Page 76 of Never Too Late to Date

They ran as one into the water, splashing and screaming, until they’d gone in far enough to dive under.

Vicky came up for air at the same time as Suzie. Without the need for speech, both women turned and floated on their backs, letting the sun burn through the cool water and caress their bodies.

Vicky lifted her hand to shade her eyes.

‘So, as I told you on day one, you can now see why I’m off men.’

Suzie’s giggle was a real tonic.

‘That’s the understatement of the year. Who needs men anyway?’

Chapter Eighteen

The chill-out music drifting towards the bar was balm to Suzie’s soul as she did her usual checks in preparation for the busy evening session. The routine of stacking the glasses, pumping the draught beer through the pipes and balancing the till was second nature to her.

In the background, she could hear Charlie, the DJ for this evening’s Eighties night, setting up his equipment next door. She’d try and catch a word with him later, to see if he had any up-to-date news on the boys. If anyone had seen them, or spoken to them, it would be Charlie. She’d left her sons well alone today, following the meeting at the farm, and they wouldn’t be in the bar tonight, that was for sure.

When she looked up from changing a barrel, Manolis, the young man who might or might not be dating her younger son, had turned up for his shift. He looked straight past her to the back of the bar as if trying to spot someone hiding behind her.

‘Kosta not in tonight?’

‘No, sorry to disappoint you. It’s me in charge. Kosta’s got the evening off.’

The guy’s face fell. He obviously had no clue as to what had been going on, which was good in one way. Her baby father news would be a juicy titbit, and none of them wanted to be the subject of gossip around town. But Manolis’s surprise at Kosta not being in showed that her son hadn’t confided in him, which was not so good if they were in a serious relationship.

‘Don’t worry. He’ll be back in tomorrow.’

Manolis gave her a thumbs-up and went to store his bike helmet and personal belongings in the staff room.

Boyfriend or not, Suzie wished he could get Kostas to wear a helmet on the bloody bike he rode like a maniac. Like many young Greek men, he refused to do it, and it always worried her to see him bareheaded, but every time she mentioned it, he’d just say she was fussing. Maybe she’d try and get it into a conversation with Manolis in a casual way.

A smiling Charlie strolled in from next door and sat at the bar stool in front of her. The man was pure sunshine on a rainy day. He could even give Leo Woodall a run for his money.

‘Kalispera, Mrs I. Ti káneis? How goes it?’

It had been so long since she’d been Mrs Ioannides that she’d almost forgotten it was still her name. She’d never got round to changing it back to Sessions. If she were Greek, she’d never have had to alter her name, as it had been enshrined in law back in the Eighties that women kept their maiden name. But Panos had been keen for them all to have the same name and be one family. And it was what Charlie had always called her.

‘I’ve been better, to be honest. Do you want a beer?’

‘Mythos, please.’

Suzie bent to retrieve one of the freezing cold green bottles from the fridge and pulled out one for herself too. She reached over and clinked bottles with the first male to smile at her in several hours.

‘Yamás!’

‘Yamás to you too.’

Suzie took a long swig, walked round to the front of the bar and plonked herself on a stool next to the man she’d known since he was a small boy. There were still fifteen minutes until opening.

‘OK, shall we stop the pretence? I’m sure you’re up to speed with everything, and if my instinct’s right, you’ve all met up to discuss things already. I just want to know how my boys are.’

Charlie looked as though he was going to deny all knowledge for a moment but took a big draught of his own beer before speaking.

‘OK, busted. I could never lie to you, Mrs I. Even when I was ten, and we nicked all those apples and tried to sell them on the side of the road, I was the one who cracked.’

‘Exactly.’ Suzie waited a beat. ‘And…?’

‘You’re right, as usual. I was with them both earlier at a café in town.’