Thirty-one
Tess sat back in her chair, hands on her stomach as it started to feel like it was trying to burst out of her designer dress. They had eaten five courses and it was rumoured a sixth was on its way. So much for there not being very much food! First there was creamy taramasalata and nutty houmous, together with every variety of olive known to man; next was dolmades and spanakopita – the stuffed vine leaves Sonya loved so much the night before and a Greek cheese and spinach pie. Then there was lamb kleftiko. The tender hunks of beef in a sauce called sofrito had practically melted in Tess’s mouth and it had been accompanied by a delicate, fragrant rice dish, the like of which she had never experienced before. If it hadn’t been for the sly digs from Isadora every third sentence, the meal would have been almost perfect: sweet white wine, the liqueur Andras had apparently found in the depths of the house, Sonya smiling and happy talking to Kira and making up a rather elaborate backstory for her role as a business aficionado. Not to mention the gorgeous man next to her, and in the background the sun slowly sinking into the horizon.
‘What do you do?’
Tess jumped in her seat at Isadora’s question yelled down the table in her direction. As she steadied herself all Andras’s relatives looked to her. There were fourteen of them – she’d counted – plus the babies and Helena, the girl with flowers in her hair.
‘What do I do?’ she repeated, gaining some time.
‘In UK. For work,’ Isadora elaborated. ‘Susan is a customer, am I right? What is she a customer for?’
‘Mama, I do not think—’ Andras began.
‘No,’ Tess stated. ‘It’s fine.’ She smiled at Andras’s mother. ‘I work in branding.’
‘Branding?’ Isadora stated. ‘What is this?’
‘Something my father does to cows?’ Marietta asked. The comment earned her a light laugh from other members of the family. Athena, on the lap of her mother, banged an olive-wood rattle down hard on the table. Tess continued to smile. She wasn’t going to let these women make her feel inadequate. She was also going to think up lots of extra ways Andras was going to pay her back for this torture. If it hadn’t been for the lush food she might have just spilled the giant Greek beans about the reality of the situation.
‘I design logos and banners for companies to help pep up their websites and social-media accounts, or I create a whole new business identity from scratch.’
‘You draw pictures,’ Isadora stated. ‘Like Athena and Leto with crayons.’ This prompted another laugh from the family and Athena was tossed from one relative to the next, bouncing on knees along the table.
‘Yes,’ Tess stated. ‘I suppose it is a bit like that.’
‘Patricia is very good at what she does,’ Sonya piped up. ‘The best, actually, otherwise she wouldn’t have my business.’ She took a sip of her wine. ‘Owning an international haberdashery, jewellery and unique porcelain conglomerate, I haven’t got time to waste on anyone who isn’t dedicated, professional and an expert in their field.’
‘So, it is all work for you,’ Isadora stated. ‘That is why you don’t like the babies.’
There was a collective gasp from around the table and Tess felt her mouth drop open.
‘No … I mean … yes … I don’t like … I mean … I do like the babies, of course I like the babies.’ She was floundering. How could she be floundering? She ate people like Isadora for breakfast in business circumstances. She stood up, chair rocking backwards, and held her arms out across the table. ‘Give me Athena.’
‘Trix,’ Andras said, putting a hand on her arm.
‘Trix? Ah ha!’ Isadora exclaimed. ‘You tell me her name is Patricia.’
‘It is!’ Sonya jumped in. ‘Trix is short for Patricia.’
‘Come on, Athena,’ Tess said, shaking her outstretched arms and widening her eyes and smile to endear herself to the little girl.
‘Whatever is going on between you is pointless, I hope you know that,’ Isadora said.
Andras got to his feet and instinctively Tess dropped her arms.
Andras had had enough of this. All the way through what was meant to be a family celebration and a chance to discuss Spiros and Kira’s wedding, Isadora had looked at Tess as if she were a Kalamata olive that needed pitting. She had already done so much for him over this crazy situation, it was time to take action.
‘Mama, Trix and Susan – Sonya,’ he corrected, ‘are my guests here tonight.’
‘I am well aware of that,’ Isadora snapped.
‘Then please, I know it is your home, but you taught me that guests should always be treated with respect.’
His mother made no reply.
‘Helping businesses is a good job to have.’
‘In a city,’ Isadora said. ‘Just like the job Elissa had.’
There was another gasp from the family. He gritted his teeth. His mother seemed hell-bent on trying to belittle him at every turn. Even in front of his own family.
He put the flat of his hands on the table, hoping to garner a little strength from the stance. ‘Yes,’ he replied. ‘And there are times, like right now, when perhaps I wonder if I should have worked in the city with her.’
He swallowed as silence descended. Fourteen people, two babies and an eight-year-old seemed to freeze, and the only sound came from the cicadas in the bushes.
His eyes stayed with his mother. Why was she doing this? Was this what he was going to be forced to put up with when Spiros left and Isadora took over his brother’s share of the restaurant? His idyll here, the life he’d chosen, was starting to feel like a very small room where the walls were quickly closing in.
‘I can smell … honey and walnuts!’ Sonya announced loudly, her voice breaking the silence. ‘I’m right, aren’t I? Can you all smell honey and walnuts?’
Andras watched Sonya, eyes and hand gestures encouraging the guests to re-engage with the conversation.
Isadora got to her feet, body language still defiant. ‘It is kataifi.’ She shot a look at Sonya. ‘Syrup. Not honey.’
Lowering himself back down to the chair, Andras picked up his glass of wine and took a swig of the pale-coloured liquid.
‘Are you OK?’ Tess asked him.
He turned to look at her. ‘I should be the one asking you that question.’ He sighed. ‘My mother and Marietta, they have …’
‘Picked at me all night? Glared at me like I single-handedly killed all the celebrities in 2016?’ She nodded. ‘I did tell you they didn’t want me here.’
‘And I didn’t listen.’
‘You did,’ she answered. ‘And I told you I could handle it. And I have.’ She swallowed. ‘I am.’
‘This is all my fault. Involving you in my family drama and all these …’ He lowered his voice. ‘Lies.’
She nodded and picked up her wine glass. ‘Believe me, if I was any ordinary holidaymaker here to relax and soak up the Greek ambience then I wouldn’t be doing any of this.’
‘But you want a guide man for Sonya.’ His eyes went to where Sonya was repinning the flowers in Helena’s hair a little way away.
‘It’s more than that,’ Tess admitted. ‘It’s a really great distraction.’
‘From?’ he asked, leaning in a little closer to her.
A sigh left her then. A deep, shoulder-hunching, whole-body-shivering exhalation he almost felt inside himself.
‘From thinking about my own life, and all the things I’ve done wrong.’ She smiled but the expression caught a little. ‘Maybe wishing that my family cared enough to interfere.’ She shook her head. ‘Or rather, that I cared enough to let them interfere.’
‘Tess …’ Andras began, his hand moving, wanting to make contact.
She shifted her chair back. ‘God, what am I saying?’ She looked at her wine glass like it might contain truth serum. ‘What is in this stuff?’ She got to her feet. ‘Excuse me just for a second while I head into the gloom and find the loo.’
‘Tess …’ he began again, making to stand up. But she was gone, tottering across the grass and making for the house.