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She couldn’t. Nor that Aristo was going to be there. It was a touching sign of his commitment both to her and her career. And yet another reason to reveal the depth of her feelings.
But right now she needed to concentrate on her upcoming show. She never got stage fright on the night, but in the days running up to a performance her nerves always got the better of her. And she hadn’t so much as picked up a deck of cards for nearly two weeks.
Thankfully she’d brought a couple of packs with her, and now, leaving George and Aristo building an elaborate fortress out of sand on the beach, she returned to the villa and worked her way through her repertoire of tricks, some of which had taken five years to perfect.
As usual, she lost track of time, and it was only when she heard the sound of Dinos’s motorboat, returning from its morning trip to the market, that she realised how long she’d been practising.
Packing away her cards, she ran quickly through the villa, down to the beach.
‘Sorry,’ she said breathlessly. ‘I didn’t realise how late it was.’
‘Look what we built, Mommy!’
Grabbing Teddie by the hand, George hauled her over to where Aristo stood grinning beside a huge sandcastle.
‘Wow! That’s amazing! I think that is the best sandcastle I’ve ever seen.’
Eyes dancing, she stood on tiptoe and kissed Aristo softly on the mouth.
‘And the biggest!’
Drawing her closer, he laughed.
‘Daddy, can you take a picture?’
‘Yes, of course he can, darling.’ Teddie glanced down at her son. ‘Do you want to be in it?’
Pulling out his phone, Aristo took a step backwards.
‘Okay—hold your spade up, George.’
Aristo held his arm above his eyes to shield them from the sun, and was just starting to crouch down when his phone vibrated.
‘Hang on a minute...’ Glancing down at the screen, he frowned. ‘I’m going to have to take this.’
Teddie watched in confusion as he held the phone up to his ear.
‘What?’ he said tersely. ‘Well, can you explain to me why that’s even happening?’
Without even looking back, he began walking away.
‘Mommy?’ George was standing beside her, staring uncertainly after his father. ‘Where’s Daddy going?’
‘He’s just got to talk to somebody. He’ll be back in a couple of minutes,’ she said quickly.
But five minutes later Aristo was still talking.
As Teddie tried to distract their son she could see Aristo out of the corner of her eye, pacing in circles, still talking, his shoulders braced.
It was obvious the call was work-related and, judging by the palpable frustration in his voice, there was some kind of problem—but was it really that urgent?
After another five minutes she took a reluctant George back up to the villa, having promised that Daddy would definitely not forget to take a photo of his sandcastle.
Standing in the living room, she gazed down at the beach, feeling her frustration starting to rise. But Aristo was the CEO of a huge global company, and she couldn’t really begrudge him one phone call, no matter how long-winded. She was just lucky to have Elliot at home, fielding any potential work problems for her.
She glanced down to where Aristo was still pacing across the sand. It was obviously not a happy conversation, but a cup of his favourite sketos coffee would help restore his mood.
She was just about to head off to the kitchen
