‘Just plaster, I am sure. The outside you will want painting anyway, I assume?’
He reaches out and touches the line in the wall, and as his T-shirt rises I see a smooth, tanned stomach and have to avert my eyes.
‘Oh yes, I want a white, smooth stomach.’
‘Stomach?’ He raises an eyebrow.
‘What? I mean finish. Stomach? Maybe it’s because my stomach has just given a little rumble, haha,’ I babble, praying I am not blushing. ‘You know, a smooth finish on the walls, white and smooth.’ Oh my goodness I’m blushing, I know it.
Dimitri grins and gives me a knowing look.
‘Of course,’ he says, glancing at his watch. ‘I must go to work now, but maybe later I can have a proper look around?’
We arrange to meet him back here at six o’clock this evening.
He climbs into a van, and I hear some Greek music from his radio as he has the windows down. He raises a hand and waves as he sets off around the corner.
‘Oh my goodness, that’s Thea’s nephew?’ says Evie. ‘He’s gorgeous and he’s your new neighbour too. That’s handy, having a builder over the road.’
‘As long as his work is good, that’s all I am interested in,’ I tell her, and I mean it, despite admiring his obvious good looks. I’ve worked hard in my job to become a supervisor and have made a lovely apartment back home and I would like to do the same here. I like my life, I enjoy my hobbies, that include walking and cooking, I have a couple of good friends at home and work and my folks are close by, so this place needs to add to all that, not take away. Besides, Dimitri probably has a wife or girlfriend lurking somewhere. Just like my last boyfriend did.
‘Anyway, come on. Business talk later, but now as promised let’s hit the beach.’
It’s early May and the perfect weather for spending the afternoon on the sand, listening to gentle music pumping from the bar.
Watching the rolling waves, I think of how I have bought a house here and for a minute feel simultaneously adventurous and foolhardy. Have I been reckless? Come late October cheap flights won’t come to the island, as Evie has pointed out.
One year, in late October just before the flights stopped, I spent the most beautiful week here walking in the foothills. The stunning scenery with its gently changing foliage was a sight to behold, a blanket of orange and mauve moss mingling with evergreen trees. I passed villages and outlines of castles and ancient buildings on the top of the hills and watched birds circling above. It was so wonderful and not something I would have considered in the summer months, in the sweltering heat.
I’d hooked up with a local walking group on that visit, who walked for miles during the cooler months in the spring and autumn, discovering footpaths off the beaten track, and drinking home-made ouzo in gardens offered by locals, who proudlyshowed off their allotments. One time, the walk leader had to return with her car to accept the abundant bags of courgettes, corn and tomatoes gifted to us from the bumper autumn harvest.
Lying on sunbeds beside each other, Evie receives a photo on her phone of the girls on horses at some local stables with their grandmother. She sends one back of the two of us, raising a beer, the sea in the background.
‘I hope Nick is enjoying his golfing trip. Where is it he’s going?’ I ask.
‘Scotland. St Andrews. He’s been wanting to play that course for a while now, so when someone in work suggested a golfing weekend, he jumped at the chance.’
‘Never fancied taking golf up yourself?’ I ask as I sip my cold beer.
‘I did try it once, literally once, but couldn’t even hit the ball. When I finally did it disappeared off into a pond. No, I’ll stick to the gym if I fancy a bit of exercise.’
Finishing the beer, and with the warm effects of the sun and the early start this morning, I can feel my eyes becoming heavy. Maybe a small siesta is in order before meeting Dimitri at the villa, and then out somewhere nice for dinner.
When I wake, what I imagine to be a short while later, Evie is nowhere to be seen. As I look around I see her walking towards me from the bar with a couple of bottles of water. Glancing at my watch, I am shocked to discover I have been asleep for over an hour.
‘Did you have a sleep?’ I ask, sitting up and stretching my arms out.
‘Nope. I read for a bit, but then I did sleep for a while on the plane. I went for a swim, actually. I had forgotten how much I enjoy swimming. I thought I would get us some water instead ofmore beer, if you want to stay awake later. I’ll save myself for a cocktail with dinner.’
‘That sounds like a sensible idea,’ I say, sitting up and gratefully taking a glug of the bottled water.
‘What type of restaurant do you fancy tonight? There’s that fish one we went to last time, although I did spot a new one opposite the pirate bar, if you fancy it?’
‘I don’t mind. Yeah, let’s try somewhere new, give them a bit of support, hey?’
‘Let’s do that.’ We tap our bottles of water together.
We hang around for another hour, making the most of every minute of the warm sunshine on the relatively empty beach as the summer season hasn’t quite started up yet, before we return to our apartment. As we walk along the busy road we meet Thea carrying a straw basket presumably on her way to the shops.
