I pulled a face. If this was the insurance salesman calling back, then he was going to get short shrift from me.

I pressed Accept, but didn’t say a word.

‘Hello?’ The voice at the other end of the phone sounded uncertain.

‘Hi, who is this, please?’ I responded, although I was already confident that it wasn’t my earlier caller. His voice was huskier and his accent was most definitely not Greek. If I wasn’t mistaken, this caller hailed from the Antipodes.

‘This is Andreas. I spotted my name in the kiosk with this number underneath it so I thought I should call.’

A fizz of nervous anticipation made me sit up straighter.

‘Andreas, hi, it’s lovely to hear from you.’ I was so surprised that someone had actually seen the notecard that my response was possibly a bit too enthusiastic. A sentence wasn’t much to go on, but so far the caller sounded friendly and warm, and even better, he wasn’t trying to flog me insurance.

Alexis stood up and mimed a goodbye. He tactfully backed out of the room, and left me to my call. Any residual hope that my tenderness towards him might be reciprocated faded into nothing.

Chapter Sixteen

Disappointment at the situation with Alexis made me decide to go for honesty on the phone with this new Andreas. Well, half honesty, in that I told him about the drunken tattoo, but left out the part about my belief that the inking had been inspired by meeting the love of my life. I wasn’t completely daft. The poor guy would probably run in the opposite direction if I put that weight of expectation on him right away. He seemed to find the idea of the tattoo quite funny, which was a promising sign. And he didn’t launch into graphic descriptions of where on his body he had tattoos, which was even more promising.

I decided that this time, I would find out a bit more about my prospective Andreas before going straight to asking him out. My previous two Andreas dates had taught me it was better to establish some sense of initial compatibility/awareness of general humanity before I committed myself to an in-person meeting.

Thankfully this Andreas seemed up for a chat, and I soon learned that he was actually from Brisbane in Australia, but was visiting his grandparents in Kefalonia for an extended holiday.

‘How lovely. When did you get here?’ I asked. The notecard had specified the date I’d met Andreas, but I thought I’d better double-check this guy hadn’t just got off a flight today as that would rule him out of the Awesome Andreas stakes pretty quickly.

‘About a month ago? The company I work for back home has given me a sabbatical, so instead of being an accountant trapped in an office, I get to play at being an olive farmer with myyiayiaandpappouall summer.’

My stomach flipped over with nervous anticipation. So, he was definitely a contender.

‘What a coincidence, I’m an accountant too. Well, I’m an accountant by training, but actually I’m working as a cleaner for now. Like you, I’m trying on a different role for the summer.’

‘And how are you finding it?’

I didn’t take long to consider my answer.

‘It’s great. I enjoy that my mind is my own when I’m cleaning. And it’s satisfying to know that I’m helping people to have a lovely holiday. But I’d like to see more of the island.’ I made a decision. Time to commit. ‘I hear the Drogarati Cave is worth a visit. Would you like to join me?’

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