“It doesn’t matter. I applaud your honesty.”
“There’s something else.”
“By all means.” He leaned forward. Intrigued? Entertained? “Don’t let me stop you.”
“The incident at your club? The one you had to stay back for?”
“Yes?”
“I started it.”
Nikos blinked. “I’m sorry?”
“I started the brawl that landed you in trouble. If you go over the security footage, you’ll see.”
“I have people who analyze things like that for me. I’m sure they know exactly what happened. It’s a nightclub. We’re used to containing these kinds of situations. The reason everything blew up that night wasn’t you. It was Olympia Aravani. Once the paparazzi got a hold of that little bit of information…” Nikos held his hands up and shrugged. “But if you’re truly remorseful, thereissomething you can do for me.”
He chuckled when he caught the look I threw him. “Nothing questionable.Believe it or not, I’ve learned a few lessons today. All that aside, I’ve been meaning to conquer one of these cliffs for years. Would you mind taking a picture of me diving off that one there?” He pointed to its flat-topped summit. “One for the record, then we can head back to the yacht. What do you say?”
“Sure.” Heading back sounded good. Even though Captain Bailey was keeping an eye on Alex and me, I just wanted to be where he was.
“It’ll take me about ten, maybe fifteen minutes to get to the top.”
“You want me to go with you?”
“You’ll capture the perspective better from here. Take as many shots as you can before I hit the water. Use the burst mode for that.” He demonstrated the camera function on his phone.
“Got it.”
“Great.” Nikos shrugged his shirt off and left it dangling on the chair. “Ten minutes. And then look for me up there.”
I found a spot on the rocks, where I could get a clear shot of him. It sloped gently into the sea, so I dipped my toes in the water while I waited.
Apart from the glint of glass on the distant yacht, it felt like I had the whole island to myself. Milos was a multiplicity of colors. The gods had thrown all the colors on a canvas that had exploded from the sea. Luminous bone-white rock, frozen in giant swirls like folds of whipped cream. Red volcanic cliffs, dark rocks rising starkly out of the water, sheltered coves colored green and blue by mineral deposits and tiny beaches made by lava flow.
“Ready?” The echo of Nikos’s voice bounced off the stones around me.
I stood and gave him a thumbs-up.Holy shit. That’s a long way to drop.
But Nikos wasn’t fazed. Arching his body like a rainbow, he launched off the cliff and dove gracefully into the water.
Click. Click. Click. Click.I captured all of it, including the few seconds before impact, when his body straightened into an arrow parting the water. He disappeared a few moments and emerged with a victorious whoop. I took a few more shots while he swam and headed back to the table.
As I reached across for some water, my eyes fell on the glass-domed dish labeled Pastitsio.
Be sure to try the pastitsio,Alex had said.
I helped myself to a wedge, thinking it looked a lot like lasagna.
It tasted like lasagna too. Luscious layers of meat, pasta, and tomato sauce baked to a creamy goodness with what tasted like bechamel sauce. There was something else, something sweet. Cinnamon? Nutmeg? Yes. But as that first bite melted in my mouth, the aftertaste was overwhelmingly candy-like. Yuck.
What the hell, Alex? What kind of dish is this?
I took a sip of water to wash it down and went for one of the appetizers instead. It was topped with feta cheese—something I was familiar with, so I knew what to expect.
I ended up spitting it into my napkin. It tasted like it had been soaked in sugar water.
I sampled the dips, the fritters, the salad, the bruschetta.
