Wish You Were Here (24 page)

She opened her eyes. ‘Oh!’ she cried. ‘Was I asleep?’

‘I think so,’ Milo said, sitting down next to her. ‘Can I get you something? A cup of coffee?’

‘Oh, no, thank you. I guess I’d better call it a night.’

He nodded. ‘I’ll show you your room.’

They walked down the hallway together and Milo opened a door to the right. The bedroom was small and simply furnished with a small double bed, a bedside cabinet on which stood a pottery lamp, and a large wardrobe in the corner. Milo stepped inside to draw the curtains.

‘You’ll love the view in the morning,’ he told her. ‘You can see right down to the sea.’

She nodded and noticed that there was a towel and a brand new toothbrush on the bed together with a T-shirt and a pair of socks.

‘Just in case you get cold,’ he said, noticing that she was looking at the socks. ‘Tiana is always complaining about cold feet.’

Alice smiled. ‘Thank you.’

‘The bathroom’s along the hall on the left.’

‘Okay.’

‘Is there anything else you need? Anything else I can get you?’

She looked up at him. He was standing awfully close to her now and she could feel his warm breath on her face. This was the man she had swum naked with in the sea. This was the man whom she had made love with in the ruins of an ancient temple. She swallowed hard.

‘I’m fine,’ she said.

‘I’ll be next door if you need anything,’ he said, his eyes dark and warm.

‘Thank you,’ she whispered, watching as he left her room and closed the door.

What was she doing here? She was sending out all the wrong signals by staying here and yet she didn’t feel awkward at all. In fact, she’d never been made to feel so welcome anywhere in her life.

She sat down on the bed and picked up the pair of perfect woollen socks. He had a little sister, she thought to herself. That was the big secret he’d been hiding. He hadn’t been married with six children. She had painted him as a total villain when he had, in fact, been – what? The perfect man?

She shook her head. The perfect man, she thought. She had thrown away her one chance of happiness with the most perfect man she had ever met and, yet, how else could it have ended? Even if he was perfect, their relationship had been nothing more than a holiday romance, hadn’t it? It didn’t have a future.

Unless…

Alice switched the little pottery lamp on by the bed and gazed at the warm pool of yellow light it cast, her mind whirling with sudden, unexplored, unanticipated thoughts.

She’d never thought very much about the future before because she’d been so resolutely stuck in the present with her job and her rented house, but the inheritance from her father might give her the chance to
choose
a future for herself. It might just allow her to make a decision that would change her life forever, she thought.

‘If I have the courage,’ she whispered to herself.

Milo hovered around Alice’s door for a while after having closed it, wondering if she would think of something that she needed. He wished she’d stayed and talked to him a little longer. It seemed too early to say good night.

Finally, he walked back through to the kitchen and tidied a few things up and prepared Tiana’s packed lunch for the next morning. It was as he was crossing the hall to the sitting room half an hour later that he saw Tiana. She was standing in the doorway to Alice’s room.

‘Tiana! Come away. What are you doing?’ he hissed.

‘Just watching her,’ Tiana whispered back. ‘She looks so sad. I think she’s been crying.’

‘You shouldn’t have opened her door.’

‘It just came open,’ she said.

Milo sighed but couldn’t resist joining Tiana at the bedroom door and looking inside, the hallway light falling softly on Alice’s face as she lay in bed.

‘She does look sad,’ he said.

‘What’s she so sad about when she’s here with you?’ Tiana asked.

‘She has a lot to think about at the moment.’

‘Like what?’

‘Well, her father’s just died and there are other things too.’

‘And she doesn’t have a big brother to take care of her like I do?’ Tiana asked.

‘No, she doesn’t.’

‘So you’re looking after her instead?’

Milo cleared his throat. ‘Something like that. Now, you should be in bed, young lady.’

‘Can I kiss her good night?’

‘No, you can’t.’

‘Are you going to?’

‘Go to bed,’ he said.

He escorted her back to her bedroom and, once she was tucked up in bed with the promise that she wouldn’t go wandering into Alice’s room in the middle of the night, Milo retraced his steps and popped his head around the door again and gazed at the pale face of Alice asleep in the bed. It was strange to think of her wearing his T-shirt and socks. Strange but rather wonderful.

‘Good night, Alice,’ he whispered, and gently closed the door and walked silently to his own room next door.

Alice awoke in the strange bedroom and looked across at the pale blue curtain through which the sunlight streamed. She had no idea what the time was so leapt out of bed and grabbed her watch. It was after ten. She’d slept for twelve whole hours.

As she drew back the curtain, she was instantly drenched in sunlight. Milo had been right about the view – it was breathtaking. The land rolled away in gentle hills and, there beyond a silver-bright olive grove, was the sea. Today, it was a deep sapphire-blue that almost hurt the eyes to look at it but Alice couldn’t tear her gaze away from it. It was mesmeric and she could easily imagine becoming obsessed with such a view and spending endless hours staring at it.

What must it be like to live somewhere like this, she wondered? To be able to look at the sea whenever you wanted to and to observe its changing nature, its myriad colours and its volatile moods swinging from calm and glassy to stormy and savage. No wonder Tiana and, indeed, Milo didn’t want to live anywhere else. Alice could totally understand that. A place like this became part of a person. It was the very breath you took, it was what filled your mind and your heart. It was an emotional anchor that gave you a true sense of who you were and where you belonged. That, Alice thought, must be one of the most satisfying feelings in the world and it was one that she’d never had.

Nipping quickly into the bathroom, she took a shower and got dressed. There was an old mirror above the sink and Alice glanced at her reflection. Her skin had paled since her last trip to Kethos and her hair had lost the warm highlights that the sun had graced her with, and her eyes were more pink than blue after her crying the night before.

Walking back through to the bedroom, she sat on the edge of the bed for a while thinking about all the possibilities that the future held and then she felt incredibly sad because the very thing that was giving her such opportunities had been the death of her beloved father and she wouldn’t have wanted that for the whole world.

She took a deep breath. She was going to get through this. She was going to sort out this whole Aphrodite business and then she would sort out her father’s estate. Then, she promised, she’d do something wonderful for herself.

Leaving the bedroom, she ventured through to the kitchen where Milo was making a cup of coffee.

‘Good morning,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry I slept so long. You should’ve woken me.’

‘I didn’t want to,’ he said. ‘I guessed you’d be exhausted after yesterday.’

‘Where’s Tiana?’

‘She’s left for school.’

‘Oh, of course,’ Alice said, realising it was a weekday.

‘Did you sleep all right?’

‘Yes, thank you.’

‘There’s plenty of breakfast,’ he said and Alice sat at the table and began to eat.

‘Don’t you have to go to work?’ she asked.

He shrugged. ‘The boss is still away and Old Costas is taking some leave so he can’t tell on me and I can catch up with things another time. Lander’s covering for me,’ Milo said.

‘I’m sorry I’m causing you so much bother,’ she said.

Milo shook his head. ‘You’re not,’ he said. ‘I told you I’d help you and I will.’

‘So, we’re going back to the sculptor’s house?’

‘As soon as you’re ready.’

Alice nodded and then she suddenly felt nervous which was silly, really, because this was the day she’d been so longing for – the day when everything would be back to normal. No more ridiculous male attention, no more bizarre declarations of love from complete strangers. She was going to return to her true self. The real Alice Archer.

‘You okay?’ Milo asked her.

Alice nodded. ‘I just want to get this all over and done with.’

‘And get home again?’

She looked up at him. ‘I – I guess,’ she said.

‘You’ve got a lot to sort out, haven’t you?’

‘Yes,’ she said.

He nodded again. His face was solemn and she couldn’t help wondering what he was thinking. He’d probably be glad to see the back of the strange English girl who kept yo-yoing in and out of his life. She’d done nothing but cause trouble and she wouldn’t blame him if he never wanted to see her again.

‘Okay,’ he said, his voice flat and devoid of emotion and his face a perfect blank. ‘Let me know when you’re ready to go.’ He left the room and Alice blinked in surprise. What had just happened there? Had she said something to upset him? She finished her cup of coffee and walked down the hallway to his bedroom and knocked lightly on the door. He appeared a moment later. ‘Ready?’ he asked.

‘I’m ready,’ she said and, like two strangers, they left the house in an uncomfortable silence.

How she longed to talk to him on the journey back to the sculptor’s house. There was so much she wanted to know about him but she felt as if he’d somehow closed down on her. Maybe it was because she’d said she was going home but what else could she do?

She looked out of the window at the barren, rock-strewn landscape. The road climbed higher and, for a few moments, the sea was lost to them. She opened her window and breathed in the sweet thyme-scented air. She wanted to say something – to share the moment – but Milo seemed so distanced from her that she remained silent.

When they reached the home of the sculptor at last, they saw that, once again, the gates were closed and padlocked. Nevertheless, they got out of the car.

‘Hello!’ Alice shouted and immediately set off the dog. She noticed that it was on a long lead today and she was thankful that it didn’t get any closer to her than it did. ‘Sound the horn,’ she told Milo.

He returned to the car and gave three blasts. It sounded so horribly loud in the silence of the countryside and it started the dog off again.

‘How are we going to get in?’ Alice asked.

‘I don’t think we are.’

‘There must be a weak spot somewhere,’ Alice said.

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean – let’s get in there. It’s obvious we’re not going to be invited in so let’s find our own way in.’

‘What – with that enormous dog?’

‘He’s tied up.’

‘But he might break free!’ Milo pointed out.

Alice shook her head and started walking around the perimeter of the wall. The ground was dusty and stony and Alice twisted her ankle at one point. Milo rushed forward but she waved him away.

‘I’m okay,’ she said. ‘Let’s keep going.’

The wall stretched interminably and it soon became obvious that there was no entrance other than the one that was padlocked and guarded.

‘I’m sorry, Alice,’ Milo said, ‘but it looks like this isn’t going to work out as we’d hoped.’

Alice looked down the long length of wall. She’d come all this way and she wasn’t ready to give up yet. There must be a way inside. There
must
. It was then that she saw the tree.

‘Milo – look!’

‘What?’

‘The tree.’

The olive tree looked centuries old and was good and sturdy. Alice ran over to it and Milo gave her a leg-up and she was hoisted into its silvery-green depths. Its bark was ridged and gnarled and felt rough against Alice’s legs and she wished she hadn’t worn a dress but had chosen something more practical to wear.

‘You okay?’ Milo said, climbing up the tree after her.

Alice shimmied her way along a thick branch towards the top of the wall. ‘Nearly there,’ she said, releasing the hem of her dress from where it had caught on a rough bit of bark.

Finally, she made it to the wall and positioned herself on its top, gazing down at the ground beneath her. She took a few steadying breaths before launching herself into the air and landing with a great thud that she felt sure would start another earthquake. It was much more of a drop than she’d thought and she wondered how on earth they were going to climb back up and get out but she wasn’t going to worry about that just yet.

A second later, Milo thudded to the ground next to her. ‘Well, we’re in,’ he said, dusting himself down. Alice looked at him and he gave her a little smile and then they began walking towards the villa, careful to go round the side that was furthest away from the dog.

‘Gosh, there’s acres,’ Alice said a few minutes later as they surveyed the grounds.

‘Don’t worry. We’ll find her,’ Milo said as if reading her mind.

‘What if we don’t?’

He looked at her. ‘You’ll just have to get used to being irresistible to men for the rest of your life.’

‘That’s not funny, Milo,’ she said.

‘I can think of worse fates.’

She took a deep breath. ‘I’ve got to do this.’

‘I know,’ he said. ‘Look, the sculptor’s bound to have kept the statue close to the house if he was going to try to repair it. There must be a workshop somewhere. She’s probably in one of those.’

Alice nodded. ‘Yes,’ she said hopefully.

Skirting the villa, they soon found themselves in what was obviously a stonemason’s yard. It was full of pieces of rubble from tiny fragments to great boulders but there weren’t any statues around.

Milo nodded towards a strange sort of outbuilding that looked like a cross between a garage and a church. It soared up from the ground and its great arched wooden doors stood open. They approached it slowly, almost reverentially, their footsteps hushed as they entered. They allowed their eyes to adjust slowly and, when they did, they saw the most amazing sight. They were completely surrounded by statues. They were everywhere, making a semicircle of stone around them.

‘Why do you think they’re lined up like this?’ Alice asked.

‘I don’t know,’ Milo said. ‘Maybe Mr Karalis likes to stand in the middle and look at them for inspiration. It’s a bit like a museum, isn’t it?’

‘It’s more like a strange sort of charnel house,’ Alice said with a shudder. ‘You know – where they keep skeletons that have been dug up from graves?’

Milo nodded.

‘Look – not one is complete,’ Alice said.

They gazed with a mixture of wonder and horror at the statues. There were the usual missing arms and noses but some didn’t even have heads and some were just bare torsos on plinths.

‘Poor things,’ Alice said, as if the statues were alive and might actually be missing their various misplaced body parts.

‘Hey!’ Milo said, nodding towards the far side of the room. Alice followed his gaze and that’s when she saw her – Aphrodite, her beautiful broken body lying on the floor of the workshop.

‘She looks so sad,’ Alice said, walking over to her and placing a reverential hand upon her.

‘What are you going to do?’ Milo asked.

‘I don’t know. How do you undo a wish?’

Milo shrugged. ‘I have no idea,’ he said.

Alice knelt down on the floor beside the statue and took a deep breath. ‘I’m not quite sure what to say,’ she said.

‘I’ll give you some space,’ Milo said, walking out of the building. Alice watched him go, his figure silhouetted in the arched doorway by the bright sunshine, and then she turned back to Aphrodite.

‘Hello,’ she said, and then smiled to herself. It felt funny talking to an inanimate object, especially a broken one, but wasn’t that exactly what she’d come so far to do? A part of her couldn’t help thinking that the whole thing was ridiculous. What if this didn’t work? What if Milo was right and Alice was completely mad? But she hadn’t imagined it all, had she? How else was she to explain all of the male attention she’d received? No, this statue had a lot to answer for and Alice was jolly well going to put a stop to it now.

She placed her hand on Aphrodite’s right shoulder and closed her eyes.

‘I don’t know what to say to you but I’m hoping you can help me,’ she began. ‘I made this wish to be noticed by men and I realise now that I didn’t want that at all. It was a silly thing to do and it was nothing but a nightmare so can you undo the wish? I wish to be just me again – just the Alice Archer who arrived here on Kethos before making the wish. Is that all right? Can you do that for me, please?’

She took a deep breath and opened her eyes. Had it worked? Had things returned to normal? She wasn’t sure and guessed she wouldn’t be until she ran into a few men but, kneeling there on the floor next to Aphrodite, Alice felt the urge to keep talking.

‘Do you grant other wishes, Aphrodite?’ she asked in a voice little above a whisper. ‘I think it would be greedy of me to make another wish and I know I really shouldn’t but I can’t help wishing that I could stay here on Kethos. I’m not going to wish that Milo falls madly in love with me – that would be wrong – but I wish I knew how he felt about me. As soon as I saw the island again, I felt so happy. I love it so much – the colours and the smells and the light and the air. I don’t think I want to be anywhere else and I’ve been thinking – really thinking – that I could make a go of things here. I mean, I’m not sure what I’d do yet but I’ve got some money now and I’ve got some time to work things out, haven’t I? I’ve never done anything adventurous in my life and I can’t help wanting to change that. I keep thinking of my father and how happy he was to spend all his life in the same place but I no longer think that’s right for me and – no, I’m not going to keep wishing. I—’ she paused. ‘I’m going to go now.’

She lifted her hand from Aphrodite and stood up. For a moment, she looked down at the beautiful face and couldn’t help wondering if her words had been heard. ‘I do hope so,’ she said to herself before leaving the workshop.

Blinking in the bright sunshine as she stepped outside, she looked around for Milo and saw him standing next to a low wall that looked out across an orchard. He turned round at her approach.

‘Hey!’ he said. ‘How did it go?’

Alice shrugged. ‘I really don’t know.’

‘Do you think it’s worked?’ he asked.

‘I hope so,’ she said and part of her was desperate to ask him if he still found her attractive but it would be too awful to ask him such a question. Besides, she seemed to have her answer when his gaze moved from her to the orchard.

‘Look at the size of this place,’ he said. ‘Just imagine the garden you could make here.’

Alice looked around her. Beyond the orchard, the land rolled away into a boulder-strewn hillside which tumbled towards an azure sea. It was stunningly beautiful and she tried to picture it through Milo’s eyes with borders filled with flowers and herbs and pretty pathways leading to secret fountains.

‘Well,’ he said a moment later, ‘I suppose we’d better get out of here before we’re caught trespassing.’

Alice nodded. She’d forgotten that they were on private property and that they’d climbed over a wall to get in.

Sneaking back around the villa, they retraced their footsteps and Milo gave Alice a leg up the wall before managing to clamber up it himself, hooking his fingers into the crumbling brickwork. They eased themselves down the olive tree and ran back towards the car, instantly waking the dog who gave a volley of vicious barks.

‘I can’t thank you enough,’ Alice said once they were safely inside the car. ‘I’m sorry I put you through all that.’

‘I wouldn’t have missed it for the world,’ he said with a little smile and then a strange silence fell between them. Finally, Milo cleared his throat. ‘I guess you want me to take you to the ferry now?’

There was a pause before Alice answered. ‘I guess,’ she said in a voice that was barely audible.

‘Okay,’ he said and he started the engine.