‘So, now it’s not yesterday anymore, have things improved at all?’
Grace noticed the puzzled look on Angeliki’s face, but so, unfortunately, did Sofia.
'She didn’t tell you, did she?’
Angeliki leant in.
‘Tell me what?’
‘That yesterday was the third anniversary of her husband Phil’s death?’
Angeliki did the sign of the cross on her navy linen shirt.
‘No! Grace, how could you keep it from me? If I had known, I would have been at your side all day.’
Grace put her hand on her friend’s arm.
‘I’m sorry, but I was desperately trying to keep things upbeat. To kid myself that it was just a normal day.’
Just how abnormal it had turned out to be wasn’t something she wanted to reveal at this point.
‘But it was obvious that something was wrong. You looked so sad. And I could tell you had been crying.’
Grace gave Sofia a ‘do you think this is helping?’ look.
‘Again, I apologise for keeping it to myself.’
She had told only one person on the island the truth but look at what that had led to.
Angeliki put down her coffee.
‘Oh, no, I’ve just remembered that I was pushing you to talk about what was going on with Will! And all the time you were grieving for your dead husband. How could I have been so insensitive?’
‘Don’t upset yourself. You didn’t know, and, as I said at the time, there’s nothing going on with Will.’
Grace didn’t want to catch Sofia’s eye. Her friend had a nose for gossip that was more refined than any bloodhound.
‘Will?’
‘Sorry?’ Grace tried to pretend for a moment she had no idea what Angeliki was talking about.
‘She clearly said Will. That hot guy we saw in the street you told me was gay?’
Angeliki snorted so hard that some of her coffee went on the table.
‘Will’s not gay. Far from it.’
Grace looked up to see both pairs of eyes firmly trained on her.
‘In my defence, when I said that, I genuinely believed it to be the case.’
Sofia turned to Angeliki.
‘And do you know for sure that this Will is straight?’
Angeliki tried not to smile.
‘I do, because he was my boyfriend for two years.’
