Page 39 of Take a Chance on Greece

We signed our names on a fresh page along with today’s date, then flicked through the crinkled leaves of the book, our heads bent together as we looked at the signatures and comments written in dozens of different languages and hands.

I picked a paragraph in Greek at random and asked Alexis to translate it for me. He scanned through the sentences and smiled.

‘It is a proposal,’ he said. ‘One partner secretly climbed the mountain early in the day and left this message, then the couple returned together, and the proposal was made.’

‘I hope the answer was yes.’

Alexis pointed at the sentence written in a different colour ink below.

‘Can you read what that says?’ he asked.

I traced my index finger over the carefully written words, double checking each letter with Alexis before I finally attempted to pronounce the short phrase.

‘Nai. S’agapo.’

‘Very good,’ said Alexis. ‘It says, ‘Yes. I love you.’’

The words hung between us. I tried to read his expression, but couldn’t tell whether the longing in his eyes was just what my imagination wanted to see there.

A sudden gust of breeze took me by surprise, making me shiver.

Alexis cleared his throat. ‘Come, let us find somewhere out of the wind to sit down and enjoy our meal. It is cooler up here, especially now we’ve stopped climbing.’

We picked our way through the scree until we found a large, flat rock which looked like nature had placed it there for the very purpose of providing a picnic spot.

‘The best restaurant seats on the island,’ I said, as we settled down and unpacked the basket.

‘With the best company,’ said Alexis, his words echoing my thoughts.

I’d found Maria’s food delicious when I first ate it at her taverna by the sea, but up here among the clouds, with a panoramic view spreading out hundreds of miles into the distance, the meal tasted fit for the Greek gods on Mount Olympus. Alexis and I relaxed into a companionable silence, all thought of language learning forgotten for the time being while we ate our feast and drank in our surroundings. It felt so right to be up here by his side, and I knew that words wouldn’t do justice to the wonder of this shared experience.

But I still felt compelled to speak, to try to articulate the thoughts going through my head, to dare to voice the realisation that the happy expression on Alexis’s face gave me even more pleasure than the beauty of the miraculous landscape in front of us. I took a deep breath, my heart pounding as I summoned up the courage to say the words from which there would be no going back.

‘Alexis, I need to say something…’

I didn’t get any further, because Alexis suddenly looked away from me and reached his hand out, palm facing up to the sky.

‘Did you feel that?’ he asked.

‘Sorry, what?’ I wondered if he’d anticipated my speech, and this was his way of tactfully steering me away from making it so he didn’t have to let me down.

‘A spot of rain,’ he said, palm still outstretched.

‘Surely not? The sky is so blue, and most of the clouds are below us,’ I protested.

But then I felt it too, a splash of lukewarm water landing on my collarbone. Before I could say anything, another spot landed on my head, and then another.

‘We had better clear everything away and find some shelter,’ said Alexis. ‘It is not a good idea to get caught up here in a storm.’ My heart soared at the reluctance in his voice. Perhaps he felt it too?

But the rapidly developing shower didn’t allow me much time to focus on that. Together we quickly packed up the basket, laughing as the rain plastered our clothing to our bodies, and turned my hair at least into a tangled mess down my back. Alexis on the other hand managed to look beautifully tousled, giving me Mr Darcy in a wet shirt feels.

He took my arm once again as we hurried back to the car, a practical offer of mutual assistance as the water made the loose rubble of the ridge even more slippery and hazardous. We threw the picnic basket into the boot, then as soon as I’d done up my seatbelt, Alexis started the engine, and steered carefully out of the car park. The rain was already turning the road into a river, and I felt a clutch of nerves as I wondered whether the Mini’s brakes would be up to the job of getting us down the mountain safely.

‘Trust me,’ said Alexis quietly, recognising my tension.

‘I trust you completely,’ I replied.

The rain beat a staccato rhythm on the car roof as we slowly inched our way down the mountain. I ignored my ears popping as I concentrated on the route in front of us, as if by sheer willpower alone I could make sure we both arrived back home safely. And then as the road widened out, and the slope became less steep, the noise of the rain grew softer until it was gone altogether. We drove another couple of hundred yards on a wet surface, then turned a corner onto the main road back to Sami and it was as if it had never rained at all, the car’s tyres disturbing clouds of dust from the verges once again. It was surreal to be back among the traffic, suddenly surrounded by other people after all that time of it being just me and Alexis and the clouds.

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