Anastasia opened the door before she had a chance to knock. She’d obviously been peering out of the window.
Grace handed her charge over.
‘Mrs Kokkinakis doesn’t feel well. I think it may be a migraine.’
The housekeeper helped her employer inside and shut the door in Grace’s face. She was very obviously surplus to requirements.
* * *
After a restless night and very little sleep, Grace was looking forward to a peaceful afternoon on her balcony and maybe a stroll through town. She’d woken several times before dawn and couldn’t help wondering what was happening at the house up the hill. She hoped that Elena had got some rest, at least. As far as she knew, Giannis wasn’t back until the following day, so hopefully Elena had the opportunity to do some serious thinking before she had to face her husband. Grace knew exactly what she herself would be doing– kicking his sorry arse into touch– but it wasn’t her decision to make.
Before she could even think about grabbing some downtime, she had her Saturday morning class to deal with. The kids were in a lively mood, and she’d had to split them into small groups to get any work done. There were only two weeks to go before the August shutdown, and there was a demob-happy scent in the air. She’d planned a lesson on holidays which would lead naturally into talking about other countries and their languages.
She’d already had to tell off two ten-year-old boys for flicking rolled-up balls of paper at one of the girls, and the girl in question for screaming. She was glad when the lesson came to an end.
All the parents were familiar faces to her by now and one by one they started to leave the playground with their children. Grace became aware of someone standing behind her. She glanced round to see Giannis, no longer looking like an affable Danny Dyer, more like a furious Phil Mitchell.
He spoke under his breath, so quietly that only she could hear.
‘How dare you interfere in my life? My office, nine sharp on Monday.’
He strode past her to Elena’s car, abandoned there the afternoon before, smiling and waving at parents as he went.
Grace shivered in the hot sun.
Upstairs in her room, she lay on the bed and let the thoughts whirl around her head like flies round a rotting carcass.
Was she about to be sacked? She’d never been sacked from a job in her life. Could he even sack her? It was a temporary job in a foreign country, so he very possibly could. But he and Elena owned the language school together. Surely she’d stand up for her. Was Elena going to leave her cheating husband? Should she have given her the evidence? It was too late now to change that anyway. Will’s disapproving face came into her mind. Why had he popped up out of nowhere?
The sun streamed in through the shutters, but Grace didn’t have the energy to get up and close them. They’d reached the hottest part of the day. Maybe a little doze would help her think more clearly.
* * *
A soft knock at the door woke Grace from a deep sleep, and for a moment she struggled to think where she was.
Who could that be? Maybe Elena had come to let her know what was going on. Grace lifted herself off the bed and opened the door. Anna was standing on the other side. What could she possibly want?
The girl looked very different from her usual glamorous self– no red lipstick, for one thing, and her hair sat lank on her shoulders. But it still didn’t dim her beauty.
‘Can I possibly come in for a moment and speak to you?’
The brash confidence had been dialled down too. Her voice was subdued, and the smile that captivated every man within range had disappeared.
Grace pulled the door further open without speaking and indicated for the girl to sit on the bed. It had taken guts for Anna to come to her, so Grace could at least do her the courtesy of hearing her out. They were colleagues, after all. Grace took the chair in front of the desk.
‘I’m listening.’
‘Charlie suggested that I came and spoke to you. I have nowhere else to go, and no one I can turn to…’
So, she had Charlie to blame for whatever this was. Grace knew he and Anna were close; they were both half-Greek, and had roots on the island. She wondered what Sarah thought about it.
The girl– she couldn’t even think of her as a woman– raised her head and looked Grace in the eye. Grace wondered fleetingly what it must be like to be so staggeringly beautiful. Not easy at times, she’d imagine. Men wanted you, as she’d seen with her own eyes, and women didn’t altogether trust you, which she’d been guilty of herself. While she’d gone out of her way to make friends with the other teachers, she’d always avoided Anna to some extent.
‘I know you are aware of everything that has gone on.’
Grace wasn’t going to let the girl off lightly, no matter what she’d come here for.
‘You mean your affair with Giannis?’
