Sofia leant back in her chair.
‘I’ve eaten more today than the whole of the past week. There’s no way that could be described as a simple lunch.’
A glance over at the entrance told Sofia that hunky taxi guy was back.
‘Who fancies an afternoon at the pool with Dimitris waiting on us hand and foot?’
‘Me!’
Maddie’s voice was a little too loud in the still air and people at the other tables turned in their direction. She’d drunk most of the second jug of wine herself. Drinking in the daytime never ended well. Sofia had suggested the pool so her friend could sleep it off.
‘Char?’
‘What?’
Her friend seemed far away again.
‘Are you up for an afternoon with Dimitris tending to our every need?’
Sofia tried to keep any hint of suggestion out of her voice, but she needn’t have worried as Charlotte just looked blankly ahead.
‘Fine.’
Chapter Nine
The following evening, the wind took their hair and whipped it up around their heads as the three friends stood at the back of the boat and held on to the railings. The engines churned the turquoise water below them to a frenzy as the ferry started to pull out of the harbour, and the whistles of the Greek port police gradually faded into the distance, while the friends and relatives frantically waving to passengers reduced in size until they were miniature figures on the dock.
Maria and Dimitris had accompanied them to the harbour and there’d been plenty of hugging and kissing. The week had gone by in a flash. Sofia had agreed with the others that she was sad to say goodbye, and there was lots of talk of returning the following year. She’d refrained from saying anything when she saw Charlotte and Dimitris exchanging contact details. There was no way she was going to light the touchpaper on that one again.
The evening sun was warm on their faces, and the breeze had lulled to a soft caress as the boat edged further and further from the port. The essence of the island was laid out in frontof them as if on a platter. Behind the harbour the rows and rows of white cubed houses rose up and up with the ruined castle standing proud against the sky. On the other side of the port the hills loomed large on the horizon, slumbering brown shapes crisscrossed with paths and roads. The sun glinted off the windscreens of toy-sized cars crawling across the landscape like ants, and the sound of laughter floated through the air like old perfume.
Maddie climbed up and spreadeagled herself against the railings to do a quick Kate Winslet inTitanic, earning her a grin from Charlotte. There’d been precious few of those on offer this week, mused Sofia.
Her friend’s curly red hair was even more unruly than usual after the wind had messed with it, reminding Sofia of how she’d been the one to spend hours brushing and styling it in Maddie’s bedroom after school, trying to coax it into one of the trendy styles that the other girls at school were sporting.
She’d been there to witness Maddie’s joy, when her friend’s single mum had paid for a birthday blow-dry that she could ill afford, to give her daughter straight shiny hair for the first time ever, and then Maddie’s sadness a week later that it was back to its usual copper curls. Deep down her friend must have known that it wouldn’t last, but she’d wanted to believe in it so badly.
The light tan than Maddie had acquired over the past week and the smattering of freckles across her nose really suited her. They couldn’t wave a magic wand and bring Tony back to life, but Sofia hoped and prayed that this holiday was at least allowing her funny, brave friend to relax a little.
The noise of the engines straining told Sofia, who’d been on a few Greek ferries, that the boat was turning, ready to pull out into the open sea. They had three hours to kill before they reached the next island, and she had something special in mind.
Maddie climbed down from the first rung of the railings, slipped on the deck and was caught by Charlotte.
‘Thanks, lovely. What’s the plan now then? Are we going to go to the bar?
Sofia clapped her hands together.
‘No, we are not. Fanfare please…’
Maddie played an imaginary trumpet.
‘We’re going for a three-course meal with wine thrown in at the boat’s restaurant.’
Maddie frowned.
‘Sounds pricy.’
Sofia held hands with her friends.
