When the building work has finished for the day, Dimitri and Yiannis head towards their van and Dimitri takes some cash from a wallet and pays his two young labourers as he does each day. There is no contract I realise, which means they can disappear whenever they need to. Before they leave, Dimitri asks me if I am busy later.
‘I am having dinner with Phoebe, she invited me earlier,’ I tell him, suddenly wishing I was free. And wondering if he is going to ask me out.
‘I see. I was going to ask you to run a hose of water over some of the newly laid cement on the stone terrace upstairs. It can crack in the heat if it is not watered,’ he says, before picking up his tool bag. ‘But I can come back and do so.’ He smiles.
‘Oh. Right, yes.’ A silly feeling of disappointment runs through me, and I feel like such an idiot. Of course Dimitri wouldn’t be asking me out; he will have a girlfriend, why wouldn’t he, he’s gorgeous. Besides, am I really thinking about a holiday fling with my builder? A bit of fun? I really must stopwatching those romantic movies. I firmly file any thoughts of romance into the corner of my brain and get a grip on reality. If only he wasn’t so damn attractive.
‘Have a nice night then, see you in the morning,’ he says, before firing up the engine and disappearing around the corner in a cloud of dust.
I take a bottle of water outside into the garden, watching the olive tree gently waving its branches in the late afternoon, and that’s where I answer a video call from Mum.
‘Hi, lovely, how are things? Is the weather nice over there?’ she asks.
‘Hi, Mum. Oh, it’s gorgeous, look…’
I turn my phone around and show her a view of the beautiful blue sky, the tip of the mountains in the far distance. I also show her the garden, which last time she saw it was a bit of a jungle.
‘Ooh you have worked hard, and the weather looks lovely. We had a nice time at the zoo on Saturday, didn’t we, George?’ she says to my nephew. ‘It was threatening to rain all day but thankfully it didn’t. Are you going to tell Auntie Claudia what your favourite animal was?’ she asks George.
‘The monkeys,’ says George, pulling a face and making monkey sounds at the camera and making me laugh.
‘I’m glad you had fun, George, I’ll see you soon.’ I blow him a kiss and he gives me a cheeky grin before blowing me a kiss in return, and my heart swells with love.
‘Hi, love, how is the building work going?’ asks Dad, who appears then, munching on an apple.
‘Good, but I’m not sure for how much longer.’ I tell him all about the second jobs the builders have once the tourist season is in full swing. ‘Probably my own fault for not asking enough questions.’ I sigh.
‘Maybe I should come and give you a hand after all,’ he says, and I almost take him up on the offer.
‘Don’t worry, Dad. The guy in charge of the build has assured me they will work hard at every opportunity, so I have to put my faith in them.’
Mum and Dad drift off then, telling meCountdownis about to start so I chat with my brother, who tells me what a great weekend they have had, and how he hadn’t realised how much he missed his home town.
‘So, you stayed an extra day?’
‘I did. I hate it when we have to rush off, and George will only be missing a morning in nursery. I’m making the most of it, before he starts school in September.’
‘I can understand that. Anyway, I hope all goes well when you head back. Perhaps you need to sit down and have a conversation with Zoe, see if you can work things out,’ I tell him, thinking about little George, although of course I want my brother to be happy too.
‘I know, I will. Thanks, sis. Talk soon, enjoy the rest of your time there, not jealous a bit.’
He pans the camera round the room and everyone waves before I hang up. I feel blessed to have such a wonderful family and can’t wait to have them all over here to enjoy a nice holiday. In the meantime, it’s time to head back to the apartment and get ready for dinner with my new neighbour.
NINETEEN
A drone of crickets in hedgerows fills the air as I walk past the village church and the grassy area that leads down towards the beach. Children are playing football and feral tabby cats lounge beneath trees with white painted trunks, a common sight, especially along village roads, so that motorists can see them in the dark, I’m told. In no time at all, I am turning into the road, where I see Phoebe standing outside talking to a couple of people. As I draw closer, I can hear their raised voices and unsmiling faces.
Phoebe shakes her head at one of them, and guides me inside, not before I hear one of the men saying, ‘Noise, too much noise.’
‘Oh my goodness, are they complaining about the building noise?’ I ask, mortified by the thought of having angered my new neighbours already.
‘Nai.But I tell them it will soon be done, do not worry, although maybe the builders could start work a little later?’ she suggests.
‘Oh gosh, yes, of course, I will speak to Dimitri. Maybe eight o’clock is a little early.’
I’m not sure I would like to wake up at that time in the morning to the sound of hammers, drills and cement mixers. I’m aware the builders have been starting almost as soon as the sun is up, sometimes not finishing until late in a desperate bid to get the work finished before they depart to their other jobs, but I don’t want to get on the wrong side of my new neighbours before the project is even finished.
‘People rise early in the morning,’ she tells me honestly. ‘But they drink tea, take early walks. They like peace.’
