“Was,” she said, “until the old bastard went and died on me.”
“I’m so sorry,” Skye began, but Joy waved her away.
“It’s stupid,” she said. “Every day that I knew him, I’d be like, ‘Bobby Monroe, if you don’t put your dishes in the sink or your towels on the hook or your dirty kecks in the hamper, I’ll bloodykill you.’ I couldn’t believe it when he went and called my bluff. I still don’t believe it a lot of the time.”
She fell abruptly silent, and Skye waited, paralyzed by indecision, torn between wanting to offer her neighbor a hug and wanting to run away. In the end, Joy got up and left the room, and a moment later, Skye followed her, out through the back bedroom onto the sunlit patio beyond. Joy’s head was down, but her eyes were dry.
“I told him,” she said, “ ‘We’re in our midforties, Bobs, it’s time to stop pretending you can surf.’ He wasn’t very good even in his twenties, and it only takes one slipup, one bang on the bonce. He was there, and then he wasn’t, and I was supposed to just carry on.”
“You have,” Skye said, gentle but firm. “You are.”
Joy nodded slowly, then turned to face her.
“Have you ever been married?”
Skye hesitated, then shook her head.
“Smart cookie,” Joy drawled, and then, with more humor: “Hey, do you think they gave all these houses away to single women? Maybe there’s an excess of unmarried Greek men on Folegandros and the locals have had enough of them jackbooting around, going after other fellas’ wives?”
“I’d much rather live surrounded by women than men,” Skye said, and Joy laughed.
“I’ll raise a beer to that—speaking of which, do you fancy one?”
It was too early and too hot, and she had too much to do, but Skye was in awhat the hell?mood. Joy had gotten as far as unearthing a bottle opener from one of her many boxes when they heard the roar of an approaching engine and went out through the front door to investigate. A pickup truck was lumbering into view, its bed piled high with an assortment of items, including, Skye saw with a rush of pleasure, a fridge and a small oven. Andreashad known they were due to arrive that morning. He must have brought them up from the port.
“Geiá sou, ladies,” the man himself called through the driver’s-side window.
“Oh wow, he’s brought my luggage with him,” Joy crowed. “You know this guy?”
“Barely,” Skye said as the truck came to a groaning stop outside her house. The passenger door was flung open, and a man hopped out and went straight around to lower the tailgate.
“Éla, Stamati,” Andreas said, beckoning urgently to his companion as Skye and Joy walked over to join them. “Come and meet our new friends.”
Stamatis, who Skye guessed to be in his late teens or early twenties, nodded briefly at the two women, grunted out a “hello,” then fished a vape from the pocket of his shorts and began to suck on it. Andreas rolled his eyes theatrically.
“My apprentice,” he explained, “and the younger brother of my best friend.”
He was wearing the same belt and boots as the previous day, though the jeans looked smarter and the shirt ironed. Skye thanked him for the basket of food and wine.
“I was worried that you might starve,” he said. “I must have food every few hours, like a baby.”
“You and me both,” Joy agreed, going on to introduce herself. As Skye had privately predicted, Andreas not only knew what the artist’s name was but had also gone to the trouble of looking her up online.
“I have seen your paintings,” he said. “They are beautiful.”
A bead of color appeared on each of Joy’s cheeks that was every bit as bright pink as her trousers. It was the first time Skye had witnessed her at a loss for something to say, and she felt a smile begin to tug at her lips.
“OK.” Andreas clapped his hands together. “Now, Stamatis and I, we will bring inside the appliances, and then I will come back for the rest.”
“I can manage these.” Joy was already reaching for one of three large suitcases, and Stamatis hurried forward to help. Left alone, Andreas turned to Skye.
“How was your first night on Folegandros?” he asked.
“Fine,” she replied, “although my bed deflated.”
Andreas’s brows shot so far upward that she laughed.
“If you think that’s bad, wait until you see the state of my walls.”
