Being Shirley (18 page)

Carl stepped forward with Annie close behind and clapped his hands in delight. Two single beds each with a blue and white embroidered coverlet and plump matching pillows were placed against the wall so that when you lay on your bed, you could see straight out the window, which was draped with floating muslin curtains to an infinity of blue. Each bed had a dark wood bedside table with a white lamp sitting on it. Annie couldn’t make out what was on the cover of the magazine that was splayed open on one of the tables but it did give away which of the beds was Alexandros’s. The walls were in keeping with the theme of the rest of the house: white and a single black-and-white print of a Cretan village scene hung on the wall in between the beds. On the far side of the room was a freestanding wardrobe in the same dark wood, along with a matching chest of drawers upon which a white lacy cloth was home to a staggering array of men’s toiletries.
Carl and Alexandros would be able to mix and match products
, Annie thought with a smirk as she spied Carl’s backpack leaning against the engraved doors of the wardrobe. The creaking floorboards had been painted white, too, and were adorned by a swirling patterned blue and white rag rug. The overall effect was utterly Greek and charming in its simplicity. The room, on a hot day, would be a haven.

“It is gorgeous, absolutely gorgeous. No wonder you have a full house, Mama.” Carl wandered over to the open window. He’d long ago gotten over his horror of having to share bathrooms—he’d had to—and this would do him nicely, thank you very much.

“Do you want to unpack now or later?”

Carl and Annie looked at each other. They were both itching to go outside and bask in the fact that they were actually here. “Later please.”

“Good!” Mama dazzled them with that gold tooth before they plodded back to the stairs. “I have a plan. You two go outside and relax with a cool drink. It is a good one, yes?” She didn’t wait to hear whether or not they agreed, and as the trio trooped back downstairs, they got another whiff of the delicious smells that seeped from the kitchen. Mama, as though reading their minds, said, “Dinner will be awhile yet, but I will bring something out for you to eat while you talk, yes?”

Annie was beginning to get used to the way this endearingly round little woman answered her own questions for them at the end of each sentence.

Carl and Annie stepped outside and blinked into the sunshine as they did so. Kassia sat at the picnic table in the middle of the cluster of olive trees that provided scant shade; Nikolos dandled on her knee. He was too engrossed in chewing the toy he held between his chubby fists to show them much interest as they wandered over. It was a scorcher. Annie swept her hair back from her neck, and wished she had put it up when Spiros appeared from around the side of the house and called out for Carl to join him. As she sat down at the table, Annie had to laugh as she watched him disappear with Spiros. Carl and gardening did not go hand in hand but Spiros would no doubt find that out for himself.

“It is hot, yes?” Kassia smiled from across the table. “What are you laughing about?”

“Very hot and I am laughing at the thought of Carl wielding a hoe or a spade or any gardening implement, for that matter.”

“Ah, Spiros will soon make him, how you say, green handed?”

Annie laughed again. “Green fingered.”

Kassia nodded. “Yes, that is the expression I was looking for—green fingered.”

“It is not one I would have ever thought of applying where Carl is concerned, though.” Annie hesitated for a moment. “Kas, can I ask you something?”

“Of course, what is it?”

“We aren’t putting you out, I hope?”

“Putting me out?” Kas frowned.

Annie elaborated, “Oh sorry, I forget we have strange ways of saying things in the English language sometimes. We aren’t in the way, are we? Carl and I don’t want to cause you any bother, um, problems, I mean.”

“Stop! Of course you are not.”

“Because you know we want to pay the same rate as any of your other guests.”

“Pah! Don’t be stupid! You are my New Zealand sister and Carl my brother, so say no more about it.” Her tone brooked no argument.

Annie smiled at her friend gratefully as Mama toddled over with a tray laden with frosty glasses and a pitcher of iced water. She realised how parched she was.

“I will get some food organised and leave you two girls to catch up. It has been a long time coming, I think.” She placed the tray down on the table. “Kassia, will you take a drink to the boys?” Mama reached out and scooped Nikolos, who didn’t pause in his chewing, up off his mama’s knee. “Come, agoraki mou.”

“Of course, thank you, Mama.” She glanced at her watch. “I think it is time for Nikolos to have his nap. Would you mind putting him down for me?”

Mama looked affronted as she jiggled the little boy on her ample hip. “No, Kassia, he doesn’t need this sleep. I keep telling you this. He is a big boy now—nearly one year old. He will be happy playing in the kitchen with his Yaya, so let him be.” Not waiting to hear the protest hovering on Kassia’s lips, she turned and ambled back from whence she came.

Kassia gave a little grunt of frustration when she was safely out of earshot. “Did you hear that? Nikolos needs his sleep in the afternoon but because he is waking in the night, Mama has decided to do what she did with Spiros and Alexandros at the same age. She thinks keeping him up all day will make him sleep through the night. It isn’t, though, and all that happens instead is that by five o’clock, he is crying all the time. It is awful but when I try to tell her this, she points to her sons and tells me to listen to her because she knows best.” She mimicked Mama’s voice, “Spirosaki mou and Alexandrosaki mou have grown up big and strong, have they not?” She clenched her teeth. “Aagh! It drives me crazy!”

“At least she doesn’t have a penchant for line dancing and getting round in skin-tight leathers and Stetson hats like my ex-soon-to-be mother-in-law to be did.”

Kassia raised a smile. “I am sure you exaggerate.”

“I’m not—ask Carl if you don’t believe me. You’re lucky, Kas, because it is obvious that Mama loves you and the children.” Annie chewed her lip and chose her words carefully. “She’s only doing what she feels is best for them but yes, I can see it must be hard for you too.”

Kassia sighed and poured two glasses of water. “Listen to me—you are only here a short time and already I am moaning. I am sorry. It’s just that two headstrong women under one roof will always be tough. I do love her, though, and you are right—she does mean well. It’s just—”

“Frustrating,” Annie finished for her.

“Yes—oh, hello, Adonis.” She leaned down, her attention on something under the table. Annie bent down, too, to peer under the table, curious to see who this Adonis was. A plump black and white cat sat there. His head was tilted and he had a daft look of ecstasy on his face as Kassia scratched behind his ear. “Annie, meet Adonis.” She laughed as their eyes met under the table.

Annie made some kissing noises and he abandoned Kassia’s affections to trot curiously over to her outstretched hand. He sniffed it cautiously, looked at her for a moment and then sat down at her feet and invited her to stroke him. She obliged. “He’s lovely. How old is he?”

“I don’t know. He moved in on us a year ago and Mateo fell in love with him so that was it, he stayed. He likes you.”

“I like him, too, but who decided on his name?”

“Ah, that would be Mateo. He overheard me telling Spiros that Alexandros likes to think of himself as a modern-day Adonis—you know, the Greek god of Beauty, Desire—all those things. Mateo loves his uncle, so that was that. So now it is my own fault that I feel so silly calling him in for dinner.” She laughed.

Annie couldn’t help but agree that the title of Adonis was fitting where Alexandros was concerned and her mouth twitched at the thought of Kas standing on the doorstep each evening as she shouted out, “Adonis, here kitty, kitty.” It was followed by a little wave of sadness, though.
Poor old Jazz
. She sat up and took the glass her friend proffered.

“You miss your cat Jasper, yes?”

“I do, Kas. He was quite a character.”

She gave her a sad little smile and patted her hand. Her nails were bitten to the quick, Annie noticed. She smiled back at her before she gulped her water down greedily. “You know what you were saying before Adonis interrupted us about Mama?”

“Yes?”

“Well, I met this man, he was a school teacher who had brought his class to the Acropolis, and we got chatting. I told him that we were coming to stay with you here and I explained how things are with you and Mama sometimes. You don’t mind?” Annie hoped she hadn’t spoken out of turn.

Kassia shook her head and looked amused.

“Good. Anyway, he told me that he has a sister who has the same problem as you and that the Greek mother-in-law is a very real stereotype.”

With her glass raised halfway to her mouth, Kassia raised an eyebrow and her full lips curved into a smile. “Oh, and do you often get talking to strange men at ancient sites or is this just since you have been in Greece?”

“It wasn’t like that,” Annie protested before she filled her in on how the conversation had come about in the first place.

“Well, he sounds like a nice man.”

“Yes, he was actually.”

“So thanks to him, you realised that you have come to Greece to say goodbye to Roz and to find your metaphorical Yanni, yes?”

Annie cringed. “It made perfect sense at the Acropolis but maybe that was just the moment I was in. Sitting here now with you, it sounds rather self-indulgent and don’t forget I came to Greece to meet you and the family too.”

“I know you did and I am glad you did.” Kassia’s smile was reassuring. “But tell me, do you feel any different since you have been here in Greece?”

“Do you know what, Kas? I do, I really do. All that wedding business, my job—I’ve been so muddled for so long, and I didn’t know how to go about changing any of it.”

“Yes, I was worried but I knew you would find your way.”

“And I have because from the moment Carl and I booked our tickets, my head felt clear for the first time in what felt like forever. I knew I was doing exactly what I should be doing. This is a journey I have to do, for myself and for Roz. I was just bloody lucky that Carl decided to come along too.”

They smiled at each in unspoken understanding and then Kassia poured out two more tumblers of water. “Speaking of Carl, I think I had better take these around to him and Spiros before they collapse. Alexandros promised to take Mateo to the beach this afternoon so I will send him inside to find him. You relax here if you like. I won’t be long.”

Annie nodded her thanks and sighed happily, glad of a few moments alone to soak up her surrounds properly. It really was a little pocket of paradise, she decided. Her eyes alighted on the three-storied building in front of her with its pebbled courtyard before following the sweep of sparse lawn she sat on that lead down to the road. A young couple held hands, beach towels slung over their shoulders, and wandered along the middle of it, the sea an undulating backdrop beside them. She stretched her legs and admired their honeyed hue before she frowned.
Was her light tan due to her freckles having all joined up to blend into one great big one?
She stifled a yawn as she spied Kassia walking briskly back towards her.
If she was sleepy, Carl must be ready to keel over.

“Spiros has given Carl a spade and he is trying so hard to be masculine, swinging it about like this.” She demonstrated before she sat down.

Annie laughed. “Yes, I can just imagine it because when he goes into macho mode, Carl is a sight to behold indeed.”

Kassia waved her hand. “Men—leave them to it, I say. Oh, I better help—”

“No, you stay put. I’ll give her a hand.” Annie got to her feet in order to take the tray Mama, who had reappeared in the doorway, held. This one, Annie noted as she walked towards the old woman, looked to be laden with colourful treats. Spying a carafe of wine, her mouth watered in anticipation of its crisp bite. “Oh, this looks wonderful, thank you, Mama! Look at the size of those olives! Yum!” Mama’s ample bosom swelled to enormous proportions at the praise. “You shouldn’t have gone to so much trouble, though.”

“It is no bother. I want you and Kassia to sit and enjoy each other.”

Annie smiled and fell a little bit more in love with the Bikakis family matriarch as she took the tray from her.

Inside the house, a bloodcurdling wail went up. Annie’s eyes widened in alarm but Mama didn’t seem in the slightest bit perturbed. Kassia heard it too and had gotten to her feet. She strode towards them but Mama waved her back. “It’s nothing, Kassia—go sit down. Boys, they fight. Mateo has probably taken a toy from Nikolos, that is all.” She shrugged and rolled her eyes at Annie. “It’s what they do.”

As she lumbered back into the house, Kassia poked her tongue out at her back but did as she had been told and sat down heavily at the picnic table. Annie walked carefully across the spikes of grass with the weighty tray and placed it down on the table.

“She makes me feel like I am not needed in my own home.” Kassia helped Annie unload the tray. “But then that’s the problem—it was her home first.”

“Like I said before, she obviously means well and it must be nice to have the extra pair of hands to help with the boys?” Annie looked over at her friend. Her dark hair had fallen across her face and she couldn’t read her expression.

“Yes, sometimes.” She speared an olive with a toothpick viciously. “But there are times when I feel left out of things. The boys, they adore her, but I am their mother and it should be me they come to first.”

Annie didn’t say anything and Kassia carried on. “I know how this sounds but sometimes I think it’s not fair. She has had her turn with her boys; now let me have my turn with mine.”

This time it was Annie who poured the drinks and pushed a generous glass across the table.

“I am worried that one day I will snap and say something to her that I will regret.” Kassia looked up and tucked her hair behind her ears. Annie noticed her lovely olive skin had mottled red patches.

“Have you talked to Spiros about how you are feeling?”

“I have tried but she is his mother and he doesn’t want to hear. He is a typical man—all he wants is an easy life.”

An image of Tony flashed up in front of Annie’s eyes. “Maybe you should try again if it is getting you as down as this. Like you said, she is
his
mother. It would be better coming from him and she’d probably be more inclined to listen.”

Kassia took hold of her glass. Annie winced at the sight of those chewed fingernails at the end of her long, slim fingers wrapped around the stem. “Mama Bikakis is, how you say? A law unto herself.”

She looked so down in the mouth that Annie got up and went round to give her shoulders a squeeze. Kassia patted her hand gratefully. “I’m glad you are here. But I am being dramatic. Ignore my silliness. You have not come all these miles to hear me complain.”

“Listen.” Annie sat back down. “You’re my friend, and friends are there for each other so if you want to moan, you go ahead and moan! You’ve put up with me and my moans for years.”

Kassia smiled at her friend’s earnest face and held her glass up. “Okay, so I will raise my glass to friends and moaning.”

“To good friends and moaning.” Annie raised hers.