‘So, nothing happened? We didn’t…’
Roula sighed. ‘No matter how much you drank, if we did something together, I’d be memorable.’
There was the knocking again. He didn’t know what to say to the woman in his bed…
‘Just answer the door,’ Roula told him. ‘And don’t let whoever it is in here.’
Somewhat cautiously, he opened the door and there were at least half a dozen grinning faces of children gazing up at him in awe. Fuck. The worst timing.
‘Hey,’ he answered, his voice scratchy, his throat parched.
And that’s when they began to all talk at once and come closer, too close, some waving paper and pens, others with items of clothing. One boy was holding a cat… Had that been in the suite?
‘It is him! I thought your sister was lying!’
‘He is so tall! Taller than a cypress tree!’
‘Is he real? Or AI?’
‘He is dressed like an angel.’
OK, that was enough. Kostas pulled the hotel robe a bit tighter around his body. It was like the local school had thrown up on his threshold.
‘So, who would like a photo?’ Kostas asked them. Smartphones were already out but that was what he wanted to avoid, at least for now. There were cheers and cries of ‘ne’ and he silenced the children with a loud whistle. He was going to make this into an opportunity, one not dissimilar to the ones Stathis had been alluding to.
‘OK, patience,’ he told them. ‘Everyone will get a photograph. But what I need you to do is go back to reception and ask for Mrs Lawson. Tell her I am coming to the conference room to sign your things and for photos.’
There was general hubbub amongst the children, and the cat meowed.
‘Let me get dressed, yes? And I will be there in fifteen minutes. Ask for Mrs Lawson, remember?’
He pushed his door back open and backed away as the children scattered, eager to get to the main body of the hotel. Kostas took a breath. He now had very little time to get showered, dressed, call Stathis and get his Tinder match out of his suite. He had had better starts to the day.
30
THE CONFERENCE ROOM, HOTEL MARGARITÁRI, AVLAKI
‘I am so sorry, Faye. If I knew that Aggelos was planning to do this I would have… locked him in his bedroom,’ Katerina said, handing out bottles of water to the now seemingly never-ending line of children growing in number as the minutes ticked by. ‘I did not know how many friends Aggelos had.’ Katerina frowned, looking at the collection of children. ‘I am not sure some of these even go to his school.’
‘No,’ Faye stated, nodding. ‘I don’t think they do.’ As much as she was sure that Katerina’s little brother was at the conception stage of this meet and greet with the basketball star, she was smelling ‘publicity stunt’ and she didn’t like it. And, as if her thoughts were somehow governed like an Instagram algorithm, a local news photographer walked through the door. Which was more than Kostas had done yet and it was close to forty minutes since the first group of children had arrived all breathless and excited. And then Dimitria appeared.
The very last thing Faye needed was for her boss to see her so not in control of hotel proceedings that she snapped at this first hotel sale offer and fast-forwarded this seemingly inevitable ending…
‘Kaliméra, Faye, Katerina. Are we having an event?’ Dimitria asked.
Katerina fled quicker than Pegasus.
‘Very impromptu,’ Faye said. ‘Orchestrated by our VIP guest. Local children queuing for photographs and autographs. If he ever arrives.’ She checked her watch.
‘And I see the press are here,’ Dimitria remarked, waving a hand at the photographer Faye had already noticed.
‘Yes, I’m really sorry, Dimitria. There are a million and one things I need to be doing and I need to prepare for the meeting with the marine mammal people. And I also need to spare a couple of hours to spend with Saffron if I can manage it and?—’
Dimitria put a hand on her shoulder. ‘Breathe, Faye. If you do not breathe then none of those things are going to get done, remember?’
Faye knew the importance of breath. She affirmed it to herself in times of overwhelm. She nodded.
‘And this is good!’ Dimitria remarked. ‘It is positive for the hotel. School children meeting a basketball icon, here at Hotel Margaritári. My Spiros would have loved it.’
