And if you get it wrong, so wrong there’s no way back, one day they might turn on you too.
Slowly, the grey kitten padded towards his sister again, intent on renewing his attack, but this time he received a boff on the nose from his mum for his trouble. Two other kittens, one black and one ginger, crept out from under a bush and attempted to suckle from their mother. After an irritated flick of the tail, the mother accepted her fate, lay down and let the first two have their fill. They were joined straightaway by the warringsiblings who took up their positions side by side, agreed on something at last.
Moments later, a sleek ginger cat strolled up to the gate and stood guard over his brood, eyeballing Maddie, who moved back a couple of paces.
The picture of family unity brought tears to her eyes. Her little family had no dad to diffuse arguments or watch over her babies. Not that they were babies anymore, but they had been, once. What was the matter with her? Crying over a few stray cats? The dance with Thanassis at thepanigýrihad forced her to think about what was missing from her life. Something she avoided doing wherever possible.
‘Mads?’
Sofia had turned back to see what was up.
Maddie put her finger to her lips.
‘Shhhh. Come and see.’
Her friends were as taken with the kittens as she was, and they all watched them feed, fight and play for a good twenty minutes before moving on.
Maddie was just relieved no one had noticed her red eyes.
Charlotte had her phone out again in the name of research.
‘There’s supposed to be a fantastic ice cream shop just along here. It even has halva as a flavour.’
‘What’s halva when it’s at home?’
Maddie looked at Sofia.
‘No, me neither.’
‘But I’m up for trying anything that has the words ice cream in it.’
‘Agreed. Let’s go, orpámeas they say in Greece!’
A shower and a swift lie down after the walk brought five o’clock ever closer. Dressed in a pink linen shirt and denim shorts, with her hair up in a ponytail, Maddie went down to reception with five minutes to spare. She didn’t want it to look like she’d tried too hard. The others were already sitting in the reception area, ostensibly reading magazines.
‘Hello? What are you two doing here?’
Sofia made a good show of reluctantly tearing herself away from an article in the magazine.
‘Oh, hi. Just relaxing down here rather than in our rooms.’
‘Really?’
Maddie snatched up Sofia’s reading matter and turned the page, smiling all the way.
‘And you’re fluent in Greek now, are you? That was quick. You ought to apply to the Guiness Book of Records. Or are you just keen on pictures of celebrities no one in England’s ever heard of?’
Sofia attempted to grab back the magazine, but Maddie was too quick for her.
‘How long were you planning to keep up this farce?’
Charlotte put down her own magazine and sighed.
‘OK, we were worried about you. We just wanted to make sure you were going to be safe on your date.’
‘It’s not a date! How many times do I need to say it?’
Her voice level had attracted the attention of Thea in reception.
