‘I am crazy about you,’ he says, placing his coffee cup down and kissing me. ‘I could not stop thinking about you, so I thought I would surprise you.’
‘You have certainly done that.’ We’re sitting snuggled together. ‘I think this might be the most romantic thing anyone has ever done. Aren’t you meant to be working on the boat though?’
‘As it is only for the weekend, it was easy to arrange cover. There are plenty of people willing to take over for a few days,’ he explains. ‘I had to see you, I could not wait for another few weeks. I hope I haven’t ruined your weekend plans.’
He clearly doesn’t share my mum’s philosophy of thinking absence makes the heart grow fonder, I’m delighted to say.
‘Well, I was thinking of doing a little shopping, maybe eating out, followed by a relaxing day on Sunday, starting with a long lie-in.’
‘That sounds perfect. But maybe first, we need to go to a supermarket.’
‘What for?’
‘The ingredients for that Greek breakfast I promised you.’
Strolling hand in hand through town heading to a large store, I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.
‘Tomorrow, we could go on a city sightseeing bus if you like,’ I tell him, as we walk. ‘It takes in all the main tourist attractions, as well as some of the places the Beatles sang about in their songs. Penny Lane, Strawberry Fields and so on.’
‘Perhaps I need to go shopping for a warmer coat first.’ He pulls his jacket tightly around him, and I tell him he can borrow one of my dark woollen scarves if he likes.
‘And I hate to tell you, but Liverpool are playing an away match at Chelsea, I think.’
‘So I came all this way for nothing?’ He shakes his head, and I push him playfully on the arm.
‘Then we could finish off with a meal at the Greek taverna on Bold Street, if you like. Gosh, I still can’t believe that you are actually here.’
‘Maybe I was hoping to try the local delicacies of England. You do not eat English food in Greece, do you?’
‘Of course, what am I thinking? You will be spoilt for choice here, there are restaurants with every international cuisine you can think of. Probably more than English restaurants actually, but there is always fish and chips.’
‘You’re going to take me to the chippy?’ he asks in the worst Liverpool accent ever, that has me roaring with laughter.
As we head home with our shopping, I feel pure joy in my heart. I have no doubts now.
Dimitri couldn’t bear to wait any longer to see me, so whatever the future holds I know I will face it with a certainty that we will do our best to make things work. It wasn’t so longago that I was unprepared to take a risk on a new relationship, happy on my own, too frightened to let anyone into my heart again.
But that’s the thing with love: it can creep up on you when you least expect it.
And once that happens, as a line in a certain song says,Love changes everything.
EPILOGUE
‘So how is it working out for you, having two homes?’ asks Thea.
We are standing in the bakery, me sampling a new cake creation of hers.
‘Wonderful. And so is this, by the way.’ I wipe crumbs from my mouth having devoured the cherry and almond cake. ‘You definitely need to make a load of these to sell.’
‘I will. You know, in a few weeks I will be overrun with customers before the season ends. August and September can be very busy. I could barely cope last summer, so if you fancy a part-time job…?’ she asks as she places some bread rolls into baskets.
‘Are you serious?’
‘Why not? You could give me some recipes for the UK holidaymakers.’ She smiles.
‘That’s true, although I’m sure they would rather eat your delicious Greek cakes, especially the baklava. Anyway, that’s me leaving,’ I say, glancing at my watch. ‘I told Dimitri I will join him on the two o’clock sail round the island.’
Bookings are picking up and the boats take tourists out every two hours on trips.
