A phone alarm sounded in Sofia’s bag.
‘At last. That’s us. We need to go and say goodbye to our hosts.’
Many hugs later and armed with huge doggy bags of the cake of the day, a tangylemonópita,which Theathrust at them for the boat journey, they were finally loaded into the hotel van.
‘She does know the boat ride’s only an hour and a half?’ whispered Charlotte, looking down at the huge portion. ‘We’ve not long had breakfast.’
‘But this time, it’s a much smaller boat, and there’ll be no flash restaurant, so you might be glad of it,’ piped up Sofia.
The van pulled out round their black hire car, still parked in front of reception.
‘Not delivering it back to Konstantinos personally?’ Maddie tried to make her face into the picture of innocence. Charlotte had filled her in on Sofia’s mysterious disappearance the previous night, which had become a tiny footnote after what had been revealed next.
‘No, he’s perfectly capable of picking it up himself.’
‘I see.’
‘You don’t. You really don’t. But I don’t want to talk about it.’
‘Fine.’
The drive to the port was completed in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. Maddie was leaving behind the island that had made her feel alive again, if only for a night; Charlotte the place where she’d been honest for the first time about her problems; and Sofia was just grateful for her near miss with car hire guy. She’d probably have had to scrub herself with bleach.
It was indeed a much smaller boat that greeted them. Maddie was pleased that they weren’t sailing from the tiny port round the corner as she had no desire to relive the memories of the rescue all over again or even bump into Thanassis.
‘OK?’
Sofia gave her a quizzical look as they boarded. Her face must have been showing something of how she felt about one of the strangest weeks of her life.
‘Yes, good, thanks.’
She’d replied on autopilot, but it was true she felt lighter. There were still some major hurdles to get over, plus the great big elephant in the room– the estrangement from her son and his family– but at least she’d made a start.
Once they’d climbed two sets of stairs to the main salon, Charlotte led them towards a door.
‘It’s a lovely day. Let’s go and sit outside. We can pretend we’re on a mini cruise.’
More coffees and some of Thea’s delicious cake later, they all rushed to the front of the boat as they approached the harbour of the next island, cameras at the ready. It was all new for Maddie and Charlotte, and the turquoise domed churches which dominated the town were interspersed with more white cubed houses going up the hill and plenty of grander buildings in an Italianate style.
It was on a much bigger scale than the previous island, but there was still plenty of green on the tops of the hills.
The water churned beneath them as the boat edged into position, and the call came for passengers to disembark.
Sofia had been scanning the dockside for several minutes and let out a yelp when she spotted something or someone in the distance.
‘Yes! I wanted to keep it a secret until now, but we’re staying at Adonis’s ultra posh hotel for one night before we move on to ours for the rest of the week, my treat. And he’s here to pick us up.’
Sofia moved faster than either of them had ever seen her move before. She was off the boat and onto the dock before they’d got to the edge of the platform, and straight into a man’s arms.
She’d taken a flying jump and wrapped her legs around the man’s waist, and he was hugging her back for all he was worth.
‘If I did that, I’d probably kill someone.’ Charlotte smiled at Maddie. ‘Or at least have them flat on their backs on the concrete.’
‘She’s certainly keen to see him.’
‘You can say that again.’
They reached the happy couple, tongue deep in a very involved kiss.
