Page 51 of The Little Greek Guesthouse

He smiled, sitting back and pushing his now-empty bowl away. ‘Great idea. And it would keep you here.’

Nina glanced at him. He held her gaze for a moment.

He cleared his throat, wiped his mouth with his napkin and placed it in the bowl. ‘Well, I’d better be going. Promised I’d help Yia-Yia with dinner; I don’t dare be late. Want to do some climbing? Saturday, maybe?’

Nina nodded, unable to speak, and watched as he sauntered away, waving at Eirini, who was hovering in the doorway. She made a beeline for Nina as soon as he’d gone.

‘What’s going on with you two, then?’ she asked, sitting opposite and staring at her eagerly.

‘Aren’t you supposed to be working?’

Eirini shrugged. ‘What are they going to do, sack me? Come on, tell me everything.’

Nina laughed and glanced away, embarrassed. She pushed her hair from her face. ‘There’s nothing to tell. I was just doing a bit of bouldering and he was there and it was hot so he bought me a drink.’

Eirini nodded, her eyes bright with enthusiasm, placing her arms on the table and leaning on them. ‘And?’

‘And what? That’s it.’

‘And when are you seeing him again?’

‘Saturday, but that’s not –’

Eirini smiled knowingly, nodding slowly as she stood up and cleared the plates.

‘No, it’s really not anything, we’re just . . .’

Eirini bent so that her mouth was close to Nina’s ear. ‘If you say so. He is handsome though, isn’t he? Gorgeous George!’

She had gone, giggling at her own joke, before Nina could protest.

Chapter Twenty-Three

The house was quiet over the next few days, with just her and Theo. Vassilis didn’t arrive for work, he didn’t call for her, he didn’t message. And Nina was glad, the last thing she needed was to see him and have to deal with the turmoil of feelings that would bring up – rage at him for stealing the bracelet, confusion as to why, pain at his betrayal. Fury at herself for trusting him.

Angry, Nina slammed down the tin of paint a little too hard. None of it had been real, had it? All the time Vassilis was a thief, he was lying to her, watching her suffer at the loss of the bracelet and still not returning it. Had he ever even liked her?

She deserved better, as Heather had said when she’d told her the sorry tale over FaceTime. And she’d no doubt repeat it in a couple of weeks’ time when she arrived.

Theo ran into the room, staring around wide-eyed and clutching his hair.

‘What’s the matter with you?’ she asked.

‘Where is it, this burglar I hear? All this crashing and banging, I thought you were getting attacked.’

Nina laughed. ‘Don’t be so dramatic, Baba. I was just putting the paint down.’

‘Oh, oh, just putting this down she says.’ He flung his arms above his head and widened his eyes even more. ‘Never mind she’s giving her poor baba a heart attack.’ He clutched his chest and lolled against the wall, panting.

‘Wow, someone give that man an Oscar,’ she said, grinning. ‘I just slammed it down a bit. I was thinking about Vassilis.’

She pulled a face, and Theo nodded, serious now, pushing himself off the wall to give her a hug.

‘This boy doesn’t deserve you.’

Nina nodded, still in his arms, breathing in his comforting smell of cooking and aftershave. ‘I know.’

‘He is just waste of place, don’t even think of him.’