For a moment, Grace thought he was going to reach over and put one in her mouth, but he left it on her saucer. She was tempted to refuse, but her growling stomach told her otherwise.
Will helped himself to one too and they bit into them at the same time. Gooey, sweet custard filled her mouth and Grace couldn’t help letting out a moan.
‘Fabulous, aren’t they?’
Grace nodded and sat back in her chair, watching the sun rise in the sky as it turned from orange to pale pink and blue. A fishing boat was coming into port with its catch, the men shouting to each other in the cool morning air.
They sat in silence sipping their coffees and helping themselves to a couple more bougatsas each, allowing the peace of the new day to wash over them. It was a relief not to have to speak, and just be, for a few moments. There’d been precious little just being in Grace’s life since Phil died. Filling the day and not thinking about missing her husband had been an art in itself at the beginning.
She was almost ashamed to admit that it had got easier in the last few months, and even easier in the weeks since she’d arrived in Greece. That in turn made her worry she was being disloyal to his memory. There weren’t many people of either sex that she could sit in complete silence with and not feel the need to speak. She wouldn’t have had Will down as one of them… until tonight.
The man in question finished off his last bougatsa and turned to her.
‘What did you mean when you said to Thanassis that you were going to be safe with me?’
Grace took a deep breath. He obviously had the hearing of a bat.
‘Well, you know, with you being a gay man…’
The roar of laughter that greeted her words even had some of the fishermen looking their way.
It was a few moments before Will could even speak.
‘Sorry. But what the hell gave you that idea?’
Grace licked the icing sugar off her fingers before speaking.
‘When we talked on the beach, and discovered that we both lovedWill and Grace, you know, the career woman and her gay best friend, you seemed so into it, that I just assumed…’
Will leant back with an amused look on his face.
‘Always dangerous to assume.’
‘Plus, you’re so’—Grace almost said ‘good-looking’, but stopped herself in time—‘neat and tidy all the time. Well turned out. And you smell nice. And clean.’
‘Ah. You’ll have to blame my years in the army for that. The self-discipline and routine stay with you. A clean body leads to a clear mind. And all the other clichés, which are actually pretty accurate as it goes.’
Grace had to look down at her empty coffee cup at his use of the words ‘clean body’. She didn’t want visuals of Will in the shower now she knew the truth. She’d been picked up and thrown over the shoulder of what she thought was a gay man. Her bottom had been just inches from his face and his arms had clamped her thighs to his chest. It hadn’t been unpleasant, quite the opposite now she thought about it. She willed herself not to go red.
Will’s brown eyes were on her again.
‘Your evidence seems a little flimsy, M’Lud.’
Grace rolled her eyes.
‘Can I ask, would you have had a problem with me being gay?’
‘God no, don’t be ridiculous. My youngest daughter’s gay. Nothing like that, believe me.’
She had much more of a problem with the idea of him being straight, but she could hardly say that.
‘Good. Otherwise, we couldn’t be friends.’
Why was he automatically assuming she’d want to be friends with him? Admittedly, it was something that had crossed her mind too, but he’d driven her up the wall on the three occasions they’d met. She’d seen his temper at close quarters too. OK, he wasn’t gay, but he could be married with six kids for all she knew. She certainly wasn’t going to ask.
‘But I can assure you that I am one hundred per cent, well ninety-nine per cent, heterosexual.’
‘Right. Thanks for letting me know.’
