‘I could be. Because, you know, I want to spend a lot more time on this island in the future.’
‘Really?’
‘Faye, have I not made myself clear?’ he asked.
‘I know, but there’s a lot of things involved and?—’
‘And maybe you don’t feel the exact same way I do. Damn. I kind of jumped forward too fast, didn’t I?’
‘No!’ Faye said immediately. She extricated herself from him, kneeling up on the sand and taking hold of his hands. ‘No, it isn’t that. Well, not exactly.’
‘Honesty, Faye. No white lies or shields, remember? Even if feelings get hurt.’
She took a deep breath. It was something that had been on her mind from the very beginning. Something that had held her back from thinking this could be anything more than a summer fling. Something that she knew she could never commit to.
‘You’ve just said about making something for the next generation of basketball players. You talked about someone inheriting your estate in the future. What about that, Kosta? Even if I feel the same way you feel about me, we can’t ignore the fact that you’re twenty-five and I’m forty and I don’t want any more children.’ She held his hands. ‘That time for me has passed. I’m at a different stage of my life now.’ She sighed. ‘Pursuing anything with me is not going to result in a family.’
He nodded. ‘Wow, you’re actually really forty.’
‘Stop it. It’s not the time for jokes.’
‘You think Saffron will ever like me? You know, maybe if I learn the words to some cool Korean pop songs or, I don’t know, there must be some choreo on TikTok I can try?’
Faye shook her head. ‘Don’t joke. I’m being serious.’
‘So am I, Faye,’ Kostas said. He sighed. ‘You know, I’ve seen the way Saffron looks at me sometimes if we see each other around the hotel. And I know she’s thinking,Who is this guy who thinks he is good enough for my mother?And I relate. But I am also thinking,Wow, Faye has created this whole young person and as she is the most important person in Faye’s life, this is someone I need to get to know and earn the trust of to prove that one day I can be worthy of being beside her mother. And then, maybe in time, perhaps I might be someone she can come to for support.’ He sighed. ‘I don’t know what that looks like really. But I would like to try.’
‘Kosta,’ she said, squeezing his hands in hers.
‘Listen, Faye, having kids, I believe that’s something you only ever think about with someone you’re so blindingly in love with that you can’t imagine ever being with anyone else.’
‘Well, yes.’
‘So, what if you find that person and that person can’t have children? Or doesn’t want children? Are you meant to give that connection up? Because what are the chances of finding that unique, amazing, sizzling, mind-blowing, off-all-the-scales kind of feeling with someone else?’
‘I… don’t know.’
‘Well, I know, Faye,’ Kostas told her. ‘I know that what I feel for you I’ve never felt even close to with anyone else and if you tell me children aren’t on the agenda for you, I accept that. And I’m not going to change my mind. If you want me to sign another ninety-nine-year lease today I will.’
There were tears in her eyes now. Could this be real? Was this all for her – her beloved job, her brand new home, this gorgeous, intelligent, slightly off-the-wall guy who matched her vibe so easily, so sweetly, so perfectly…
She didn’t say anything, but she got to her feet and took a few steps to the side of the space. Then she crouched a little, finger in the sand, drawing, writing. It took a few seconds and then it was done.
‘Vlepo,’ Faye said, encouraging him to stand. ‘Look.’
He read aloud. ‘Kostas. OK, my name.’
‘Your name,’ she said. ‘Written inside that heart. My heart. That’s the only contract we need.’
‘OK,’ he said, bending down to the ground. ‘But it is not complete.’
She watched him draw a heart shape next to hers and write her name inside it. And then he stood and, linking their hands, he turned her towards him. ‘And now it is done. Signed in the sand.Atéleiotos.’
Endless.
EPILOGUE
10 MONTHS LATER
