Page 47 of The Little Greek Guesthouse

He glanced at her sheepishly, smiling wryly as he threw them in to a very messy bedroom before firmly shutting the door on the chaos. ‘I was not expecting visitors,’ he said.

Nina was too tired to care about the state of the flat. In fact, there was something endearing about finding he was a bit of a slob, this Adonis of a man who treated her like a queen and took her to the most glamorous places. His embarrassment was a vulnerability she hadn’t expected, and found oddly appealing, though it did nothing to wipe out the memory of his behaviour the night before.

He led her to a small, modern living room, with a large window overlooking forested mountains. This was marginally less messy, with a leather sofa facing a TV and gaming console, though the coffee table was littered with dirty plates and glasses.

‘But I’m glad you came,’ he said softly, taking her hand in his own and gazing down at it. ‘I – I was a jerk, right?’ He looked up, smiling ruefully, and against her better judgement, Nina found it hard to hold onto her anger with him, distracted by the sheer beauty of his sharp cheekbones and strong jaw. Dark eyes, gazing into her own.

But she removed her hand and took a step away from him. She wasn’t going to be won over so easily. ‘Yes, you were.’

He followed, turning her gently so that she faced him. ‘Yes, and I am sorry for it. I should have – you were upset, I should have been understanding more.’

‘Yes, well . . .’ She could feel herself slip into forgiving him too easily.

‘Let me make this up to you, yes? We’ll do whatever you like, we’ll go to Argostoli or we’ll walk on the beach here or go for quiet drink at a bar.’ He smiled as he repeated what she’d wanted to do the night before. ‘Or you can come here and I will cook for you.’

He pulled a face and she laughed; if his housekeeping skills were anything to go by, his cooking wouldn’t be too impressive.

‘Maybe,’ she said, making her way back to the front door. ‘But not today. I’m tired and I’m still annoyed with you.’

He sighed and nodded. ‘This is fair. But I hope you will let me make things up to you. And I promise, you will never see this in me again. I will only be the good man.’

Hesitantly, he reached out a hand and ran his finger gently down her cheek. The warmth of his touch still raising the hairs on the back of her neck, no matter how hard she tried to be angry with him.

She stood in the hallway, looking into his deep brown eyes, considering. He had behaved badly when she’d been upset, but he was sorry, and everyone messed up sometimes. Perhaps, she thought as she glanced around the untidy flat, he wasn’t as mature and together as she’d thought, but he’d made the effort to take her out, he was focused on her when they were together, he apologised when he’d messed up. That was more than Sam had ever managed.

‘I’ll think about it,’ she said. Then, giving a playful grin, she pushed open the door to his bedroom. ‘You can start by giving me a tour of the flat.’

She’d done it to see the look on his face, to tease him a little, with no intention of going into the messy room that clearly embarrassed him, or exploring the flat further. She suspected there wasn’t much more to it, anyway.

The door was only open for a few seconds, and she barely glanced through, focused more on seeing his expression. But as she closed it, she realised she’d seen something in there, just a glimpse, blink-and-miss-it.

There was a moment when she stood, still holding the handle of the closed door, frowning as her mind processed what it was that nagged at her. She stared at Vassilis, and he stared back, his eyes full of anguish.

Surely not. It couldn’t be.

They spoke at the same time.

‘Wait . . .’

‘Nina, I – please, don’t . . .’

But she had already opened the door, stepped through into the room, scanning the clutter in the half-light that filtered through closed curtains. And there, on the top of a chest of drawers, next to an empty crisp packet and some keys, was her bracelet.

Chapter Twenty-One

The story came out disjointed and garbled as she told it to Theo, broken by her sobs and shortness of breath from running. Theo stared at her in confusion, clearly not understanding, until she held out the bracelet for him to see.

She watched his expression go through all the emotions she was feeling: relief, disbelief, anger.

He was staring as though he couldn’t believe his eyes. Nina clutched the bracelet to her chest, the flood of relief and renewed grief at its loss surging through her, bringing more tears to her eyes.

‘I didn’t lose it?’ Theo asked, his own eyes wet. ‘He – it wasn’t my fault?’

Nina shook her head. ‘He stole it.’ She still couldn’t believe the words she was saying.

‘I – I thought I was losing my mind.’ Theo looked up at the ceiling, taking a deep, shaky breath as he came to terms with it all.

With trembling hands, Nina put the bracelet on and did up the clasp, slowly twirling it on her wrist, looking at it carefully; everything seemed to be in order. No missing stones, no tarnish or scratches on the band. She breathed in slowly, feeling the comfort of having this precious item back against her skin, this piece that meant so much to her mum, that had rested on her wrist as it now rested on Nina’s, returned to her.