‘It’s true. Ask Floretta. She had been calling me some colourful names, but I’m not sure if she meant them or if they’d been lost in translation because her Greek is terrible. At one point she called me an obnoxious floral wheelbarrow, so I’m not sure …’
‘At least she’s trying to learn the language.’
‘Right, right. I fell for you hard and I spent every moment wishing I hadn’t agreed to the plan because it felt all wrong. I wanted to broach it with you early on, but there’s been one drama after another …’
He goes quiet. This is the part where I fess up too. Will it end us for good? I can’t say.
‘I have something to tell you.’
‘OK.’ His expression is so sincere I falter.
I drop my gaze. ‘I, too, had been convinced to fake-date you. By my beloved Gran who needed my help. I only had her best interests at heart. While it might have been a stupid idea, she figured it was the only solution to keep Yannis at bay until she got things back on an even keel.’
His eyebrows shoot up. ‘What! Are youseriousright now, Evie?’
Yikes. ‘Deadly.’
He scrubs his face. ‘So wait a minute – you were all prepared to pack up and leave because you found out I’d been ordered to fake-date you, yet the whole time you were fake-dating me? How isthatfair?’
His eyes cloud.
I take a deep breath. ‘It really isn’t. But once I found out about you, I doubted everything and that hurt because my feelings are true. I’m sorry about lying to you. I guess we’re both in the same boat with this, so we’ve just got to get past it somehow.’
He lets out a frustrated groan. ‘I cannot believe this.’
‘It’s a little rom-commy. Like the plot of a book.’
His eyes glaze over like he’s lost in thought and then he lets out a loud groan. ‘Argh! I see it now.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘There’s a whole lot more to this! I’ll be back soon.’ He dashes out then back in. ‘I almost forgot.’ He takes me in his arms, and gives me a Hollywood kiss, all the bells and whistles, leaning me back like I’m some sort of screen siren and smooching the life out of me until I’m breathless. ‘Just proving this is real.’
‘Wow.’ That definitely didn’t feel like a fake kiss.
‘Back soon,’ he says with a wink. A wink! What is he playing at!
‘Where are you …’ But he’s off and running – to where, I can’t even imagine. I find Gran suspiciously close to my villa, pretend-watering her garden.
‘That’s not even believable, Gran.’
‘What ever do you mean?’
‘For starters, you haven’t turned the hose on, so holding it above the plants isn’t doing a heck of a lot.’ My mind spins while I wait for Georgios. What did he mean there’s a whole lot more to this? I can’t handle another plot twist today.
Gran nods. ‘With the water on I couldn’t hear anything.’
‘Did you need to listen in?’
‘Of course! Are you staying in Santorini with that perfect specimen of a man?’
I consider it. ‘Maybe.’ How can I hold on to any doubt after Georgios poured his heart out to me like that? We’d both been forced into the same situation because of our love for our grandparents.
‘Maybe?
Gran tries her darndest to get all the scintillating details out of me but I don’t share yet. I want to know where Georgios has disappeared to before I say anything. Zeus bounds over, standing excitedly in front of Gran, before giving her a human-like frown, not understanding why Gran’s holding the hose but no water is escaping for his usual garden water games. ‘Not now, Zeus,’ she says. ‘I’ll take you to the beach soon.’
Georgios reappears, yanking on his grandfather’s arm, almost dragging him through the gate. With his downcast expression it seems Yannis isn’t exactly a willing visitor.
