The moment had gone.
51
AVLAKI BEACH
‘It is too early. The light is hurting my eyes.’
Faye smiled at Dimitria’s comment and watched her friend adjust the large sunglasses she was wearing on her face. It was the following morning and although the turtle drama had made it a late night and she and Saffron were still uncommunicative, Faye had woken up early and felt compelled to embrace the day. She loved walking. It was something she had committed to when her relationship with Matthew had become strained. When her mental health had begun to suffer, she had laced up her trainers and pounded the roads, listening to her favourite playlist, escaping everything at home for an hour. It never failed to clarify her thinking and boost her endorphins. In a lot of ways, walking had saved her sanity.
‘It’s almost nine o’clock,’ Faye replied. ‘And I know that because if I hadn’t come walking with you I would be non-stop thinking about Katerina being in complete sole charge of breakfast time and panicking about it.’
‘Katerina is a good girl,’ Dimitria reminded her. ‘A little unorthodox in her approaches maybe, but it all comes from a gentle place.’
‘I know,’ Faye said. ‘It’s my own control issues that are the problem. And that’s something I am going to have to deal with once the hotel is sold. I mean, if they want me to stay, they might want things done differently. If they don’t want me to stay, I will have to accept the fact someone else will be doing things differently. And, if they don’t keep it as a hotel at all, I… well, I don’t know how I will feel then.’
‘I know,’ Dimitria said. ‘Me too.’ She offered Faye her elbow. ‘Come, take me down onto the stones. Show me where the turtle was.’
Faye took hold of her elbow and they crunched onto the beach, walking around the early sun-worshippers lying on towels or blue-coloured sunbeds, moving closer to the glittering water.
‘The turtle was here,’ Faye said, pointing. ‘I’ve never seen one on this beach before and it was so big.’
‘Ah, well, the climate is changing so the wildlife must adapt. Like us all,’ Dimitria said, tone contemplative.
‘When help arrived they said we had done the right things and while they were deciding if they needed to take the turtle to rehabilitate it, it just very slowly inched itself back towards the water, picking up speed, until in it went. It just swam off like nothing had even happened.’
‘A happy ending,’ Dimitria said. ‘What we are all searching for.’
‘What we all deserve,’ Faye said firmly.
‘Ah, Fayemou, you are absolutely right. And that is why I am so glad I make my decision last night.’
Faye swallowed as they stopped walking and faced the sea. ‘Oh?’
‘Alexandros, he called me. He said the person who wants to buy the hotel wants to meet with us.’
‘Well, that’s good. I mean, that means it’s a very serious offer.’
‘Yes, I think so too,’ Dimitria said. ‘All this need for confidentiality at the beginning and no one knowing who is behind things. That is not how I like to do business. I like to look people in the eye when I shake their hand or tell them tofýge!’ As she said ‘go’, she flicked her hand out.
Confidentiality. Privacy. A cold, creeping sensation overwrote the sunshine warming Faye’s back. She had heard those words before. But was she putting two and two together and making too much of not a lot?
‘Plus, I think I am a good judge of character and no matter how much this offer is, I do not want to sell my hotel to someone I do not think is genuine.’
‘Oh, Dimitria, that’s a lovely thing to think but Alexandros is right in one respect, you do have to get the best price and you have to think about yourself first.’
‘I will decide who and what I think about first,’ Dimitria insisted with determination.
‘It’s your decision, of course,’ Faye answered, feeling very much put in her place but equally glad about it.
‘I do not mean to shout,’ Dimitria said, sighing. ‘I just know that I have to make this transition as palatable as possible. Selling is hard. Selling to someone I do not like, much, much harder. So, let us not think about this any more. Not until the potential new owner is sitting opposite us over a plate of seafood.’
‘When are you meeting them?’ Faye asked, shoulders tight with tension.
‘Tomorrow evening,’ Dimitria informed her. ‘Andweare meeting them, Faye. No Alexandros, just you and me. We will not be talking financials. We will be talking about his or her background and the future plans they have.’
Faye nodded. ‘If that is what you want.’
‘It is,’ Dimitria answered. ‘So, tell me, how is Saffron? You spoke to her about the photographs of you and Kostas?’
