Epilogue
Five weeks later
McKenzie Falconer Offices
‘So, I was thinking, for the TV ad, we could have the Alannah Myles song “Black Velvet” playing in the background, a bit retro, I know, but retro is cool. Then, I thought, a lone female could ride a horse along the surf and stop at an upmarket bar to order a bottle of … Black Velvet Blackberry Crush Pinot.’ Craig produced the bottle from behind his back like he was a magician.
Was he serious? Tess sat up in her seat at the boardroom table and stopped doodling Greek flags on her notepad. She was distracted, highly distracted. Because it was six weeks. It was exactly six weeks since she had first met Andras and the enormity of that was overwhelming. Six weeks was the rule she had lived her life by for so long. Six weeks had always been like her own personal waiting-for-Armageddon. And this was it. Six weeks with Andras. Timed out.
‘Craig, I don’t mean to be rude …’ She did. She absolutely did mean to be rude. ‘But that sounds very much like an advert for sanitary towels.’
Craig’s face began to redden like lava from Etna.
‘Tess!’ Russell exclaimed.
‘What? Is sanitary towels a taboo subject? Didn’t we have the account for Female Form at one point?’ If they still had it, she might suggest Craig be the portfolio manager. She shook her head. ‘The whole branding is meant to be relaxation. The horse and the song, it’s too distracting. The advert needs to be cool, sophisticated. We need an instrumental soundtrack, something the audience is instantly going to pick up on as “escape”, “unwind” …’
There was a knock at the boardroom door and Sally, Tess’s secretary, appeared.
‘Sorry to barge in …’ Sally looked at Tess and raised her eyes, rolling them a little and nudging her head to the left.
‘What is it, Sally?’ Tess asked. ‘This is a really important meeting. We’re on a very tight deadline.’
‘I know. I just …’ She had dropped her voice to a stage whisper everyone could still hear. ‘I’ve got something for you and … it’s a bit strange.’
‘Got something?’ Tess asked. ‘What, like a parcel?’
‘Smaller,’ Sally said.
‘A letter?’
‘Smaller still.’
‘What is this?’ Russell asked. ‘Charades? We need to get this underway, Tess.’
Tess knew she had been the one to hold up this whole branding process with the name change.
‘Sorry, Russell,’ she said. ‘Sally, just give it to me.’
‘Now?’
‘Is it rude?’ Tess asked. She almost hoped it had something to do with Tena Lady, just to see the look on Craig’s face.
‘I … don’t think so,’ Sally said, stepping into the room.
Now Tess was curious. She swivelled her chair out from under the table and turned her body towards her secretary, waiting for her to cross the room.
‘At first I thought it was a joke but apparently it isn’t,’ Sally stated. ‘Here.’
Sally’s outstretched hand contained something small and plastic … a maroon red colour. Tess took it. It was a bottle top. A bottle cap from a 500ml bottle of Dr Pepper … but the writing was in Greek. Her breath shortening, she rolled it around her fingers and, as she did so, it flipped over, revealing a number 6 written on the inside. She was up out of her chair, heart pummelling her chest wall.
‘Where did this come from?’ she panted. ‘Where did you get this?’
‘There’s a man,’ Sally said. ‘He’s in reception.’
‘Tess, we really need to …’ Russell started.
Tess didn’t hear him. She wasn’t thinking about anything else apart from the glorious hope that the person downstairs was the only person she wanted to see more than anyone in the world. She fled from the room, the bottle top clutched in her hand, willing to sprint down all nine flights of steps if she had to.
In Andras’s hands was the topless bottle of Dr Pepper he had spent a few weeks tracking down. He could have bought one here in the UK, but it needed to be from Greece. It was important, to go with everything else he had in mind. But he was nervous. He checked his watch. Perhaps coming here, to Tess’s work, had been the wrong thing to do. She had an important job, he knew she was busy. Maybe this would look like an invasion rather than a romantic gesture.
‘Excuse me.’
He looked up at the sound of her voice. The voice he had been listening to on the phone and over Skype for the last month sounded even better echoing around this ultra-modern reception area so unlike anything in Kalami.
‘Do you have an appointment?’ Tess asked.
He could tell she was catching her breath, but she slowed her pace as she took the final steps down to him.
He shook his head. ‘No, Trix, but I do have a Dr Pepper. All the way from Corfu.’
She ran then, landing in his arms, the drink sloshing out all over the floor as she hugged him close, mouth dropping eager kisses on his lips.
‘You are such an idiot,’ she breathed, kissing him again. ‘You brought this all the way from Corfu.’
‘It had to go in the hold,’ he answered, kissing her back.
‘How? Why? You didn’t tell me you were coming,’ she said, finally letting him go and gazing up at him like he was her whole world.
‘I had to come,’ he said with a smile. ‘It is our anniversary. Six weeks since we first met.’
‘I can’t believe you remembered,’ Tess said, hands going to her mouth.
‘I have come here to make sure we make it to six weeks and one day,’ he spoke. ‘Then six weeks and two days and then maybe … for ever.’
She gasped as he picked up a box from the burgundy-coloured reception chair and held it out to her. ‘It’s a new laptop,’ he announced. ‘That works very well with the new broadband I have installed at the restaurant and my house. Corfu misses you, Tess, Hector misses you, I miss you. I can stay here for a few days but after that I will have to go back to the island.’ He swallowed, knowing he was going out on a limb here. ‘Come back with me. We can work things out. Some time here in the UK, some time in Corfu …’
‘Yes,’ Tess interrupted. ‘The answer is yes.’
‘Yes?’ he queried.
‘Yes,’ she repeated. ‘Sagapo.’
He felt his whole body move at the sound of that small word coming from her lips. ‘You know what that means?’
She nodded vigorously. ‘I googled it.’ She kissed him. ‘I love you.’
This was what he had hoped for. This was what he had thought about the whole way over on the plane. She was taking steps forward and putting her faith in him, in them.
‘Oh my! Eyes are closed! Eyes are closed!’ Sonya exclaimed, appearing from the door to the post room. ‘Is fornication allowed in reception? I’m quite sure it isn’t in the company manual.’
‘Hello, Sonya,’ Andras greeted. ‘We must have a meeting. Maybe tomorrow?’
‘A meeting?’ Tess queried, holding his hand.
‘Sonya and Joey are going to get married at Taverna Georgiou,’ Andras informed her. ‘We need to discuss their plans.’
‘What?’ Tess remarked. ‘You didn’t tell me!’
‘Well,’ Sonya began, ‘it wasn’t definite until a few days ago. Joey wanted to hire this medieval castle but it cost a small fortune and then his mother got involved – she wanted everyone to dress up like Morris dancers – but then I suggested Corfu and Andras’s restaurant and reminded Joey how perfect Kira and Spiros’s wedding was and … it went from there.’
‘Are you going to be able to cater for a whole team of battle re-enactment enthusiasts?’ Tess asked Andras.
‘In Greece that is just like a family dinner,’ he responded, kissing the top of her head.
‘Come on,’ Tess said, pulling him towards the stairs. ‘Come and meet everyone. I want them all to see the man behind Black Velvet.’
‘That sounds like a James Bond film,’ Sonya said with a giggle.
‘OK,’ he answered, pulling her to a stop and dropping another kiss on her lips. ‘But after that … I want you all to myself.’
Her lips curved into a smile and she reached up, palming his cheek, her thumb brushing over his top lip. ‘I promise,’ she whispered. ‘And I can guarantee, there will be absolutely no need for faking anything.’