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‘Thank you.’ Kate touched Sofia’s hand, looking down at the chunky silver rings on her slender fingers. ‘That would be lovely.’
If extremely unlikely. Much as she liked this engaging young woman, she knew she would never be part of her life. As soon as Nikos became her legal guardian he and Kate would divorce and she would never see her again. Which was a shame.
‘How’s the legal stuff going, anyway?’ Sofia lifted the bottle of champagne out of the ice bucket and, seeing it was empty, waved it at Nikos. ‘Shall we get another one?’
‘I think one bottle is enough.’ Nikos frowned at her. ‘And, in answer to your question, it’s going slowly. There are few things I want to discuss with you.’
‘Please speak Greek if you want to.’ Kate interjected. ‘Don’t feel you have to use English because of me.’
‘Of course we will speak English,’ Sofia replied. ‘It would be rude not to. And besides, I want Nikos to see all the money spent on my education hasn’t been wasted.’
Kate laughed. ‘Your English is great!’
As the two of them started talking Kate excused herself to go to the bathroom. She felt as if she was eavesdropping on something that was really none of her business. It also highlighted her part in this charade—the fact that she had only married Nikos for money. And that made her feel horribly awkward.
She took her time, and when she returned Nikos was asking for the bill.
‘Ah, Kate, I was just going to give Sofia her present.’
‘Ooh, thanks!’ Sofia’s face lit up with child-like expectation, and suddenly Kate realised how young she really was.
‘Here.’ Nikos passed her a blue velvet box. ‘I hope you like it. Kate helped me choose.’
Kate chewed her lip nervously. When she and Nikos had visited the exclusive jewellers before lunch, the gold charm bracelet had seemed like a most suitable gift. Now she had met Sofia she could see it was all wrong.
Sofia opened the hinged box with a squeak and Kate’s brow furrowed with unease.
‘I love it!’ Sofia was on her feet in a moment, flinging her arms around Nikos first and then Kate. ‘Thank you so much.’
Kate gave her a hug. It was a great performance. What a lovely girl she was.
She waited until Nikos had gone to find them a cab before taking Sofia to one side. ‘You can always swap that bracelet for something else. Like a few hundred nose rings.’
Sofia laughed, linking arms with Kate as they stepped out onto the busy sidewalk. ‘I would never do that. True, it’s not the sort of thing that I would normally wear, but Nikos bought it for me, and for that reason alone I will treasure it.’
Kate could see she was telling the truth. She could see how much Nikos meant to her, how fond she was of him. And for some reason that made her feel even worse.
* * *
It was Sofia’s idea to go to a pub. With several hours before she had to re-join her classmates, back at the hotel, Nikos had suggested some touristy things that they might do: The Tower of London, the London Eye, the British Museum... But Sofia had politely declined, saying that what she really wanted was to find a traditional old English pub—like the ones in the rom com movies she and her friends watched when they should be doing their homework.
It had seemed an innocent enough request, and after emphasising that she would only be allowed soft drinks Nikos had led them to a little pub called The Nag’s Head.
Sofia immediately lit up with excitement. It was dingy inside, and smelled of stale ale, but Kate had to admit the place had a certain charm. With dark red walls and a wooden floor, it had small cast iron tables and a curved bar, with pewter tankards hanging above it like the ghostly relics of drinkers past.
Insisting that she wanted to sit at the bar, so she could see what was going on, Sofia was thrilled to discover she could legally have a glass of shandy, and watched with rapt attention as the barman picked up a dimpled half pint mug, filled it half-full with beer from a polished brass beer pump, and topped it up with lemonade.
Raising it to her lips, Sofia declared it ‘delicious’, but she was still nursing the same glass an hour later. By which time Nikos was getting twitchy.
