Page 27 of Greek Island Fling to Forever

an arm’s length away from his father.

‘Yes. It’s not that easy to get to. Although soon there will be more tourists on Kantos. There’s a new hotel being built this year; they’ve already laid the foundations.’

‘Yeah? Is that good or bad?’

‘It gives me a bit of a problem. It’ll mean that I can’t cover both islands properly, so I’m going to have to take on another doctor at the health centre.’

‘It won’t be difficult to find someone, will it. Who’s going to turn down the chance to work here?’

Arianna chuckled. It was nice that he thought that this was the kind of place that anyone would want to be. ‘A lot of doctors prefer to work in the city. Getting someone to come here for six months or a year isn’t too hard, but getting someone who’ll stay can be a challenge.’

‘I’m sure you’ll get the right person. Will the hotel change things here on the island? How do local people feel about it?’

‘They’re all for it; it brings money here and provides people with jobs. It’s going to be away from the village, much like the one on Ilaria. And it’ll be low-rise and sympathetic to the local style of construction.’

‘Your father’s building it?’

‘Yes, he is.’

‘He seems to have a monopoly on hotels in this area...’ Ben broke off, shooting her a querying glance as Arianna quirked the corners of her mouth down. ‘Is that a problem?’

‘No, what my father’s doing in these islands is great; he’s developing in a way that supports local communities rather than overwhelming them...’ Arianna let out a sigh. ‘But I’ve worked pretty hard to make a place for myself here. I want people to see me for what I am, not what my father can buy.’

‘You can’t buy your way through seven years of medical training.’

Money obviously didn’t impress Ben; he had a different idea about the things that mattered. He valued the same things that she did, and it occurred to Arianna that their ambitions had been forged in the same place and at the same time, in the swirling waters around the sinking ferry.

‘Some people think you can. They think that having everything materially means that you have everything you need.’

‘Yeah, I suppose so. I was lucky, growing up. We had enough in terms of material things and everything we needed. My dad’s an academic, and there’s a great deal of satisfaction in the job for him, but not a massive amount of money.’

‘That sounds nice. Does he teach?’ Arianna could imagine Ben’s father as a teacher. Ben had that way about him, of listening to what people said and nurturing a conversation.

‘Yeah, he’s a university professor and he teaches Ancient History. That’s what we were doing in Greece; he’d come to meet up with some of his contacts in the museums in Athens. Ilaria was my mum’s idea; she wanted to get out of the city and spend some time on the beach.’

‘Grandad’s going to build me a...what is it?’ Jonas had obviously been half listening to their conversation and his ears had pricked up at the mention of his grandfather.

‘A trireme.’ Ben grinned at his son. ‘A model of a trireme, that is, not a full-sized one.’

‘No. We don’t have room.’ Jonas started swimming again, his flailing arms and legs seeming to expend the maximum amount of energy for the minimum amount of progress.

‘Try holding onto me if you want to stay in one place, Jonas. Like you do in your swimming class.’

‘I can do it, Dad. I don’t need to hold on.’

‘Yeah, okay. As long as you’re managing.’ Ben rolled his eyes, and left his son to it. ‘Don’t let us stop you if you want to go for a swim, Arianna. We’ll just stay here and do some pretend swimming.’

‘I can do proper swimming.’ Jonas’s body straightened in the water suddenly and he swam a couple of yards in a very respectable front crawl, before reverting back to doggy-paddle. ‘I like this better.’

‘Okay. I wouldn’t want Arianna to think that I hadn’t taught you how to swim properly when you want to.’

‘If you like, I can look after Jonas for a little while. You can’t come to the Lava Lake without swimming out to the middle and just ducking your head under the water.’ Arianna gestured towards the centre of the lake.

‘Why, what’s there?’

‘You have to see for yourself.’ She wanted Ben to remember today, and it was difficult to forget swimming in the water above the blue-green crystals that had formed at the deepest point of the bed of the lake.

‘You’ll be okay here?’

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