Page 53 of Greek Island Fling to Forever

What? Arianna looked for another text that might elaborate on that, maybe give her a clue about what to do next. She knew there wouldn’t be one. Ben wouldn’t ask her to do anything with this information; he’d just let her know where he stood and wait for her answer.

I love you. He hadn’t said that before and neither had Arianna, although it had been on the tip of her tongue. But there had been love in everything they’d done together. Love and trust.

I’ll always be drowning. That was Ben all over. The man who saved others, but who brushed the importance of that away without a second thought. He saw only the ways in which she’d saved him.

She could do this. Doing this would be the best thing she’d ever done in her life. The most difficult, terrifying, wonderful thing she’d ever done.

‘Wait.’ Arianna took a deep breath, admonishing herself out loud. ‘Sleep on it. Call him in the morning.’

She got as far as going out to the kitchen and taking a bottle of water from the fridge, before the utter impossibility of the plan hit her. She didn’t need to think about this. She’d known her answer from the day she’d met Ben.

Taking her phone back out of her pocket, she checked again to make sure that there wasn’t another text that she’d missed. Then she dialled.

‘Father...’

‘Arianna?’

‘I need your help...’

She heard her father catch his breath at the other end of the line. It was unusual for him to be lost for an immediate answer to anything, and when he did speak there was an uncharacteristic tremor in his voice.

‘Thank you for calling me, Arianna.’

* * *

The helicopter swung low over the sea, and landed on a piece of scrubland to one side of the house. The engine cut out and the pilot ran towards her, bending low to avoid the still turning rotor blades. He took her bag, guiding her to one of the doors behind the cockpit.

Her father was sitting inside the helicopter. The shock almost made Arianna stumble backwards and he stretched out his hand, helping her into the empty seat next to him.

Arianna didn’t object when he leaned forward to fasten her safety belt. If this was turning into National Surprise Arianna Day, then the world was making a fine job of it so far.

‘What are you doing here?’

‘In my own helicopter?’ Her father shot her an innocent look.

‘On Ilaria. You said you wouldn’t set foot on Ilaria again.’ Arianna frowned at him.

‘Technically, I haven’t...’

‘You’re going to rely on technicalities, are you?’

Her father smiled. ‘Only you, Arianna. Everyone else allows me to talk them down, but you never did. Even when you were a child.’

Something about the fondness in his face reminded her of the way that Ben looked at Jonas. Warmth curled around her heart.

‘I meant it. What I said the other day, about not wanting it to be another two years before we talked.’ Saying it face to face seemed to cement Arianna’s determination to repair whatever could be salvaged of her relationship with her father. To believe that some part of her relationship with Ben could be salvaged as well.

The lines on her father’s face melted into a regretful smile. ‘I made many mistakes, Arianna. I told myself that grief had pushed us apart, but it was my job to stop that from happening. I abandoned you and I would give anything for the opportunity to be there for you now.’

Arianna reached forward, taking her father’s hand, realising that he was trembling.

‘I need to go to England alone. But when I return I’d like to come to Athens, so we can talk. And I’d like you to come back here with me, so I can show you what I’ve done at the health centre.’ Maybe that was a little too much to ask, but if miracles were possible then she might as well think big.

‘I would like that. Very much...’ The pilot had settled himself into his seat, and the helicopter’s rotor blades began to quicken in readiness for take-off. Her father had to shout so that she could hear his final words.

‘I’m so proud of you, Arianna.’

Arianna squeezed her father’s hand. ‘I’m glad you’re here. Thank you...’

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