Page 81 of The Little Greek Guesthouse

They walked up the mountain, stopping regularly to admire the view as the sun set. Theo talked about his time there with Clare, laughing and smiling affectionately as he told stories of her racing him to the top, and winning every time. He told how she insisted on singing Abba songs, loudly and breathlessly, as they made their way. How she had tried ouzo and hated it, but kindly café owners kept giving it to her for free, and she was forced to surreptitiously feed it to the plant she was seated next to. How every boy she met fell in love with her but she, inexplicably, only had eyes for Theo.

Nina listened, imagining a young Clare, purple-haired and full of energy, causing merry havoc in this quiet village. She would never tire of listening to Theo’s stories about her, and she was so glad he was able to tell them, at last.

Theo fell quiet as they reached their destination, and she thought at first that he was saddened by the memories. But he was looking somewhat sheepish, rather than sorrowful, and she soon realised why.

Standing at the top of the hill, holding a parcel wrapped in a tea towel, was Maria.

Nina stopped. Theo and Maria both looked at her with equally shamefaced expressions.

‘What’s she doing here?’

Theo spread his hands and gave her a schoolboy grin. ‘I thought it was about time you gave her a chance.’

Maria stepped forward, holding out the parcel. ‘Moro mou, I made you baklava.’

Nina said nothing. She remained firm, even when she noticed that Maria’s hands shook slightly as she held out the cloth, and her heart tore just a little bit to see her friend in distress. Her former friend, she reminded herself.

‘Please listen, if you will only let me explain, I thought that –’

Nina glared from her to Theo. ‘Shame on you,’ she said. ‘Shame on you both. I can’t believe you tricked me, Baba.’

She stormed off, smarting from seeing Maria, and all the memories that brought, slipping and tripping as stones rolled beneath her hasty feet on the steep path.

Her mind was spinning. What she really needed was something physical, something fun and a little bit scary, something that would clear her head. She wanted to find a mountainside to climb or cliff to jump from or a cool, deep sea to dive down into and watch the turtles swimming.

She wanted George.

Nina swallowed hard and blinked away tears.

But George’s betrayal was the worst of all she’d experienced. In listening when she needed to talk, in sharing her love of adventure, in fighting so passionately for what he believed in, in kissing her with such fire that she’d never known anything like it.

And in doing all this while married to another woman.

Chapter Thirty-Seven

‘You look nice.’

Heather’s image on the phone was pale, her nose red. Nina didn’t like to mention it, given that her friend was complimenting her.

‘Thanks.’ She and Theo were going out for dinner, and she’d made an extra effort for this evening, curling her hair and painting her nails. These things that she used to do daily, but now only when she wanted to. It had been a few weeks since he’d tricked her into seeing Maria, and she’d finally forgiven him.

‘Seeing anyone special?’ Heather asked.

Nina shook her head. ‘Not unless you count my dad. I’m going to end up a hermit at this rate,’ she said glumly. ‘Where are you when I’m in desperate need of pink wine and cheese puffs?’

Heather held up her hands. ‘Say the word and I’ll hop on a plane and be there at the weekend.’

Nina smiled. ‘Well, I’ll try to wait till half term.’

‘It’ll be okay,’ Heather said. ‘Things will work out for you, I know it. And for now, you’ve got the house and Theo and that gorgeous place.’

‘I know.’ The house was almost ready, and they were preparing to welcome their first guests soon. She was excited, and this had been exactly the distraction she needed. Until that morning when the turtle handles had arrived, sending her stomach plummeting as the dreams she’d tried so hard to forget resurfaced.

‘You know, I’m still not convinced about this wife of George’s. He’s such a good guy, I just don’t think he’d do that to you.’

‘Well he did. Just because he likes turtles doesn’t make him a flipping saint. And I can assure you, his wife was pretty bloody convincing when I saw her standing there in the flesh. Telling me she was his wife.’ They were getting dangerously close to arguing, and they hadn’t argued since they were seventeen. Nina wasn’t keen to start again now. And it wasn’t really Heather she was angry with. George had continued to message her, on and off. She deleted them all without reading, and had finally blocked his number the week before, her heart breaking just a little bit more as she did so.

‘How’s work?’ This was a sure tactic to distract Heather; she loved her job, and was soon rabbiting away about the cute things the children in her class had done. And Nina found herself laughing as she listened to stories of sneezes into cake mixtures and breadsticks up noses and children making lists of all the people they wanted to bite.