Page 30 of Take a Chance on Greece

As I climbed the stairs to my room, weary after my day in the sun, I replayed my interaction on the beach with Alexis. We’d been having such a good time, and then suddenly, things had changed. Alexis had gone from happy, relaxed and carefree, to anxious and uptight, desperate to leave. Was it something I had said or done? I’d thought we’d been getting on well, more than well if I was being truly honest. It may have been the influence of our beautiful surroundings, but I’d once again felt that softening, a tenderness of emotion towards him, something that was hard to describe, and something that I wasn’t sure I should be experiencing, given that his name was very much Alexis and I was committed to finding the Andreas of my inking. How could I come out to Greece in search of a man called Andreas and find myself hankering after one called Alexis? Was that not in some way a betrayal of the man who had inspired my inking? But then again, how could I betray someone I wasn’t sure actually existed? I still hadn’t managed to track down the artist who could shed light on the motivation behind the tattoo. And my own memory hadn’t become any clearer. I felt conflicted and unsure about what I should do now.

When I was with Alexis, I didn’t feel the need to put on an act or pretend to be someone I wasn’t. I never questioned which version of Lydia I needed to be in order to enjoy spending time with him. I could just be me. He’d seen my flaws, and he didn’t judge me for them. He’d heard my dreams, and he hadn’t laughed at them. In fact, he’d gone out of his way to show his support.

But the very fact that he was supporting me in my quest to find Andreas argued that the tenderness I was feeling towards him must be one-sided. He’d offered to rescue me from dodgy dates, not date me himself. And when I got close to him on the beach, he’d swiftly moved away, seemingly desperate to extract himself from the situation.

By the next day, I was gritty-eyed with lack of sleep, but I’d made a decision. Alexis’s friendship was too important to me to jeopardise by seeking something more, and I didn’t want to put him in that difficult position of having to let me down gently. I would continue on my Andreas quest. I’d been brave enough to rip up my life plan and return to Kefalonia to seek Awesome Andreas. Now more than ever I needed to trust the instinct that had made me decide to do it and follow through on that goal.

But where could I look for him? I was done with relying on the internet to play Cupid, and given my conflicted emotions towards Alexis, it would have felt strange to go to him for advice. I pondered my next move as I cleaned rooms, zipping through them in half the time I’d taken when I’d first started work here ten days ago. If I achieved nothing else during my stay, I had at least developed serious vacuuming skills.

The answer to my dilemma about where to search for Awesome Andreas next came in the form of a stack of leaflets which were delivered to the Helios Hotel by a tour rep asking us to put them on display for the guests. They certainly attracted my attention as they advertised boat trips with a Captain Andreas. The aforementioned captain was depicted in handsome cartoon form on the deck of a beautiful boat which was gliding through cobalt-blue waves on its way to a distant island. It looked incredibly romantic, the perfect setting in which to meet the man of my dreams.

When the girls and I were on holiday, I’d been keen to go on a boat trip, but somehow between lazing by the pool and the nights out, we’d never got round to doing it. But now was my chance. I imagined sitting on the deck of an elegant yacht, drinking champagne from a chilled glass, and admiring the coastal scenery while Awesome Andreas steered the boat and told me fascinating anecdotes from his life at sea. Perhaps the arrival of these leaflets was a sign from fate pointing me in the direction of where to go.

However, Yiota was less than impressed with my idea when I showed her the leaflets and casually asked if I might be able to arrange my next day off to coincide with one of the trips being run by Captain Andreas.

As she examined the cartoon image, she tutted her disgust.

‘Those trips are over-priced and more about trying to sell as much food and drink to the customers as possible than they are about taking you on a scenic tour of the island’s coastline. You’d be better off not wasting your time. I will not have these leaflets on display. Put them in the recycling on your way to empty the office bins.’

I followed her direction, but kept one of the leaflets back and put it into my pocket for later. Whatever Yiota’s opinion, there was something entrancing about the idea of going on a day cruise. It would be a wonderful way of seeing more of the island I was now beginning to call home.

However, thoughts of sailing through the waves with a vanguard of dolphins and an attractive Greek captain at my side flew completely out of my mind when my phone started ringing.

My initial fear was that it was Jim at the other end of the line. TheDoctor Whotheme tune was still assigned to his number, so I knew he couldn’t be calling from his mobile, but that didn’t mean that he hadn’t picked up another phone to ring me, irritated that I hadn’t risen to his bait and responded to his text message the other day. I didn’t want to hear his voice, and fall into the trap of trying to explain myself to him all over again. My second, slightly more positive thought was that this could finally be a call from an Andreas who’d spotted my small ad in the kiosk, and although that option still filled me with nerves, it was for a very different reason.

‘Hello,’ I answered hesitantly.

The person at the other end was male, thankfully not Jim, and they talked Greek extremely quickly. Or rather, they probably spoke it at a normal pace, but it seemed incredibly fast to an untrained ear such as mine. I couldn’t even recognise a simple ‘hello’ in among it, so for all I knew, I’d come in halfway through a speech.

I tried to find an opportunity to speak up and explain that I didn’t understand, but I couldn’t distinguish a moment between phrases. In the end, I put the phone on speaker and hurried in search of a colleague who could translate for me. After dashing around the office and finding no one I managed to find someone taking a rest in the staff break room.

‘Eleni?’ I asked, assuming that there was only one heavily pregnant member of staff.

‘Lydia, hello. I’ve heard so much about you while I have been off work. I’m glad we are finally meeting.’ Her broad grin suggested that Yiota and Angelo had probably filled her in about my Andreas quest too. I didn’t mind. It made my next request much easier.

‘Can you help translate? I think this might be an Andreas.’

Although I couldn’t understand what he was saying, the guy had an excellent voice, deep and rather sexy for it.

Eleni raised an eyebrow, but, to give her credit, she did at least gesture for the phone to be brought over.

She spoke loudly so the speaker at the other end was forced to concede airtime to her. She asked a couple of questions while I hopped nervously from side to side. I wanted the first Andreas to call me up to be genuine rather than someone playing a prank.

Their conversation continued for a couple of minutes before she finally ended the call.

‘Well?’ I asked, bracing myself.

Eleni attempted to look sympathetic, but I could tell she was trying not laugh. ‘I am sorry to disappoint you, Lydia, but it was not the Andreas you hoped for. He was a salesman trying to sell you some insurance. You are probably one of hundreds of people he has called at random today. I think when he realised that you didn’t understand what he was saying he continued speaking so he could increase his call time minutes.’

My shoulders slumped in disappointment.

Eleni patted the seat next to her.

‘Come, sit down here and tell me what you can remember of your Andreas.’

‘I’m afraid that would be a short conversation,’ I confessed, filling her in on the whole story.

She laughed. ‘We have all done it, had too much to drink and then ended up doing something we did not intend to. Well, maybe we’ve not all woken up with a tattoo, but at least it will give you a funny story for you and your awesome man to tell your children one day.’

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