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Katerina picked up her takeaway coffee to take a sip and wrinkled her nose in surprise when she discovered that the cup was empty.
‘Oh my God! I can’t possibly get through the morning without more coffee! I’m going to head over to the taverna. Giorgos makesthebest coffee in the whole of Santorini. Can I get you one while I’m there?’
‘Yes, please, I’d love one. There’s only peppermint tea in Amber’s cupboards.’
‘Okay. Oh, and while I’m away could you do me a favour?’
‘Of course.’
‘Are you okay with heights?’
‘Erm, yes, I think so.’
‘Great! I get dizzy climbing the stairs! Would you mind hanging the new sign for me?’ Katerina pointed to the parcel she had brought with her. ‘Spyros came round yesterday, and he’s fixed the metal bracket I commissioned from him for above the front door, so all you need to do is attach that sign to the two hooks. There’s a stepladder over there in the storeroom. Good luck!’
Before Suzie could ask any questions, Katerina had left the gallery, her stiletto heels clickety-clacking on the cobbled street as she made her way to the taverna, leaving a waft of Chanel N°5 and an apprehensive Suzie behind her.
Chapter Six
Suzie dragged the heavy parcel across the floor and laid it carefully on the glass desk. After trying and failing to undo the carefully tied knots, she liberated a pair of scissors from a blue ceramic jug on the windowsill and snipped the string, allowing the pieces to slither onto the floor before tearing away the brown paper and crunching it into a ball. Realising that Katerina might want to recycle the packaging, she quickly smoothed out the wrinkles, but the damage was done so she hid it in the back of one of the elegant steel filing cabinets she found hidden behind a bamboo screen.
She took a moment to appreciate the carved wooden sign that would inform future customers that they had arrived atKaterina’s Art Studio. The rectangular-shaped plaque had been fashioned from a piece of rosewood that had been buffed until it shone, and the lettering, written in the Greek style, was bold and eye-catching. Its edges had been cut to create a rippled effect that provided an attractive border, and there were a pair of circular holes in the upper corners that had been set with two shiny brass rings.
The sign was a work of art in its own right.
After giving it a final polish with a patterned cloth she had found in the posh filing cabinet, Suzie headed to the storeroom Katerina had mentioned to find the stepladder, surprised when she saw it was larger than she had anticipated, with seven or eight treads instead of the two or three she’d been expecting. She lugged it through the gallery and out to the street, setting it down on the uneven cobbles directly beneath the fancy metal bracket Spyros had affixed to the wall above the front door, from which the new sign would hang.
She glanced to her left, then to her right, relieved that the droves of holidaymakers she had seen milling around the maze-like streets the previous evening had decided to enjoy a late breakfast, and her only audience was a trio of cats snoozing in the early morning sunshine. However, she knew that situation wouldn’t last forever and the sooner she completed the task the better if she didn’t want to become an impromptu comedy act for passing tourists.
She rushed back into the shop, slotted the sign under her arm, and carried it carefully to where she’d left the ladder, pausing to prepare herself before mounting the first three rungs. The temperature was far from scorching, and yet she could already feel perspiration bubbling at her temples, but, as she didn’t have a free hand to swish it away, she pressed on regardless. She climbed another two rungs, paused again, then hoisted the heavy plaque onto her shoulder.
With one last effort, she managed to lift the sign and slot the brass ring in the top left-hand corner onto the hook on the left-hand side of Spyros’ bracket, which helped to take some of the weight from her already aching biceps. It had been over a year since she had seen the inside of a gym – which had been another casualty of her aversion to frequenting places where she might encounter an abundance of strangers – and her fitness levels had taken a dip because of it.
Something else to add to her to do list whilst she was in Santorini.
She slid her fingers along the bottom of the sign and took hold of the right-hand corner, ready to hoist it up so she could slot the second hook through the final ring. However, she missed the target, and only just managed to reach out and catch the sign as it swung back downwards. Unsurprisingly, her sudden lunging manoeuvre caused the ladder to wobble precariously as she fought to retain her balance and steady the swinging sign, fearing that it would plummet to the ground, with her following in its wake.
What would Amber say if, on her very first morning at the gallery, Suzie was responsible for destroying Katerina’s beautifully crafted shop sign, and twisted her ankle, or worse, broke her leg, into the bargain?
With her heart crashing wildly against her ribcage, Suzie managed to resume her equilibrium and she exhaled a long sigh of relief that disaster had been averted. She quickly returned her attention to the job at hand and had just successfully slotted the ring over the right-hand hook when she heard footsteps pounding the cobbles behind her.
Against her better judgement, she twisted her body round in time to see a dark-haired man running down the street towards her at speed, his head turned over his shoulder, his arms slicing through the air as though he was being chased by a battalion of fire-breathing monsters. As he drew ever closer, she realised that he was so concerned with escaping his pursuers that he hadn’t noticed she was directly in his path.
‘Oh my God! Look out!’
But it was too late.
The man was already upon her, his head still craned over his shoulder as he rammed straight into the stepladder with force, causing it to rock violently from side to side before tumbling away from beneath her feet. Suzie’s self-preservation instincts kicked in, and she automatically reached out to grab hold of the metal bracket above her head just as the ladder clattered to the ground, leaving her dangling in mid-air, her tee-shirt riding up her abdomen to reveal a wide expanse of naked midriff.
‘Argh!’
Before she knew what was happening, the sprinter had wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her towards him, his cheek pressed tightly against her stomach, skin on skin. Stumbling a little under her weight, he managed to steady himself before carefully lowering her feet onto the cobbles, his hands remaining on her waist for a few seconds longer than usual to make sure she didn’t dissolve into a trembling wreck on the pavement.
‘What the…!’
Suzie just stopped herself from uttering an expletive as she dusted herself down, tucked her tee-shirt back into her shorts, and took a moment to examine the grazes on her palms where she’d clutched the bracket as though her life depended on it, and to confirm that the sign was still hanging safely. Satisfied the scrapes were superficial and that – apart from to her pride – she and the sign had sustained no other injuries, she raised her eyes to meet the intense chocolate-brown gaze of her “rescuer”.
To her astonishment, she experienced a sharp frisson of attraction.
