Page 57 of Take a Chance on Greece

‘I am sure my brother wouldn’t mind,’ said Alexis, then gasped as I twirled round for him. ‘The new tattoo looks wonderful.’

After thinking about it carefully, I’d finally decided to return to Niko to have the Awesome Andreas tattoo covered up. We’d slightly adapted his design, making it smaller, and adding one very important addition to the lounger, a book, in honour of Alexis’s shop, and our shared love of reading. It had taken a couple of sessions, during which I’d longed for the anaesthetic qualities of wine, but had resisted. The healing process thankfully had been more comfortable than for the original – perhaps something to do with the fact that I hadn’t had to spend the first few days of it trying to keep the thing hidden – and today was going to be its first proper outing in its fully finished and healed glory. I’d chosen a cropped T-shirt to wear for the very purpose.

Alexis locked up the shop, and then we set off through town, waving at Niko on our way past his studio.

‘It’s looking good, Lydia,’ he called after us. ‘If you want another, I do it for a special price.’

‘No thanks, Niko, I’m happy with the one. Your artwork has worked the magic it needed to,’ I said cheerily. Although Kat had been convinced I’d get hooked on tattoos, I knew that one was more than enough for me.

‘You must add that to your article when you write it for my website,’ he insisted. ‘Let me know when you are free to talk about that.’

I took Alexis’s hand as we turned the corner.

‘It sounds like you have acquired another customer,’ he said proudly, nudging his hip against mine. I responded by looping my arm around his waist and giving it a squeeze.

Our progress through town was slow because friends kept on stopping us for a chat. I’d never felt so much part of a community before, and I was loving it. The people of Sami had welcomed me with open arms, and Alexis’s bookshop had reaped the rewards of their curiosity to meet his new girlfriend, as they all stopped by to check me out, buying books as cover for their visit. Their warmth and friendliness were also helping tide me over until Kat and Amira could come out and stay again. They’d already made one flying visit to meet Alexis, or inspect him as Kat had termed it, and we were in constant FaceTime contact to plan their next trip. Thank goodness for budget airlines, that’s all I could say.

We wandered along the coastal path, enjoying the sound of the waves washing up against the shore. The cicadas were chirping in the undergrowth and the scent of wildflowers filled the air. I wanted to dawdle and soak up every step, but there was an important meeting ahead of us. Even though I was excited to meet Alexis’s brother, who was finally back on the island after spending the summer working on one of those super yachts I’d found so intimidating at Fiskardo, I was nervous too. I knew how much Andreas’s opinion mattered to Alexis, and I hoped I would pass muster. I’d suggested several times we chat over video call, but Alexis had been keen for our first encounter to be in person. Even now he’d kept quiet about exactly where it was we were going.

‘Nearly there,’ said Alexis, as if he’d read my mind. We left the coast and started walking up through a residential street. I wondered if we were heading to a friend’s house. I knew Andreas didn’t bother renting a place because he was at sea so much. But then I spotted a sign, and felt a burst of excitement.

‘The Melissani Lake? Are we finally going to visit?’

It was the one place I’d been longing to see ever since my return to Kefalonia. Everyone raved about how beautiful it was, but the girls and I hadn’t been able to get tickets when we’d come on holiday, and somehow, I’d still not got round to going.

‘Maybe,’ said Alexis, his smile growing broader.

We rounded a corner, and there we were at the car park. I’d expected it to be heaving like the Drogarati Cave, but it was strangely quiet with only a couple of vehicles parked up.

‘Goodness, it looks like we’re going to have the place to ourselves, how lucky are we?’ I said.

Alexis shrugged his shoulders. ‘They are doing some maintenance work on the visitor centre. A friend of a friend works here and said that we could come down while they are officially closed for the day.’ His tone changed. ‘Ah, here is my brother.’

It was surreal seeing a mirror image of Alexis walking towards us, but once I’d got over the similarities of the brothers, I started to recognise the ways in which Andreas was obviously different.

‘IassouAndreas, we meet at last,’ I said, giving him a warm hug. ‘You have a very different stride from your brother. And I’d say your nose is slightly bigger than his.’

Andreas grinned. While Alexis’s lips always quirked to the right when he smiled, I noticed that Andreas’s went to the left.

‘Very good, very good. Even our own father does not always notice that.’ He leaned forward and kissed me on both cheeks. He smelled different to Alexis as well. ‘I am so pleased to meet you at last. Alexis kept you such a secret from me, and now he can’t stop talking about you. Welcome to the family.’

I felt my cheeks turn hot with happiness. Everything was going to be just fine.

A car door slammed, and Yiota emerged, closely followed by Angelo. They paused to help a couple out of the back seat.

‘Eleni, have you brought the baby?’ I asked with delight. After Stephano had rushed Eleni to hospital on the night of the party, mother and baby had had to stay in for a while following complications during the birth. Alexis and I had been among the first to visit them when they’d come back home, but so far they’d managed to keep very quiet about one important thing – what they were going to call their new son.

‘Certainly, we thought this would be a good occasion to introduce him properly to everyone.’

‘Does that mean we are finally going to hear the name? I can’t believe you’ve taken so long deciding,’ said Alexis.

‘We wanted to try it out for a while to make sure it was the right fit for him. And it is. Everybody, this is A—’

‘Not another Andreas?’ said Alexis’s twin.

Eleni and Stephano exchanged amused glances.

‘No, we felt that there are quite enough Andreases on the island already,’ replied Eleni. ‘This is Achilles.’

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