Page 54 of Take a Chance on Greece

I saw a spark of hope in Alexis’s eyes. ‘He is often at Agia Efimia working on the boats. But if he didn’t respond to you… We nearly bumped into him at Antisamos beach as well. That was why I was so rude and hurried you away, even though we were having such a good time. I knew I should have stayed to let you see each other, but I lost my nerve, fearful that you would hate me for not having told you straight away.’

‘Well, if Andreas didn’t recognise me in the street in Agia Efimia, then it would suggest that he didn’t have a clue who I was. But I know one way in which we can settle this.’

‘We can call Andreas,’ said Alexis. I could hear the reluctance in his voice and I knew he was still convinced that when his brother walked into the room I would go running to him. But I didn’t have time to delve into the long-seated family dynamics which were clearly at play here. I had already decided there was a much simpler method to get the answer we needed.

‘I don’t think we need to involve Andreas in this. Come on, let’s go and visit my old friend the tattoo artist. I’ve got a bone to pick with him about why he tattooed me when I was drunk. And more to the point, he should be able to answer the important question of why I asked him to tattoo the words “Awesome Andreas” on my back.’

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The smell of antiseptic hit my nostrils as soon as we stepped over the threshold. The interior of the studio felt familiar, with its walls covered in artwork, and I was pretty sure I knew which of the two black couches I’d lain down on to get the tattoo, even though the exact memories of the occasion didn’t come flooding back. If I closed my eyes, I thought I could remember hearing the buzz of the needle, and the scratching sensation of it running over my skin.

‘Iassou,’ said the guy emerging from behind the black curtain which divided front of house from the rest of the shop. His face lit up as soon as he saw me.

‘Ah it’s Awesome Andreas girl.’

Then he glanced across at my companion and his expression changed into one of total horror.

‘Malakas.’

I didn’t need to have my Greek dictionary with me to recognise that that was some kind of expletive.

‘I cannot believe what I am seeing in front of me. I think I might know what this is about,’ the tattoo artist continued. ‘I may have made a very terrible mistake.’

I glanced at Alexis. Did he feel the same leap of hope that I did?

The tattoo artist switched into rapid Greek, but Alexis interrupted and asked him to return to English.

‘Lydia needs to be able to understand what you’re saying, Niko. After all, she is the one with the tattoo.’

But I noticed the tension in his shoulders had eased somewhat. Had something already been said to confirm my suspicions? Niko’s speech had been too quick for me to understand.

Niko nodded. ‘You have come about your Awesome Andreas tattoo, am I not right?’

‘Yes. I was hoping you could explain exactly how I ended up with a tattoo about a man whom I’ve never met.’

Niko looked mortified as I confirmed his suspicions.

‘I am so ashamed. I have a spotless reputation, spotless, but this mistake, this is the worst thing that I have ever done in my whole career.’

He sat down behind the counter and started sketching out a design, clearly needing to keep his hands busy while he explained what had happened.

‘It went as follows. It was a quiet night, and I was beginning to think that I should close when you rush in. You are talking fast, you look very happy, very determined. You tell me that you have just met the love of your life, the awesome man from the bookshop and that you have to get a tattoo to mark it.’ He smiled as he remembered the scene. ‘You were very sure of yourself. You say it is time that you are brave and make a change for yourself. I mean, of course I try to talk you out of it, even though it was a quiet night and the money would be good. The flash of love like a lightning bolt is very rare. To get a tattoo in honour of someone is a big thing. Even I have not done that.’ He indicated the full sleeves of tattoos on his arms, and gestured at the rest of his body so we knew that there were many more beneath his clothes as well. ‘It is there for ever, and if you wake up the next day and say, “No, I do not love him after all”, then it is a big mistake. But you insist. You tell me all about talking with him in the bookshop, and how it was like you had always known each other. I look out of the window, and I see a man walking down the street from the bookshop. And I know that Alexis is away and that Andreas is looking after the shop for him, so I go fine, you are very, very sure of your decision to have a tattoo to mark this special love, you say Andreas is awesome, so let us tattoo that. I know he is a good man, and I am happy that he has met this woman who is so in love with him.’

He smiled again. I got the impression that beneath the tough guy exterior there lurked another hopeless romantic. Then he frowned. ‘But you must remember all this yourself?’

‘I was pretty drunk. I actually remember very little of it at all,’ I confessed.

Niko’s sketching became more rapid. ‘Then I am in even more trouble. I am so careful all the time. I do not understand how I could make such a mistake. You did not smell strongly of alcohol. You speak very clearly, you listen to me and hold my expression. I ask if you are sure, and you say yes. I have seen many drunk people and not given them tattoos. With you, I had no idea.’

He looked so disconsolate that I felt sorry for him.

‘It’s OK. It wasn’t your fault, I’ve accepted that now. Well, doing the tattoo bit anyway. The actual name on the tattoo, we’ll discuss in a minute. My friends say Drunk Me is only a slightly more outgoing and daring version of Sober Me, so I can understand why you wouldn’t have realised I was rather tipsy. But there is one thing I’m still confused about. Didn’t you check with me what the guy’s name was or question why I didn’t seem to know it?’

Niko put his pencil down. ‘I did check,’ he insisted. ‘When I refer to the bookshop man as Andreas you do not say I am wrong, and when I point out of the window at the man walking down the street away from us, who I am sure is Andreas, and say you are lucky to have met him, the love of your life, you agree.’

He actually stood up and re-enacted the scene to emphasise his point. Did I have a vague recollection of seeing the outline of a tall man striding along the darkened street, or was my memory playing tricks on me?

‘Only it was me that you both saw walking down the street,’ said Alexis. ‘I was searching for Lydia. If I’d been walking in the opposite direction, you’d have recognised it was me, and not Andreas.’ He pointed up at his glasses. ‘There are other slight differences between us, but this is the most noticeable one that people use to distinguish us by.’

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