Katerina fixed on Stella with beady black eyes, before glancing away. She was shrewd, for sure, the type who didn’t miss much.
Louise insisted Stella take the biggest room with the best view. Once the others had picked where they’d sleep, they all strolled downstairs again into the wraparound garden.
On one side of the house was a swimming pool, which looked out over the ocean, and on the other, tucked away in a private stone courtyard, a square-shaped plunge pool, decorated in beautiful blue and white mosaics and surrounded by lush green plants and trees.
There was a paved area for alfresco eating, and a grassy patch near the main pool with wooden sun loungers half shaded by greenery. The thick yellow cushions on the seats looked soft and inviting. Stella decided this would be where she’d take her novels and try to read.
Her focus had been so poor of late, she’d found herself getting through entire chapters without having absorbed anything. She longed to lose herself once more in a really good story.
Her mind flitted again to Al. He’d always loved the type of lazy holiday where you couldn’t do much because of the heat; you just sat around the pool with your nose in a book.
She could see him now, sprawled on a lounger in his bright-red swimming shorts, which Lily dubbed ‘disgusting’, because he’d picked them up cheaply in a supermarket, along with the groceries.
Actually, Stella had quite liked them, or him in them, anyway. He was still a good-looking man: tall, broad-shouldered and handsome. She hadn’t minded the extra roll round his tummy or the love handles; they were part of him, as much as his hazel eyes and infectious laugh.
Remember the bad stuff, she told herself: the rows, the attention seeking, the clinginess, the constant desire for reassurance – and sex, when that was the very last thing on her mind. She couldn’t cope with his needs on top of everything else.
‘C’mon! Hurry!’
Lily’s voice brought her back to the present. Lily was pulling Amelia’s arm, trying to drag her indoors to get changed for a swim.
Stella glanced at Louise. ‘D’you fancy a dip?’
‘To be honest, no. I want to unpack and get myself sorted.’
Katerina cleared her throat, which made Stella jump; she’d forgotten she was there.
‘If there’s anything else you need, please give me a call.’
The housekeeper’s English was heavily accented, but faultless. ‘I don’t live far, just twenty minutes away, up the mountain.’
‘Your house is even higher up than this?’ Stella was amazed. ‘How do you manage? How do you get your shopping up?’
She was already slightly worried about lugging groceries from town herself, even with the others to help.
Katerina shrugged. ‘It’s not hard. I don’t need much. I have a goat and I make my own yoghurt and cheese. I buy olive oil and honey from the farmer and there’s plenty of fruit on the trees. The rest I can carry.’ She smiled. ‘I’m used to walking everywhere, as you’ve seen.’
She was about to leave when she remembered something.
‘You don’t need to water the garden, unless you want to, of course. There’s a very good sprinkler system which comes on automatically first thing in the morning and late at night. Oh, and I’ve left some supper in the fridge – lamb cutlets with beans, and a feta salad. I also brought eggs for breakfast, some bread, orange juice andKalitsounia. These are traditional pastries. I made them myself. I hope you like them. You’ll find coffee and mountain tea in the cupboard above the sink.’
‘Thank you. You’re very kind.’
Stella had eaten a little on the plane, but that was hours ago. She didn’t feel hungry, but guessed the others might be. It couldn’t be far off suppertime. The sun was just beginning to sink and the air felt cooler.
‘Shit.’
They turned to see Hector, sitting cross-legged on the rustic wooden table they’d probably be eating at later. He had a cigarette in his mouth and was lighting match after match, but the wind kept blowing them out.
Stella’s face fell again; he was determined to cause her maximum embarrassment. All he did was throw poisoned darts at her, dripping with anger and resentment.
Katerina would have been well within her rights to tell him off for putting his feet on the table. If she disapproved, though, she didn’t show it.
‘Be careful,’ was all she said. ‘The land is so dry; we get a lot of wildfires.’
He grunted an acknowledgment of sorts; at least he’d heard.
When Katerina turned back to Stella, her features looked softer suddenly, her eyes less beady, her nose less sharp.
‘I hope you have a good night’s rest. I think you’ll like it here, all of you. Villa Ariadne is a very special place. It’s like nowhere you’ve ever been before.’
