I looked at my half-full glass and did the same. I could pretend to have fun with the best of them, but being a tad inebriated made it just a tad easier.
10
Thought of the day…
Sometimes you’ll do something stupid – just put it behind you and move on.
(It’s always possible to make it worse by doing somethingstupider, so try not to do that.)
I was on edge as we boarded the tender that would ferry us to shore. And why wouldn’t I be? I’d just invited Tommy to my villa. Which was bad –very.
And whatever it was he had to tell me – also bad. That much was obvious and if foreboding were a person, it would have tackled me and left me for dead in the dirt. Or in this case, the sea.
Then again, I had questions –so many questions– and it would be as good a time as any to get answers. Killing two birds with one ill-consideredstonemeeting.
‘Isn’t this exciting?’ Trudy shouted over the engine.
I broke out of my daze. ‘Yeah, it’s great!’
The yacht had been anchored just offshore, so the ride to the marina only took a few minutes. The skipper manoeuvred the tender into a berth, and Tommy jumped onto the pier and secured it with two towlines, making the task look effortless. It was as if he’d been a sailor his whole life. That bloke in Sicily must have been a very good teacher.
As I waited to disembark, I smoothed down my windblown hair, which to those who know me was a sign that I was still out of sorts. I needed to get it together – I’d be on camera soon.
I was last to disembark and as he’d done with the others, Tommy reached for my hand to help me onto the pier. But this wasn’t like boarding the sailboat yesterday; this was a two-foot step up with a sizable gap between the tender and the pier. There was no way I’d manage on my own, so I placed my hand in Tommy’s.
It was the first time our hands had touched since we were married.
And it was everything I’d been terrified of.Electric. Once I was on the pier, every instinct told me to snatch my hand away, but I kept it in his for a moment longer than made sense. I looked up but we were both wearing sunglasses so I couldn’t be sure if Tommy had felt it too, the connection between us.
He finally let go and I inhaled deeply, catching my breath. Tommy cleared his throat, the only indication that this wasn’t one-sided, and he seemed about to say something when a booming voice called out, ‘Yia sas,yia sas.’
We all turned together and a rotund, dark-haired man in his mid-forties was speed-walking towards us, waving.
‘Hello!’ he said when he got to us. He broke into a broad smile. ‘I’m Michalis, your guide for the day.’ He was dressed similarly to Tommy in tailored shorts and a short-sleeved white shirt, only his was stretched taut over his stomach.
‘Yiasou, I’m Niki,’ she said, stepping forward. ‘We’ve been messaging.’
This excursion must have been her brainchild. ShewasGreek Australian and she’d got the job on Aetheria through her cousin. She probably had other connections in the Cyclades.
‘Yes, hello, nice to meet you in person,’ Michalis replied. They exchanged warm smiles, and Niki introduced Minh and Trudy, then Tommy.
‘Tom’s standing in for our colleague, Elsa,’ she explained. ‘She’ll lead this excursion from now on, but she wasn’t feeling well today.’
My eyes darted towards Tommy. He’d said that Elsa had been waylaid by work, not laid up with an illness. What was going on? I was so fixated on this anomaly that I nearly missed Niki introducing me.
‘Ah, the Divorced Diva,’ said Michalis, nodding at me appreciatively.
I sensed Tommy stiffen beside me. We’d never really talked about the Diva – hard to, when our contact was limited to the occasional text message – but she had come up once or twice. Tommy knew what I did for a living.
Still, I may have profited from my status as an ex-wife but unlike certain pop stars, I would never flaunt it in my exes’ faces. Rick hadn’t gone there either. No ‘Ally, why’d you leave me after forty-seven days?’ songs on Havoc’s latest album.
I smiled politely and Michalis must have sensed that he’d made a slight misstep, because he clapped his hands together loudly. ‘We have a special day planned,’ he said. ‘Follow me.’
He headed back the way he’d come, and we followed single file towards the car park. Every step I took, I was aware of Tommy’s presence behind me – our connection still strong. At least, for me.
When he came to my villa later, I’d have to keep my distance. I’d insist on standing with our backs to opposite walls, calling out across the room. Or even better – we could talk on the phone, me in the bedroom, him on the sofa… That would give us privacy from prying ears, but with no chance of me accidentally-on-purpose launching myself at him.
Perfect.
