He laughed. ‘Don’t be. I only hope the ice cream hasn’t melted. We might have to eat that first.’
Sitting cross-legged on the blanket a few minutes later, Faye savoured every spoonful of the mint chocolate chip ice cream Kostas had acquired. It was fresh and cold and delicious and exactly what she needed.
‘So, we talked about having a picnic so many times and we never did it on our own,’ Kostas said, watching her enjoy the ice cream.
‘I know,’ Faye said. ‘We’ve had a picnic with nearly everyone, haven’t we?’
‘Saffron so many times, Dimitria, Katerina and her whole family, all the cats in Almyros?—’
‘Youryiayia,’ Faye added.
‘In that treehouse every meal is like a picnic,’ Kostas stated.
‘But she’s happy there, Kosta, and happier now you are around more.’
It had got to the point where Kostas’s home was more Corfu than Athens. The local basketball courts were starting to be built and it was hoped that work on the centre for excellence would start very soon. It had taken a while for the people and the press to start thinking good things about Kostas and restore faith in his promises, but he was putting in the work here on the island and with his therapy. Faye couldn’t have been more proud of him.
‘So, when we have finished the ice cream I thought we could skim stones.’
Faye laughed and then she held her breath. ‘Oh my God, it’s not… our anniversary, is it?’
Kostas laughed too. ‘Which one? The first time we met when you thought I was about to break in to the hotel? The first time we had sex? I remember that very, very vividly.’ He dipped his head close to hers. ‘Sometimes, late at night when I am alone and you are here and I am in Athens without you, I like to remember that moment.’
‘Me too,’ she admitted. ‘But sometimes I just think about the last time, in the early morning before you leave for the airport or for a meeting?—’
‘Or how about the time after the Siniespanegyri? When we stopped on the way home.’
He kissed her then. His kisses were something she never tired of. They were the perfect combination of passionate yet gentle, soft and deep, teasing then completely following through on that promise.
‘OK, stop,’ Faye said, breaking their connection. ‘Or I will cancel the wine delivery.’
He smiled. ‘Me before rosé. It’s official, you love me.’
‘That was never in question,’ she answered.
‘No?’
‘Kosta,se agapó. I love you. Endlessly.’
‘Se agapó vassilisa mou.’ I love you, my queen. ‘So, come on. We need to skim the stones or we will run out of time.’
* * *
He watched her, lining up beside the water, her stance no better than it had been when they had first done this together. The stone didn’t even manage one jump.
‘I still need lessons,’ Faye moaned as he moved next to her.
‘Perhaps the stones do not mean enough to you,’ he suggested.
‘What?’
‘Well, perhaps you are thinking of the stones just as stones, not as… I don’t know… sea wishes.’
‘Sea wishes?’
‘Yeah,’ he said, scrunching his trainers into position on the beach. ‘This sea wish for… everyone’s good health.’ He threw the stone and watched it bounce four times across the water. He was ready with the next stone. ‘This sea wish for… Saffron’s next hair colour to turn out better than the last.’ He threw it.
‘She hated the copper,’ Faye agreed.
