Fifteen
‘What are you doing?’ Tess exclaimed as she was ushered through the gathering crowds, feet burning with every step.
‘Come, please,’ Andras stated, his gaze moving from her to the other side of the room and back again. He seemed uneasy.
‘But my friend is back there,’ Tess protested again.
He stopped walking and turned to face her. Eyes the colour of a deep, dark, chocolate gateaux. She swallowed in anticipation of … something.
‘I need …’ He stopped talking, eyes moving from her to the middle distance where people were beginning to sway in time to the finger-picking of the bouzouki. Whatever was going on here wasn’t coming easy.
‘I need your help,’ he stated.
Confusion furrowed her brow. ‘My help?’
He nodded. ‘Yes.’
She tilted her head a little. ‘We have to get our own starters?’
He squeezed her hand tightly, refocused his gaze on her again. ‘My mother is on her way.’
‘Your mother,’ Tess repeated.
‘Yes,’ he replied.
‘That’s … nice?’ she offered.
‘No,’ he said quickly. ‘It is not nice. It is very … difficult.’ He sighed. ‘Please, just … join in with the dancing and I will try to keep her away.’
‘What?’
‘But if I cannot, just agree with everything I say.’ He went to leave, then swung back, taking hold of her hand again. ‘And your name. It has to be Patricia.’
With those words said, he joined her hand with a woman just moving into the circle of dancers. Tess turned back, ready to interject but he was already gone, clapping his hands and paying attention to an older woman with her dark hair in a tight bun.
‘What happened there?’ Sonya asked, muscling in next to Tess and taking hold of her hand. ‘That was almost a Mills and Boon moment.’ She grinned. ‘Kidnapped by the Gorgeous Greek.’
‘Something’s happening,’ Tess stated, her eyes still fixed on Andras and the woman he was encouraging to dance despite her reluctance. ‘And apparently, I’m at the centre of it.’
‘What?’ Sonya asked, stepping left then right as one of the waiters started shouting movement instructions.
‘Apparently, the boss needs me to agree with everything he says and pretend my name is Patricia.’
‘You did tell him your name was Patricia,’ Sonya reminded as she swung her right leg across her left leg.
‘I know but—’
‘You’re not thinking of hooking up with him, are you?’ Sonya asked.
‘Opa!’ one of the waiters exclaimed as they drew the wobbly circle first in and then out across the flagstone floor.
‘No,’ Tess replied. ‘Of course not.’ Although it had been too many days without a male partner on her Facebook page, and his eyes were delicious. ‘Single all the way.’
‘This way,’ Andras called, arm around Isadora on his right and a customer on his left. ‘And that.’
He felt his mother move her arm, shrugging and attempting to work her way out from the circle.
‘Let me go, Andras,’ she said. ‘I want to meet with your girlfriend.’
‘She is dancing,’ Andras said, realigning his mother’s arm. ‘Like we are dancing.’
‘When people should still be eating,’ Isadora stated. ‘It is not even nine o’ clock and it is not Greek night.’
With one quick twist, Isadora slipped her arm from his and spun from the circle, making quick stick-aided strides across the room towards Patricia-who-wasn’t-Patricia.
He backed out of the dancing too and headed after her.
‘Mama!’
‘What is the matter, Andras?’ Isadora said. ‘This girlfriend of yours has travelled from the UK to see you and you do not seem to want to introduce her to me.’
‘I … it isn’t that …’
‘No?’ Isadora asked, stopping now she was only a metre or so away from the girl with the blonde hair.
‘No.’
‘Then introduce me,’ she said with relish.
His eyes found ‘Patricia’. She was going through the motions of Greek dancing, the sheer fabric of her dress shimmering as she moved, but she was looking directly back at him. There was only one thing he could do.
‘Fine,’ he answered, ushering his mother forward. ‘I will introduce you.’
‘They’re coming,’ Tess said through gritted teeth.
‘Who?’
‘Andras and, I presume, his mother.’
‘What do they want?’
‘I have no idea.’ She smiled at the advancing pair.
‘Patricia,’ Andras greeted, stepping forward. ‘I would like you to meet my mother.’
‘Hel-lo,’ Tess responded tentatively as the very tall older woman towered over her. She wore a grey knit dress and low, sensible shoes that looked at least a size ten. Tess felt compelled to roll her shoulders back and tighten her core under the woman’s scrutiny. Andras’s mother seemed to lean in a little as if she were inspecting every single visible inch of her. The already humid air thickened at the same moment the bouzouki player took the music into a minor key.
‘Patricia, this is my mother, Isadora,’ Andras stated.
What did she do? Put out her hand? Air kiss? The presence of the woman was making her think she should really feel inclined to bow. Why was she even worrying? She didn’t even know what any of this was about?
‘It’s nice to meet you,’ Tess said quickly, eyes flitting over to Andras. ‘You have a very lovely restaurant.’
The woman’s dark eyes seemed to go from glistening olive to murky oil well. ‘Andras’s restaurant.’
Tess nodded. ‘Yes.’
‘I’m Sonya,’ Sonya chipped in, holding her hand out to Isadora.
‘Sonya is Patricia’s business client,’ Andras jumped in. ‘From England, too.’
‘I am?’ Sonya answered. Tess nudged her with her elbow. ‘Ow, funny bone, not so funny.’ She cleared her throat. ‘I am.’
Isadora swung her attention to her son. ‘I am not stupid! You tell me this already.’ She looked back to Tess. ‘How long have you been in a relationship with my son via the interweb or whatever it is you have been doing in long distances?’
Sonya gasped. ‘Oh my!’
Tess watched Andras. He was the epitome of tense. His shoulders raised, his well-built chest moving in and out like the process of breathing was a skill he was yet to master. This was not the self-assured individual she had encountered at Kalami Cove this afternoon.
She looked back at Isadora, meeting the woman’s hostile glare.
‘It’s been—’ Tess began.
‘A few months,’ Andras interjected. ‘Since we met on the other side of the island, at Paleokastritsa.’
Tess nodded. ‘Mmm, the—’
‘Clear water where we snorkelled,’ Andras continued, his eyes finding hers.
‘The restaurant—’
‘On the beach,’ Andras added. ‘We ate scallops, remember?’
Scallops! Did it have to be scallops? She regrouped, wetting her lips. ‘It was lovely weather.’
Her cheeks were heating up and she could feel Sonya’s eyes boring into the side of her face without having to check and look.
‘It is funny,’ Isadora spoke, clasping one of her giant hands with the other. ‘Andras tells me the restaurant is so busy this season he does not have the time to leave it.’ She sighed. ‘How much time did you spend together in Paleokastritsa?’
‘A week,’ Tess and Andras answered simultaneously.
Isadora eyed them both.
‘We met on my day off,’ Andras elaborated. ‘After that we would meet halfway or Patricia would come here.’
‘That’s right,’ Tess added. Why was she so desperate for this woman to believe this mad story? She knew nothing about this man. He had annoyed her at first meeting. Why would she want to do him a favour? It was then a thought occurred to her: she could definitely play this to her and Sonya’s advantage. Perhaps a few free meals … and access to a computer that worked.
‘Patricia has talked about you all the time,’ Sonya jumped in. ‘It’s been Andras this and Andras that and how much she misses your Greek … your—’
‘You,’ Tess interjected. ‘How much I miss you.’ She moved forward and reached a hand out, bringing it up to Andras’s face and caressing his cheek.
Andras felt the softness of her fingertips as he looked into those ocean-coloured eyes. As every millisecond went by he could feel his shoulders lose a little tension.
‘Dance,’ Isadora stated suddenly.
Andras looked at his mother. ‘What?’
‘You say this woman is your girlfriend, then you will dance for her.’
‘Mama, I have a restaurant to run,’ he protested.
Tess smiled. ‘I would really love to see you dance, Andras.’
He saw the playful look in her eyes now. She was good. She had helped him out but now she wanted a little something in return. And what choice did he have?
‘Do we get to smash plates?’ Sonya asked.
‘Yes, Andras,’ Tess said. ‘We must smash some plates.’
He was well and truly caught.