Page 73 of The Little Greek Guesthouse

Maria flapped a tea towel at her. ‘Now. Let’s make a start with this.’

Together, they prepared a feast. Maria made tzatziki and spanakopita to start, while Nina stuffed vine leaves with rice for the dolmades. There was moussaka and Greek salad for mains, and rizogalo, a Greek rice pudding, for dessert. Soon the kitchen was warm and filled with delicious fragrances, and Maria and Nina were flushed from the heat.

‘You’re doing so well with the cooking now,’ Maria said, wiping her forehead and taking a sip of chilled blood orange juice. ‘I don’t think you will be needing any more lessons from me!’ She looked a little sad at this.

Nina smiled. ‘Maybe not, but I’m going to need Greek lessons next. You can teach me, right?’

‘Pfft. Of course.’ Maria looked around. ‘This place is very nice now. You and Theo have done a good job.’

‘It’s not really finished.’ Nina glanced at the plain walls and floors. ‘There’s a lot more I’d like to do.’

‘I hope your plan works. We’d all like to see you stay in Metalios.’ She gave Nina a meaningful look. ‘Some of us, especially.’

Nina smiled, blushing. Her plan would work. It had to. She only had a few days left before Theo signed the contract.

When the guests had arrived Heather brought Theo back, as planned.

‘Wait, what’s all this?’ he asked as he walked in to the kitchen to be welcomed by his friends. ‘It’s not my birthday!’

He greeted them all warmly, flushed and smiling as he hugged everyone. They all crowded round the wooden kitchen table, reaching past each other for food and wine, talking over each other, telling stories, laughing. And Nina couldn’t stop herself from imagining a life like this – sometimes with friends from the village, sometimes with visitors to the guesthouse, sometimes with friends from home who’d made the trip. The house would ring with talk and laughter, it would be filled with the smells of good food. The only person missing was George, who had been called in to help rescue an injured gull. She felt a brief pang, a niggling fear that something else would always be more important to him, but shook it out of her head.

‘See, Baba?’ she said, turning to him with a huge, optimistic smile. ‘See how much better this will be? If we stay, we can rent out the house in England, and we can run this as a lovely little place, with just a few guests, we can cook for them and show them the sights; there’ll be a proper family feel to the place. And no damage to the village.’

She beamed at him, convinced that he would understand now. But his face closed down.

‘This is what this is all about?’ He slammed his palm on the table, the sound resonating around the room and shocking everyone into silence. They all turned to stare at him. ‘You are all here to trick me?’

He glared around. Maria was the first to speak, explaining how the noise and the lights from the hotel would disturb her, and how she thought of Theo as a son – albeit a naughty one – and how she hoped they would stay.

Yiannis spoke of the effect of tourism on the café, of how it would change the nature of his family-run business that catered to the needs of locals. Eirini and Alex spoke of their fears that a big hotel complex would change the village community their children were growing up in for the worse. Nina spoke, again, of the danger to wildlife, of the track record of the hotel chain.

He looked around at them all, and she thought his face was beginning to soften, and he began nodding along at what they were saying. Nina’s heart soared; this was it. She’d changed his mind, the plan had worked. He turned to her, and she grasped his hand, beaming.

‘Let’s do it, Baba. Let’s do this together.’

He slid his hand from hers. ‘I see now.’ He looked around at them all. ‘You are all thinking only of yourselves and what will happen to you, trying to change my plans. And you, my Antheia.’ He turned to her, a hurt expression clouding his eyes. ‘Still this? After all I do for you? When you know all I do is because it’s best for you, and I have already said this is decided.’

‘But, Baba . . .’

‘You’re too late anyway. Tomorrow I sign the papers. And then all will be dusted and done.’

Nina’s stomach lurched. ‘Tomorrow? But – you said next week!’

He shrugged. ‘Well, so they brought it forward and I said yes, because we need this done. Draw a line under it, you stop with this nonsense, and we go home.’

Nina stared at him, the stubborn set of his mouth, the crossed arms. There really was no budging him.

‘Baba, please listen, these are your friends, this is your home, think about what it’ll do to . . .’

‘Enough, Nina! This happens tomorrow.’ He drew a line in the air with his hand. ‘End of the story.’

At this she stood up, her chair scraping across the floor. ‘Fine,’ she said. ‘But I want you to know that even though you think what you’re doing is right for me, it’s not what I want. I want to stay here, I want us to run a guesthouse together. I want Metalios and the people and the wildlife that live here to be safe. This is what will make me feel safe. These people’ – she gestured at Yiannis and Eirini – ‘they will make me feel safe.’

She stormed out, aware that all eyes were upon her. Some of the guests nodded their approval, Maria had already begun berating Theo for being a stubborn old fool, and Heather was squeezing her way through the crowd to follow Nina.

They walked without aim, Nina leading and Heather following, panting as she tried to keep up with Nina’s stalking. Heather listened sympathetically as Nina ranted. Eventually, they ended up on the beach, the water black under the night sky, the sand cool as they sat down, running it through their fingers.

‘I can’t believe it’s over,’ Nina said. She gazed out over the moonlit water, the silver ribbon of light reflected in the sea. Stars glinted, little pinpricks of light, high above. She breathed in the familiar smell of salt and seaweed. Now she knew it wasn’t going to happen, she realised all the more how much she wanted to stay. The life she’d imagined, creating a beautiful space for people to come to, helping them explore this wonderful place, cooking the local cuisine and learning the language, all crumbled like the sand in her hands.