Page 42 of Pomegranates and Olive

I blanch at the thought of having to cut up the octopus and stomp back down to the galley, muttering the whole time. "I'll be grilling you, Yilmaz, before I cut up a bloody octopus!"

But I do cut up the octopus. It’s still wiggling but I imagine it’s a very specific part of Deniz's anatomy. Makes it easier to stomach.

9

Give Them A Finger And They’ll Take An Arm (Old Italian Proverb)

Aside from my near death experience, my first day working on board Tora is a great success, and we arrive back at the jetty as the sun begins to set. There are lots of hugs with Maeve and Louise as they leave and promises to catch up before they return to Bristol. I tidy the galley while Deniz and Sami wash down the decks. Sami finally disappears with a wave "iyi aksamlar". At the same time, Betty throws himself overboard, nearly landing on an oversized man in a floating chair.

I apologise to the man and offer him a beer. He floats off happy with an ice cold can ofEfesin his hand. I also grab a beer for myself and settle back on the cushions on the upper deck to watch the sunset. It’s still hot even as the sun sets and the warm, salty air is thick. The sky slowly changes colours, from its brilliant blue blending to pink, then orange, and finally the deepest purple as the sun disappears behind the mountains. It’s so romantic, so idyllic, I can hardly believe it, but then everything about this place is romantic.

I picture myself here with Luca. He would've had a great time today and yet the idea of sharing this with him seems unthinkable. This is my adventure and I don’t want to share it with anyone. This is all mine.

Does that make me selfish?

For a moment I do wonder what Luca’s doing though, whether he's missing me at all. I pull out my mobile and check my messages. Nothing from him but one from Rosie, three from my mum, each one more scathing than the last, and a bunch from my best friend, Alice Oriati. Alice is married to Luca's brother Gabe. They've always been the perfect couple to double date with.

I quickly scan her messages, the last one came through a few minutes ago. Despite the time difference I decide to take a chance and Facetime her.

"Liv? Do you know what time it is? Where are you?"

"Hi, Alice. Sorry about the early hour. I'm staying with Ginny for a few weeks."

“What? In Turkey?”

I want to get her news on Luca and skip the pleasantries. "What's been happening?"

"Do you know that Luca was staying with us?"

"Rosie mentioned that."

"So, I got up yesterday, and he's vanished."

"Vanished?"

"As in, no one knows where he is. When we went to bed the other night, he was on the sofa watching the football and when I got up to pee for the five hundredth time, thank you very much Baby Oriati, he was gone. His phone's switched off and the apartment is locked tight."

"Did you ring the station? One of the crew must know where he is."

"Gabe rang. No one's seen him."

"He's probably gone surfing or something."

"Olive! You don't get it. Luca's a basket case right now. And you're over there having the time of your life, and acting like you don't have a care in the world."

"Hold on, Alice! Who says? I didn’t walk away from Luca on a whim. I did this for my sanity. And you think I'm not worried? Of course, I am, but Luca's a grown man who can do what he wants and go where he pleases."

"No, he's a grown man whose fiancé broke his heart—"

"Not fiancé."

"You knew he was going to propose. You could have stopped him but you didn’t! YOU BROKE HIS HEART, LIV!"

"Why are you being like this? You're supposed to be my friend."

"Yeah? Well, it seems you've been keeping me out of the loop over the past few months, so I think I'm entitled to wonder whether we're actually friends at all anymore."

I've never heard Alice talk this way before, to anyone. Her words are terse and hard, and they feel like a slap in the face. Tears well up in my eyes for the first time since I arrived in Bodrum. "I'm sorry, Alice. I know you're upset about everything, but can you try, just for a moment, to understand how I'm feeling? I know I hurt Luca, but in the end, staying together was only going to make it worse. At least now both of us have a chance to move on."

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