Wish You Were Here (7 page)

It was a perfect spring morning and, when Alice walked out onto the terrace after breakfast, she inhaled the sweet warm air and knew that this day was going to be special. In fact, it was going to be a blue dress day and she skipped back up to her bedroom and grabbed the dress from her wardrobe. She had already worn it once into town but Milo hadn’t seen it yet and she hoped he would like it.

Looking at herself in the mirror before leaving, she couldn’t help thinking that there was something different about her today. Was it really as simple as putting on a beautiful dress? She doubted it and yet she couldn’t help acknowledging the fact that she felt so unlike her old self. Maybe it was because she was on holiday, but did it really matter? All that she knew was that she was happy to be her and that was a wonderful novelty.

As she walked into town, an old man raised his hat to her and a teenager on a bicycle waved to her and shouted something in Greek that she didn’t understand. She watched as he cycled on down the road and then he did a double take.

‘Just a friendly local,’ she said to herself, putting all thoughts of it out of her mind as she caught her first glimpse of the sea between the steeply stacked houses. There was a row of men sitting on the harbour wall with fishing rods, the backs of their necks already dark with exposure to the sun, and boats bobbed about on the water, the reflected light making magical patterns on their sterns.

And there was Milo waiting for her at the harbour, his moped standing alongside him. He didn’t see her at first and she had a chance to look at him properly. He was tall and slim with lean, strong arms and a head of dark curls and there seemed to be a nervous sort of energy within him as if it was difficult for him to keep still. His dark eyes were scanning the horizon and, when he turned and saw her and smiled, Alice felt as if she had been blessed.

Don’t get carried away
, she told herself.
This is just a bit of holiday fun. Don’t go making anything more of it.

‘Good morning,’ she said as she approached him.

‘I like that,’ he said.

Alice looked at him curiously. ‘What?’

‘The way you English say “good morning” – as if wishing the day to be good even if it is not so.’

‘But today
is
a good day, isn’t it?’ she said.

‘Today is
very
good,’ he said, handing her a helmet and helping her with the strap. ‘Right. We are ready to begin.’

Alice nodded, liking the way he phrased things. She was definitely ready to begin, she thought. Looping her bag over her head, she watched as Milo hopped onto the bike. She followed, placing her hands around his waist and giving a little yelp as they took off.

The speed at which they left the town made Alice feel quite giddy. She hadn’t realised how much power a moped had even when loaded with two people, but it climbed the steep streets of Kethos Town easily and they were out onto the open road with the sea far below them in no time.

The sky was a brilliant blue above them and Alice felt a huge bubble of excitement inside her and she couldn’t help wishing that her sister could see her now. Stella wouldn’t recognise her boring big sister, would she? Alice had to admit that she barely recognised herself.

Being on a moped was such a freeing experience and Alice could see why Milo loved it so much. He kept half-turning round and shouting back at her to make sure she was okay which she was, of course. She was so much more than okay.

It was about twenty minutes and several miles of scarily twisting roads later when Milo began to slow down. This part of the island was a lot quieter. There was only a scattering of houses and there were certainly no tourists. The landscape was rugged and rocky and it was hard to imagine a perfect sandy beach nearby but that’s what Milo had promised her.

They turned off the twisting main road onto a sandy track filled with enormous potholes.

‘Hold on tight!’ he called back as he skilfully negotiated the primitive track. It was obvious to Alice that he’d done so countless times before but she tightened her grip all the same.

The track was steep and went straight downhill and Alice gasped as she got her first glimpse of the beach. It was a tiny strip of sand between two hills covered with trees and was completely secluded from the world. Nobody but the most ardent of tourists would ever find it. This was a place for locals only and Alice felt honoured to be shown it.

‘You okay?’ Milo asked as they hopped off the bike. ‘Not too dizzy?’

‘Not dizzy at all!’ Alice said as she took her helmet off and shook her hair free. A wonderful breeze from the sea lifted it away from her face and she inhaled deeply. ‘What a perfect beach!’

‘This is my very special place,’ he said. ‘I keep it to myself but – today – I share it with you.’

Alice smiled and watched him as he unpacked the secret compartment on the back of the moped and shook out a blanket for them to sit on.

‘Let me help,’ she said, as he reached inside and brought out two bags of food. Together, they negotiated their way down the boulder-strewn beach before reaching the perfect white sand.

‘How did you discover this place?’ Alice asked.

Milo shrugged. ‘I used to explore a lot. When I got my first moped, I would be gone for hours – just riding the roads and looking, you know?’

Alice nodded. ‘I used to have a bicycle and do the same thing.’

‘And what did you find?’

Alice thought back to her bike rides around the Norfolk countryside. ‘Fields and woods and lakes.’

‘You still ride?’

She shook her head. ‘No. There doesn’t seem to be time anymore.’

‘No time?’

‘With work and things. I always seem so tired these days,’ she said.

‘But you should always make time for yourself,’ Milo said, shaking out the blanket.

‘It isn’t always that easy,’ Alice said. They put the bags of food and drink down and sat on the blanket.

‘When I first got my bike,’ Milo said, ‘I couldn’t get away fast enough.’

‘What did you have to get away from?’

‘A large family!’ he said with a grin.

‘You have lots of brothers and sisters?’

‘Oh, yes,’ he said.

‘I only have one sister and that’s
more
than enough!’

‘Here,’ he said, ‘let’s have some lunch.’

She watched as he opened the first bag of food and brought out a large white loaf of bread already neatly cut into slices. ‘I made it this morning,’ he said, ‘so it’s very fresh.’

‘You made bread this morning?’

‘You don’t believe me?’

‘Well—’

‘I told you I’d give you a whole day and that day starts very early when I get up to make this bread,’ he said.

Alice smiled. He seemed to do nothing but make her smile.

Following the loaf of bread was a great hunk of creamy yellow cheese, a container filled with shiny olives, and a bag of glossy green salad leaves.

‘I feel so bad that I didn’t bring anything,’ Alice said.

‘Don’t feel bad. This was my wish. You are my guest. Now, please help yourself and I will pour the wine.’

‘Wine?’

‘Of course. You cannot have a picnic without wine,’

Alice looked up into the sky where the sun was shining so brightly. Sun, sea and wine – this was going to be a sensory overload. ‘I think I’d better put my hat on,’ she said.

For a while, neither of them spoke but got on with the business of eating good food and drinking good wine. In fact, Alice couldn’t believe how good it all tasted. She’d forgotten the last time she’d eaten really glorious food. The canteen at work might have introduced a few new salads to the menu but most of the food was still school-dinner stodgy and, by the time she got home from work, she rarely had the energy left to prepare herself something wholesome but she promised herself that she would from now on. After all, what could be more simple than a loaf of bread and fresh produce?

She watched Milo as he ate, fast and merrily, glorying in every mouthful. This, Alice thought, was how life should be – taking the time to enjoy a simple meal in a beautiful place.

‘You’re having a good time?’

Alice nodded through a mouthful of salad. ‘You really know how to live, don’t you?’

Milo laughed. ‘What a funny thing to say!’

‘But you do. You really do and I envy you that.’

‘But anyone could live like this,’ he said, his dark forehead furrowed in bewilderment.

Alice shook her head. ‘Not everyone. You have to have courage to live like this.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean – you seem so free – so close to everything around you. Do you know what I mean?’

‘No. I don’t,’ he said. ‘But my English is not very good, I’m afraid.’

‘Your English is almost perfect,’ Alice said. ‘What I mean is, you do what you like. You have a job you love in a place you adore.’

‘That is true.’

‘And not many people have that luxury,’ Alice said.

‘That’s very sad,’ he said. ‘I mean, I can’t imagine living anywhere else or doing anything else.’

‘Have you always lived on Kethos?’ Alice asked.

Milo nodded as he drank the last of his wine. ‘Of course,’ he said. ‘There is nowhere else. At least, not for me.’

Alice looked at him and saw the light in his eyes as he gazed out to sea. ‘That must be wonderful – to be so sure of your home.’

‘But you have a home too?’ he said, turning to face her.

‘Yes, but I’m not sure I’m as attached to it as you are to yours.’

He looked at her for a moment and then nodded out towards the sea. ‘Look at that,’ he said. ‘The sea is six shades of blue. I know – I counted. Yesterday, it was four and the Sunday before you arrived, it was a green-grey like slate.’ He paused. ‘The sea is alive. It is like a person that keeps you company. You get to know its every mood and you come to rely on it being there.’

‘We have the sea too – where I live – but I don’t get to visit it very often.’

‘That’s –
mad
,’ he said. ‘Why live near the sea and yet not go there?’

‘I know! It’s crazy, isn’t it?’ Alice said, shifting herself on the rug so that she was kneeling. ‘I live in this beautiful county and yet I hardly get to see any of it.’

‘Why not?’

‘Because I’m working all the time!’ Alice all but cried.

‘Not
all
the time, surely?’

‘Well, no, but there’s my father too and I see him whenever I can.’

‘He’s ill, isn’t he?’ Milo asked gently.

Alice nodded. ‘He’s in a home and I know he has company there but it’s not the same as family, is it? So I visit him at weekends and then there are all the usual things to do around the house and then it’s time to begin the working week again.’

‘Oh!’ Milo said.

‘I’m sorry,’ Alice said. ‘I seem to do nothing but complain when I’m with you but it’s like you’re helping me to see things clearly for the first time.’

‘And what is it you’re seeing?’ he asked, leaning forward and gently tucking a strand of her brown hair behind her ear.

Alice flinched very slightly in surprise at his movement which caused his fingers to brush her cheek.

‘What?’ she asked.

‘I said, what is it you’re seeing?’

She looked into his dark eyes and swallowed hard. She’d only just met this man and yet here she was, once again, telling him everything about herself. ‘Change,’ she said. ‘I need things to change.’

He nodded. ‘You’re unhappy, aren’t you?’

His tone was gentle and she could feel tears vibrating in her eyes and then something unexpected happened and he leant forward and kissed her. She couldn’t move – didn’t want to move. Instead, she kissed him back, and the sound of the sea in her ears and the warmth of his lips on hers seemed mesmeric for one beautiful moment and her tears were forgotten.

‘I should not have done that,’ Milo said at last when they stopped. ‘But you looked so sad and I—’

‘Wanted to take advantage of that?’ Alice said.

Milo’s face fell. ‘No,’ he said quickly.

Alice gave a little laugh. ‘I’m joking! Sorry. I didn’t mean to tease and it’s okay.’ She blinked hard, determined to get a grip of herself.

‘You don’t mind?’ he asked, his eyes wide with concern.

‘I don’t mind.’

He cocked his head to one side. ‘You are so lovely, Alice,’ he said, ‘and I hate to see you sad especially when today is such a happy day, yes? And you are—’ he paused.

‘What am I?’ Alice asked, almost dreading hearing his response.

‘I can’t think of the word.’ He seemed to be scanning the sky for a moment as if the right word might leap out of it and fall into his head. ‘
Irresistible!
’ he said at last. ‘That’s it – you’re irresistible!’

Alice laughed. ‘Are you sure?’

He nodded, his face lit up with his smile.

Alice sat stunned for a moment, realising that she had the sole attention of a handsome man. Just like she’d wished for.

‘I’m sorry,’ Milo said. ‘I’m embarrassing you.’

‘No, you’re not,’ Alice said. ‘It was just unexpected.’

‘But a good unexpected?’ he asked with the tiniest of smiles.

She nodded, thinking it best if she didn’t have any more wine that day. They sat in silence, both staring out to sea. Alice was just wondering what was going to happen next and hoping that Milo wasn’t going to write the day off as a huge mistake and take her straight back to Kethos Town when he suddenly clapped his hands together.

‘Well, there’s only one thing to do when you live near the sea and that’s to swim in it! Are you coming?’ he asked, standing up and brushing sand off his legs.

‘Oh, you didn’t say we might be swimming,’ Alice said, looking disappointed.

‘We’re on an island – swimming is always on the agenda,’ he said. ‘Come on!’

‘But I don’t have my costume.’

‘What do you need a costume for? The sea will dress you!’ he said.

She watched as Milo walked towards the water, shedding clothes as he went. At first, Alice averted her eyes but then she wondered why. If he was unabashed to strip off in front of her in broad daylight, why shouldn’t she watch?

His body was lean and tanned and she really couldn’t stop looking at it. This just wasn’t the kind of thing that happened back home in Norfolk and Alice was jolly well going to enjoy it.

‘You won’t believe how good this feels!’ Milo cried as he entered the water, beating it with enthusiastic arms.

‘You’re mad!’ Alice shouted.

‘Come on in!’ he yelled back.

‘I haven’t got my costume,’ Alice said.

‘You are born naked,’ Milo shouted across the waves.

‘Yes, but you acquire clothes pretty damned quickly,’ Alice replied.

‘Why are you English girls so shy?’

So this was his ploy, was it? For a moment, Alice had a vision of him seducing half the women of England in this very way but then she thought, so what? So what if that’s what this was all about – the picnic, the kiss, the swim. If it was nothing more than a bit of naked flirtation then she could handle that, couldn’t she?

She stood up on the picnic rug, two words cascading themselves around her head.
Why not?

‘In your own time,’ Milo said. ‘I won’t look!’ She watched as he swam farther out to sea, his strokes strong and confident, and then she took a deep breath. She’d never done anything like this before in her life but something strange was happening to her – it was as if her shyness had been banished by some force much stronger than she was and she really didn’t care any more. She felt empowered, confident, free.

Slowly, she stepped out of her shoes and unbuttoned the front of her dress. The turquoise fabric slithered down her body onto the sand and was soon joined by her underwear.

Walking across the sugar-soft sand, she looked out into the sea. Milo was still swimming towards the horizon but suddenly doubled back and started swimming towards the shore once again but he kept his word and was facing away from Alice so she was able to slip into the water without being seen.

As soon as she was in up to her knees, she took a deep breath and did the only sensible thing to acclimatise and threw herself straight into the water until her whole body was immersed.

Gasping, she broke clear of the water, blinking and laughing. Milo was right – it felt glorious, the sea enveloping her body in its cooling embrace. She floated on her back for a while, gazing into the blue depths of the sky and then turned to face the shore, marvelling at the rocky landscape and the deep dark greens of the trees. She hadn’t been swimming in the sea for years and remembered how much she loved it. Seeing the land from the sea was one of life’s little miracles.

Alice loved the sensation of the water all around her and the gentle bobbing motion of the tide that cradled her. The sea had the wonderful ability of making everything else disappear so that you really lived in the moment with its salt tang in your nose and its lulling waves in your ears.

When Milo spotted her, he waved across and then started to swim towards her, as beautiful and sleek as a sea lion.

‘I told you!’ he cried above the waves. ‘It’s the best place in the whole world!’

‘It is!’ Alice replied.

‘I come here whenever I can in the good weather but it’s never often enough,’ he said, inching towards her in the water. Alice remained where she was, bobbing about in the little spot that was fast feeling like a second home. She was aware of how diaphanous the water was and wondered just how much Milo was able to see but his eyes remained fixed on the land as he drank in his beloved island. Well, that wasn’t very flattering, was it? Here she was, naked in the water and supposedly ‘irresistible’ and he only had eyes for Kethos.

Alice bit her lip and her hand seemed to take on a life of its own because it was suddenly flicking water over Milo’s head.

Milo turned around, stunned by her action and that’s when the war of water began with great fat droplets flying through the air and mini waves cascading over them.

They splashed each other, dunked each other, raced each other towards the shore and back and then – finally – floated happily together, catching their breaths.

‘Oh my God!’ Milo said, closing his eyes for a moment. ‘I surrender – you win!’

‘Good!’ Alice said with a laugh. She felt completely exhausted but wonderfully so.

‘Come on,’ he said a moment later, ‘let’s get out of here.’

They were just about to make for the shore when they saw an old man with a walking stick shuffling along the beach.

‘Oh, no!’ Milo said.

‘Who is it?’ Alice said, squinting against the sun.

‘It’s Old Stamos – he walks here every day and he likes to – how do you say?
Talk
a lot.
’

‘But how on earth did he get down that steep track?’ Alice asked. ‘He looks about a hundred and ten.’

‘He’s fitter than I am,’ Milo said.

‘But how are we going to get out of the water now? We’ve got no clothes on!’ Alice pointed out quite unnecessarily.

‘Oh, Old Stamos won’t mind that,’ Milo said.

‘Well, he might not but
I’d
mind!’ Alice said.

Milo seemed to be mulling things over for a moment and then he pointed over to the left.

‘We can hide behind those rocks until he leaves,’ he said and the two of them swam off together, reaching the rocks just as the old man reached their piles of clothes on the beach. They watched as he used his walking stick to poke around amongst the garments.

‘What
is
he doing?’ Alice asked.

‘Seeing what he can find,’ Milo said and it soon became obvious what he had found because, hoisted on the end of his stick was Alice’s bra which he proceeded to wave in the air like a flag.

Milo laughed.

‘Oh my God!’ Alice cried in mortification but she couldn’t help laughing too as the old man looked out to sea and the two of them ducked their heads.

‘I bet he’s remembering his own past when he used to swim naked too!’ Milo said.

‘I wish he’d hurry up and leave. What’s he doing now?’ Alice asked.

Milo peeped over the top of one of the rocks. ‘It’s all right – he’s going,’ he said.

‘Thank goodness,’ Alice said. ‘I’m getting cold.’

They swam towards the shore together and Milo waded out as unashamedly as he’d waded in whilst Alice bobbed about in the shallows.

‘It’s okay – I won’t look!’ he said, sitting himself down on the blanket with his back to the sea as he pulled on his clothes.

When she was quite sure Milo was thoroughly occupied in drying his hair, Alice walked out of the sea, the sun instantly warming her limbs. Milo’s arm extended out behind himself, a towel for her in his hand and she quickly dried herself before slipping her dress on again and sitting down on the blanket.

‘That was fun,’ he said, shaking the last few droplets of water out of his hair.

‘Yes,’ Alice said, squeezing her own hair.

‘Here – let me,’ he said, inching forwards on the blanket, towel in hand.

Alice felt the firmness of his hands as they rubbed her hair gently with the towel and she closed her eyes, luxuriating in the experience.

‘All done,’ he said a moment later. ‘The sun will do the rest.’

‘Thank you,’ she said, wishing he’d taken just a little longer over the job.

He looked at her, his dark eyes seeming to drink her in. ‘You have beautiful hair,’ he told her.

Alice laughed. ‘No I don’t,’ she said.

He frowned. ‘You do!’

‘My hair is too fine and way too brown to be beautiful.’

‘But it is soft and pretty and it just suits you,’ he said.

She smiled. He was being ridiculous again, she thought. Was this all a part of his seduction technique?

‘I know I’m not beautiful,’ she said, ‘and you don’t need to flatter me.’ Alice looked out to sea in an attempt to deflect his comments. She wasn’t used to being the centre of somebody’s attention and, although it felt nice, she wasn’t sure she was completely comfortable with it. ‘Tell me about Aphrodite,’ she said.

Milo scratched his chin and looked thoughtful. ‘Well, she’s the goddess of love and beauty and was born right here off the coast of Kethos.’

Alice turned to look at him. ‘Really? I thought she was born in Cyprus – isn’t that what all the legends say?’

‘
Cyprus!
’ Milo said, spitting out the word as if it were a curse. ‘What would Aphrodite be doing in Cyprus? She’s a
Greek
goddess!’ He shook his head, looking thoroughly disgusted by the idea of Cyprus having anything to do with his special goddess. ‘Cyprus only made up the legend to get tourists to visit.’

‘Oh,’ Alice said, resisting the temptation to suggest that Kethos had had the same idea.

‘There’s a legend,’ Milo began, stretching his long legs out across the blanket, ‘that Aphrodite once seduced all the inhabitants of Kethos in the course of one night.’

‘What – men
and
women?’

Milo nodded. ‘And that everybody today is descended from her.’

‘But she’s just a myth, isn’t she? She was never real.’

Milo shrugged and grinned. ‘What do you think?’

‘I don’t know,’ Alice said. She didn’t really believe it but didn’t want to say so in case Milo believed the legend but she had to admit that she’d never seen so many good-looking people before in her life than on the island of Kethos.
Could there be a grain of truth in the legend
, she wondered?

‘Why are you so interested in Aphrodite?’ he asked.

‘Just curious,’ Alice said.

Milo’s eyebrows rose. ‘You made a wish, didn’t you? You made a wish and it’s come true, hasn’t it?’ His bright smile was both mocking and delighted.

‘I told you – I don’t believe in wishes,’ Alice said.

‘Is Aphrodite the reason you came back to the villa?’

Alice turned to look at him. ‘It might have been one of the reasons.’

He held her gaze for a moment and then he spoke. ‘I’m glad you came back,’ he said.

When Alice arrived back at the villa, there was no sign of Stella other than a mess of dishes in the sink. Alice peered into it and saw two cereal bar wrappers and four cups and spoons which had obviously been Stella’s coffee quota so far that day.

‘Stella?’ Alice shouted up the stairs but there was no reply so she went to her bedroom and took a quick shower. It had been an amazing day. She had stayed on the beach with Milo for hours just sitting and chatting and swimming and – what was even better – she was going to see him again.

The ride back to Kethos Town in the afternoon had been like a dream from which Alice hadn’t wanted to wake up. She kept trying to think of ways to delay their parting but he said he had to get back.

‘I wish this day could last forever,’ he said, ‘and I’m sorry that it can’t.’

She didn’t ask him what he had to get back for and she’d waited for him to say if he wanted to see her again. Well, she’d waited about two seconds.

‘Will I see you again?’ she’d blurted before having a chance to check the rules of etiquette.

‘Come to the villa tomorrow. My boss is away. I have to work but–’ he’d paused, ‘we can talk, yes?’

‘Yes,’ Alice had said with a smile of relief and delight.

Now, as she walked down the stairs after her shower, she couldn’t help smiling at the thought of seeing Milo again. She couldn’t remember talking to a man with such ease before but, with Milo, the hours had passed by so quickly and happily and the day had ended all too suddenly.

‘Oh!
There
you are!’ Stella’s voice broke into Alice’s thoughts and there, standing in the kitchen with her fifth cup of coffee of the day, was her sister.

‘Hello,’ Alice said. ‘Where have you been?’

‘Just out,’ Stella said mysteriously, draining her cup and flinging it in the sink to join the others.

‘Into town?’ Alice probed.

Stella’s lips twisted and then she nodded. ‘I got so bored here that I thought I’d try and find you so I ended up going to the museum you said you were visiting but you weren’t there and then I got stuck with this local man who insisted on showing me every single coin and piece of pottery that has ever been dug up on the whole of Kethos!’

‘Oh, poor Stella!’ Alice said in sympathy even though she was laughing inside.

‘It was awful. Where
were
you?’

Alice swallowed. She hated telling lies but she couldn’t risk Stella finding out about Milo.

‘I just wandered around really,’ she said with a shrug, turning her back on her sister and opening the fridge to pour herself some fruit juice.

‘Wandered around
where?
’

‘Well, I ended up getting a bus and I found this little beach. I spent most of the day there,’ she said, happy that some of what she’d said was the truth.

‘Maybe you can show me this beach,’ Stella said.

‘Oh, I don’t think you’d like it,’ Alice said.

‘Why wouldn’t I like it?’

‘It’s very stony and the sea’s so cold,’ Alice said without so much as a twinge at her lie. She was becoming bolder because the thought of not seeing Milo again was too much.