Page 52 of The Little Greek Guesthouse

She smiled as he released his hold of her. ‘Waste of space, Baba.’

‘This is what I said.’

She prised the lid off the paint pot with a screwdriver and poured some into her tray, running the roller through it. A nice crisp white; a good choice for the kitchen. If she were decorating it, she would be happy with this as a base to build on, adding some nice details like authentic tiles and antique wooden shelving. And maybe some turtle mosaics, she thought with a smile, remembering George’s suggestion, his expression full of eagerness.

But she wouldn’t be decorating it herself. And with every day that passed, another chance to persuade Theo not to sell to the hotel chain and potentially endanger the local wildlife was gone.

‘I don’t know why we’re even doing this,’ she grumbled as they painted the walls they’d already washed and sanded. ‘Can’t the hotel do it once they’ve bought it?’

He shrugged. ‘They can, of course, but I want them to see it at its best. Sell at top price, more money to share for my Antheia. Make sure you’re okay, like I promise your mama. And chop chop then, quick to it. We have the meeting set up in a few weeks and I want this place all slip and span.’

He slid her a sidelong look, grinning, waiting for her correction. But Nina frowned, too distracted by what he was saying to respond to how he said it.

‘You’ve got the meeting set up?’

‘Yes, but this is just a formality; Metalios is perfect for a hotel with the beach and the pretty village and the mountains, you see, they already have made plans, I have seen them.’

Nina turned to him, paint splodging from her roller onto the sheet they’d covered the floor with. Some landed on her trainer. She glanced down, registering in some small part of her brain that this would ordinarily have caused her a lot of stress. It didn’t bother her at all right now. ‘You’ve seen the plans?’

‘Yes, yes, this is going to be very impressive, with a bar and they will add a pool area where the land is at the side, they will buy this land from us too, and there’ll be a restaurant and –’

‘So everything George said is true.’

Theo looked uncomfortable, scratching his head and getting paint in his hair, shuffling his feet. ‘Oh, well I don’t know what this George had been saying . . .’

‘Yes you do, Baba. I told you, and I told you what he said it will do to the turtles and the wildlife around here, and the village.’

He shrugged. ‘You know what these people here are like, so dramatic, saying it will be the end of the village, they always like to fuss. It was all a disaster when Yiannis added a bit of extra space outside the café, but they all love it now. Not enough happening to keep them all entertained, they need something to complain about. And you know, that old lady, she’s always making trouble.’ He dipped his roller in the tray and started painting again. ‘Change is a good thing,’ he said firmly.

Nina felt as though her stomach had turned to ice. ‘So that’s what you and Maria were arguing about.’

He shrugged, staying carefully focused on the wall.

‘But this is your home.’ Her voice came out as a whisper. ‘Don’t you care?’

He turned to her then, his expression beseeching. ‘Of course I care, but I have spoke to the hotel man like you ask, and they have all the rules about the wildlife and so on, what you call it, eco-policy. So no harm will be done, no worries for my Antheia.’ He beamed, then wagged his finger at her. ‘And this is not my home. This, I’ve inherited, very lucky and I can use it to give you a chance for a happy life. For a stable life, Nina. Where I grew up, we struggled, my parents working all the days and for what? To just manage. To just feed us. To worry and fret and not have no money for doctor when people get sick, to see us run around hungry and with holes in our clothes.’

There were tears in his eyes. Nina had never heard him speak of his childhood like this. He rarely spoke of it at all. It hurt her to see him hurting, and she wanted to go to him, to hug him and tell him everything would be okay.

But she needed to be sure. George had said the buyers might not be one-hundred per cent honest, after all.

‘So the turtles will be okay, Baba? What did they say, did they show you a policy, or . . .?’

‘Yes, yes, it is all good,’ he said. ‘They have this eco-policy, they have special person employed to give them advice, make sure they don’t break any rules. I asked them special about the turtles, they assure me all is good.’

‘Okay.’ She considered. This was good news then. Perhaps George had got it wrong after all; there must be a way to have the hotel complex and still protect the wildlife. But she felt like she should be happier than she was. ‘Well, that’s good. Thank you, Baba.’ She hugged him. ‘If you’re sure you want to sell? Because there is another way, you know. We could – we could do it ourselves, just a small hotel, you could cook and I –’

He laughed, and pinched her chin gently. ‘Nina, no.’ His tone was affectionate, but dismissive. ‘No more of this nonsense. You aren’t a child now, you must grow up, not keep living in this dream world where we escape to Kefalonia like this is some fairytale and everything works out all rosy. We sell the house to the hotel, we get the good money. And this will give you the good life.’

He worked on, face turned to the wall, chuckling to himself and shaking his head as he slapped the paint on. And Nina left, her mind racing.

She hadn’t intended to come to Maria’s. She’d left the house with no plan, other than to be away from Theo and the thoughts churning through her mind, to give herself some space and clarity.

Yet she found herself marching through the old woman’s front courtyard, without even stopping to pet Milo as she trotted over, butting Nina’s hand and looking hopefully at her, as though she might produce an apple or carrot at any moment. She knocked on the door and waited as she heard Maria calling grumpily to hold on, she was coming, she had a bad leg, and who could this be, she wasn’t expecting visitors anyway.

Her scowl lifted into a smile when she saw Nina, and the smile quickly became an eyeroll when she registered Nina’s expression.

‘Which is it?’ she asked, putting an arm around her and ushering her into the cool kitchen. ‘That bad boy Vassilis or that silly boy your baba?’