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He ushered them through into the living room, where Madison handed him a bottle of red wine and a bottle of white. ‘I wasn’t sure what you were cooking, so I erred on the side of caution.’
‘Efkharisto, matia mou.’ He kissed her lightly on the cheek.
Katrina gave him a box of dark chocolates. ‘Maddie tells me you like these ones.’
He smiled at her. ‘I do indeed. Thank you very much—they’ll be perfect with coffee.’ He wrinkled his nose. ‘I have to admit, that’s the one thing I forgot to buy. Which, considering that this evening involves dinner and Madison, was incredibly stupid of me.’
‘Coffee. Uh-oh. Please, tell me you’re not going to make us Greek coffee?’ Madison asked, looking appalled.
‘Kardoula mou, I told you I was making you a traditional Greek meal,’ he reminded her.
She groaned. ‘So we get gloopy coffee. And Greek meals don’t include chocolate.’
He laughed. ‘Of course they do. The cocoa tree is theobroma cacao, and “theobroma” is Greek for “food of the gods”.’ He smiled. ‘But I’ll stop teasing you and admit it’s not a completely traditional Greek meal, because I know someone who would live on a certain French pudding and Italian coffee if she could.’
Madison’s face brightened. ‘You bought crème brûlée?’
‘No.’ He hadn’t bought it. He’d made it for her himself, the previous evening. From scratch. With a bit of telephone help from his sister Melina. But he wasn’t going to tell her that just yet. ‘Can I get you both a glass of wine? White or red?’
‘White, please,’ Katrina said.
‘Same for me, please,’ Madison said. ‘Can I do anything to help?’
‘You, hara mou, helping in a kitchen? Willingly? Hmm, now, that’s a new one,’ he teased.
Katrina laughed. ‘He clearly knows you well, Maddie.’
Madison smiled ruefully. ‘I don’t mind washing up.’
‘This evening,’ Theo said, ‘you’re here as my guest. So, no, you’re not washing up tonight. But thank you for the offer.’
He went into the kitchen, took a bottle of white wine from the fridge and filled two glasses for Madison and Katrina, then switched the steamer on.
‘Ten minutes until dinner,’ he said, returning to the living room with the wine.
‘I’m afraid I’ve been very nosy about your photographs,’ Katrina said, gesturing to the pictures on the mantelpiece.
‘My family.’ He went through them, putting names to the faces for her. ‘There are more in the dining room.’
‘I can’t imagine what it was like, growing up as one of five,’ Katrina said.
‘Noisy,’ Theo said. ‘And a lot of fun.’
‘You must miss them horribly.’
‘I do.’ He wrinkled his nose. ‘I know we have IM and webcams as well as the phone, but it’s not the same as being there with them. And every time I see my niece and nephew, they’ve changed so much.’
‘So are you going back to Greece when your secondment’s over?’
He knew exactly what Katrina was asking: Are you going to break Maddie’s heart?
‘Right now,’ he said quietly, ‘I really don’t know. I’ll go back soon because it’s been six weeks since I’ve seen them, and that’s too long.’
‘So you’re taking a week’s holiday?’ Madison asked.
Theo shrugged. ‘A long weekend, perhaps.’ And although part of him wanted to ask her to go with him, he knew it would be a mistake. It would raise too many expectations—with Madison herself, as well as with his family.
They’d absolutely adore her.
And press him to set a date for the wedding.
Except he wasn’t quite ready for that. He still had things he needed to sort out in his head. So did Madison. It was best to leave things as they were.
He glanced at his watch. ‘Would you like to come through into the dining room?’ He ushered them through, then turned to Katrina. ‘I apologise in advance if I’m being patronising—that’s really not my intention—but Maddie tells me you have some hearing loss. I’ve tried to set the table so you can see both our faces, to make it easier for you to lip-read, but if I’ve got it wrong please feel free to move things around.’
Katrina smiled. ‘It looks absolutely fine. Thank you—and you’re not being patronising, you’re being thoughtful.’
Madison glanced at the table. ‘Wow. That’s dinner?’
‘It’s the first course. Mezedes,’ he explained. As Katrina and Madison sat down, he talked them through the dishes: taramasalata, tzatziki—yoghurt with chopped cucumber and mint—tiny triangles of feta and spinach wrapped in filo pastry known as spanikopita, stuffed vine leaves and plenty of wholegrain bread.
