Page 19 of Not My Greek Wedding

As we make our way to the hotel restaurant, I spot the handsome hotel worker we met in the lift, who appears to be walking towards me.

‘I hope you enjoyed the wedding ceremony,’ he says. ‘And by the way, you look beautiful,’ he whispers, and annoyingly the hairs on my arms stand on end.

‘Does your girlfriend know you like to pay compliments to random women?’ I ask him, flattered but slightly irritated. The cheek of the man.

‘My girlfriend?’ He raises an eyebrow. A very attractive eyebrow, I might add.

‘The woman I saw you with earlier.’

‘Ah, not my girlfriend at all.’ He smiles. ‘I was simply showing her around the hotel as she is considering it for her wedding,’ he explains.

‘Oh, I see.’

‘Anyway, I will see you at the wedding meal,’ he says.

‘You are a guest?’ I ask, surprised.

I’d noticed him during the wedding ceremony, of course, but assumed him to be merely a member of staff making sure everything ran smoothly. Not unless Owen and Tasha have really pushed the boat out, and invited some of the hotel staff.

‘Yes, I am a friend of Owen. He helped with the building of this very hotel. My father owns this place,’ he reveals.

‘Wow, well it’s very beautiful,’ I tell him, slightly taken aback.

‘Thank you, I think so too. See you shortly.’ He touches me gently on the arm once more, before he disappears.

I grab a glass of ice-cold champagne from a tray a passing waitress is carrying and gulp it down, as I suddenly feel a little flushed.

‘Take it easy there. We don’t want to be picking you up off the floor later,’ says Irene with a giggle.

‘What? No, I’m fine. I promise you won’t need to do that.’ I smile as I try to regulate my heartbeat.

As we file into the breakfast room, Lulu takes her phone from her bag and answers a call. She covers her ear with her other hand before apologising, and sloping off outside.

‘Everything okay?’ I ask when she returns, just as waiters are pouring wine into glasses.

‘Fine, it was only Chloe,’ she tells me. ‘She was asking me for a bit of a loan,’ she divulges, even though I never asked.

Chloe has at least two jobs and wastes money, if past conversations with Lulu are anything to go by, including a penchant for eating out and constantly buying takeaway coffees.

‘Oh right, what for?’ I ask casually.

‘Does it matter?’ she asks, a tad frostily.

‘No, of course not,’ I say, wishing I had never asked. ‘Gosh, sorry if that was a little nosey.’

‘Oh, I’m sorry, Mia.’ She sighs. ‘And I think I really will leave my phone in my suitcase after today, I promise.’

‘That might actually be a good idea,’ I say gently. ‘You work so hard; you really deserve to chill and enjoy your time here.’

‘I know, and I will. I am going to mute it until I get to the room later,’ she says, stuffing it back into her bag.

There is no more talk of kids or phones, as we raise our glasses and toast the happy couple, before Tasha’s dad does an emotional wedding speech and Tasha and Owen say a few adorable words to each other, and thank us all for being here.

Bryn steps into his best man role then and tells a couple of cringey stories that clearly embarrass Owen and do little to change my opinion of Bryn.

He is about to launch into another story about a weekend in Amsterdam, when Owen’s dad tactfully takes the microphone from him and thanks everyone for coming.

‘It’s been so wonderful seeing so many of our friends here from the UK, and typically thoughtful of Owen and my new daughter-in-law Tasha to hold a wedding a little closer than Australia,’ he says. When he finishes speaking, everyone breaks into a round of applause.

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