Wish You Were Here (12 page)

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Authors: Victoria Connelly

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Chapter 19

Alice walked away as quickly as she could, disappearing around the bend in the road before Milo had a chance to spot her. There were so many thoughts skydiving in her head but the one that wouldn’t let go was perhaps the silliest.

I’ve been skinny-dipping with a married man!

She stopped for a moment and closed her eyes in horror. She wasn’t the sort of woman to do such a thing and it filled her with dismay that Milo had put her in that position. What sort of a man would do that? But she knew what sort – the good-looking, charming sort of man who knew he could get any woman he wanted under any circumstances and she had gone and fallen for him.

Or maybe he wasn’t married at all, she thought. That was a definite possibility but one thing was certain – he was a family man. She hadn’t bothered to stay and see if he had the washing of six children to hang out but any number of children meant that he had lied to her. He had hidden the truth in order to get his own way and that was unforgivable.

She walked on towards the village but didn’t stop to wait for the bus. It wasn’t due for another hour and she was so mad that she couldn’t bear to wait for it and so began the long walk back to Kintos.

The road was quiet and her bare legs were soon covered in a fine layer of dust but she didn’t notice. She kept wondering if she should have confronted Milo. Maybe she should have heard his explanation but what was there to hear? That he was sorry? Would he be? Or would he turn on her and ask her what her problem was – saying that she had got exactly what she’d wanted? Somehow, she couldn’t believe that Milo would do that but she really didn’t know what to believe any more. Here she was thinking that he was one person – a sweet-natured man who had such a very great appetite for life – but she really didn’t know him at all, did she? And he’d been hiding this whole other life from her all the time.

For a moment, she tried to think back to the conversations they’d had. He’d been a little vague about his family, it had to be said, but she hadn’t thought anything of it. Just because she’d volunteered so much information about herself, it didn’t follow that he’d want to divulge anything about his own life but, now, she wished she’d probed a little bit more. She felt like such a fool and, what was even worse, was that it meant that Stella had been right. Alice had been naïve and Milo had taken complete advantage of that.

By the time she got back to the villa, she had cried all the tears that she was going to allow herself to cry and she was determined to put it all behind her. What did it matter anyway? What had she thought was going to happen at the end of the week? Whatever had passed between them was going to have to wrap itself up in some shape or form before she got on the plane to go home. That was the nature of holiday romances, wasn’t it? She was just going to have to accept it and the sooner the better.

Stella was in the living room when Alice walked in and immediately pounced upon her.

‘Where did you go? Did you find him? Was I right?’

Alice had been thinking about what she was going to tell her all the way back. If she said she hadn’t found him, Stella would be speculating all evening and, if she said that she had then she’d never hear the end of it about Stella being right. She took a deep breath.

‘You were right,’ she said, deciding to get it over and done with and let her sister have her moment of glory.

‘I told you!’ Stella said, a great smug grin on her face. ‘I just knew it – the minute I saw him.’

‘No, you didn’t,’ Alice said but she really didn’t have the energy to argue.

‘I can always tell a married man when I see one. I’ve dated enough, remember?’

‘I remember,’ Alice said.

‘So, what did you say to him? I hope you gave him a piece of your mind!’

‘I don’t want to talk about it,’ Alice said, knowing her sister would have wanted tales of slapped faces and punched noses at the very least.

‘Oh,’ Stella said, disappointment etching her face. ‘Well, you can’t say you weren’t warned, can you? It was your own fault.’

My own fault for falling in love, Alice thought to herself. That was harsh. She shook her head. Anyway, she hadn’t been in love. It was ludicrous to think that was possible in such a short space of time. Love took time. It wasn’t something you could just create with a smile and a naked swim in the sea. It took friendship and trust and she’d had neither of those things with Milo, she could see that now.

‘I’m going to have a shower,’ she told Stella and she walked up the stairs to her bedroom.

‘I told you, didn’t I?’ the taunting voice of Stella followed her until she shut her bedroom door.

The next morning, Milo was stirring a pan of porridge in the kitchen when Tiana walked in, thin and fragile in her nightgown. She’d been sick in the night but had then slept right through.

‘Hey!’ he said. ‘You okay?’

She nodded and sat down at the breakfast table. He poured her a glass of mineral water and noticed that she was still pale but that her eyes looked a little brighter.

‘Here,’ he said a minute later, spooning some porridge into her favourite pink and blue bowl and swirling some honey onto it, ‘eat this. It’ll warm you up and put cherries in your cheeks.’

She smiled. ‘Are you going to see your new friend today? The English lady?’

‘No,’ Milo said. ‘I’m staying here with you.’

Tiana took a dainty mouthful of porridge, decided that it tasted very good and dug her spoon deeper for a bigger portion. ‘But she’s leaving today, isn’t she?’

Milo nodded. ‘Yes.’

‘And this is the last chance you’ll get to see her?’

‘It is.’

Suddenly, Tiana dropped her spoon to the table with a clatter and there were tears in her eyes. ‘I’ve ruined it for you. I’ve ruined your time with her by getting sick!’

‘No!’ Milo said, taking her hands and squeezing them in his.

‘But I have!’ she said and a fat tear dropped onto the wooden table.

‘Look,’ Milo said, pulling out a chair and sitting down next to her, ‘I don’t think it would have worked out anyway.’

‘Because of me,’ Tiana whispered.

‘No, not because of you,’ Milo said.

‘Then why?’

Milo sighed. He didn’t want to lie to Tiana but he didn’t want to tell her the truth either. She was right when she’d said it wouldn’t work out because of her but he wasn’t going to admit that.

‘Just because—’ he paused, wondering what he was going to say, ‘she’s English. She has to go home.’

‘But she could make
this
her home!’ Tiana said.

Milo smiled. ‘Sweetheart, we hardly know each other.’

‘But you like her, don’t you?’

Milo closed his eyes. He’d been doing his utmost to put Alice out of his mind for the sake of his little sister and here she was putting her right back there again.

‘I like her, yes!’ he said at last.

‘Then you
have
to see her,’ Tiana said.

Milo shook his head. ‘But I’m not leaving you.’

‘But I feel better!’ she said. ‘
Much
better!’

‘I don’t care. I’m still not leaving you.’

‘But it’s all right. I’ve been on my own before and I was fine,’ she said.

‘But that was a mistake. That shouldn’t have happened and it’s not going to happen again,’ he said.

Tiana leaned across the table and took her brother’s hands in hers. Milo stifled a laugh because the action mirrored his of a moment ago perfectly and he was touched by it. ‘You’ve got to see her –
please!

He frowned. He felt as if he was being tested – as if Georgio and Sonya had planted a secret camera in the house and were recording his every move, seeing if he would fall into this trap of leaving Tiana on her own.

‘Tiana – I
can’t
.’

‘You
have
to!’ she begged him. ‘
Please!

He took a deep breath. What was he doing? If Georgio and Sonya turned up now they’d have an absolute field day, yet he so wanted to see Alice again and explain things.
Really
explain things. He shouldn’t have tried to hide his life from her but he wasn’t going to leave Tiana – not for anyone.

‘We have to let her go, Tiana,’ he said at last. ‘It just isn’t–’

‘I can go with you!’ Tiana suddenly burst out.

‘What?’

‘I can go with you so you don’t have to leave me here on my own!’

‘Tiana – you’re as fragile as a butterfly right now.’

‘But I only have to sit on the bike and hold on to you and I’ve done that
hundreds
of times.’

Milo felt his heartbeat accelerate at the idea. He could take Tiana with him and explain everything to Alice. She’d have to understand then, wouldn’t she, and it would mean he would have Tiana with him and wouldn’t have to leave her alone in the house. This could really work.

‘Get dressed,’ he said.

There was a mad flurry of activity as the two of them prepared to leave the house. Milo grabbed hold of Tiana’s shoulders a moment later and examined her.

‘Put your coat on,’ he told her.

‘But it’s too warm!’ she protested.


Coat!
’ he said, and she ran back to her room to find it. ‘And don’t run!’ he yelled after her.

Two minutes later, they were both on the moped and heading down the hill.

‘Go faster, Milo!’ Tiana shouted from behind him.

He shook his head. As much as he wanted to speed along as fast as the little bike could, he wasn’t taking any chances today.

‘Are you okay?’ he called back to her. ‘Not feeling sick?’

She squeezed him in response and he carried on, passing through the little villages that lined the road until they reached the outskirts of Kethos Town.

Suddenly, he felt nervous. Was he doing the right thing? He’d been blinded by the certainty that telling Alice the truth was the best way forward but what if she had other ideas? What if it was the very last thing she wanted to know about him? What if she ran a mile?

He groaned. Of course she was going to run a mile. She was going to run approximately fifteen hundred of them, wasn’t she? So what difference would it make anyway?

He turned into the road that led up the hill away from Kethos Town and soon the villa was in sight. He pulled up alongside it. The gate was closed but that was nothing unusual. They both hopped off the bike and Milo led the way, opening the gate and marching round the side of the villa, hoping and praying that Alice would be sitting out by the pool but she wasn’t. He peered into the French doors but there was nobody around.

‘Have they gone?’ Tiana asked, pressing her nose up against the glass and shading her eyes so she could see inside.

Milo turned to look at her. ‘They must have gone for the first ferry. I think we’re too late.’

‘What time does the ferry go?’ Tiana asked. They stared at one another for a moment and then they both raced back to the moped. This time, Milo sped down the hill into Kethos Town, hoping that Tiana could cope with the speed. What time did the ferry go? It was half past the hour, wasn’t it? He glanced at his watch. It was nine twenty-six. They weren’t going to make it, were they?

Reaching town, he cursed as they met a delivery van that was blocking the one-way system. Milo tooted but the driver just gesticulated to him and refused to budge.

‘Hold on!’ he told Tiana, doing a mad three-point turn and revving back up the hill, dodging an oncoming bike whose rider swore loudly at him. Tiana giggled and clung on tighter.

With a few nifty manoeuvres, Milo negotiated his way through the traffic-laden streets towards the harbour, hoping that he was in time and that the little ferry wouldn’t have left yet but, as they got their first glimpse of the harbour, he saw that they were too late. The little ferry – perhaps for once in its life – had left bang on time and was already leaving a beautiful white wake behind it as it headed across the sea towards the mainland.

Milo felt the heavy weight of Tiana’s head against his back and he knew that there would be tears in her eyes but what surprised him most of all were the tears that were filling his own.

Chapter 20

Alice dared to look down at the tiny island once they were airborne. It was a little cloudy and she remembered her conversation with Milo about how there were never any clouds over Kethos.
But there are today
, she thought, gazing out of the window past Stella’s shoulder and noting how the wispy whiteness of them blocked part of the island’s famous heart shape.

A broken heart
, she thought.

She leaned back in her seat and closed her eyes, blocking out the last view of the island. She didn’t want to see it any more. Like Milo, it was part of her past but, even though she’d told herself that a hundred times since seeing him the day before, she had still looked out for him as they’d left the villa, wondering if he would suddenly turn up on his little moped with an amazingly simple excuse for everything and, as she’d boarded the ferry, her eyes had dared to scan the streets of Kethos Town.

Stella had noticed and had shaken her head. ‘You’re still pining after him, aren’t you? Well, he’s not coming. He’s probably making baby number seven with his wife right now.’

Her sister certainly knew how to twist the knife, Alice thought.

The journey home was unbearable. There was a crying baby on board the plane but even that wasn’t making as much noise as Stella who found something to moan about at least every ten minutes. Alice kept her eyes resolutely shut and pretended she was asleep.

When she finally got home to her little cottage, she locked the door behind her and slumped into her favourite armchair by the empty fireplace, relishing the first moments of silence that she’d had to herself all day and cursing herself for having ever gone to Greece in the first place. She’d been foolish to have thought that a holiday with Stella would be anything other than torturous. She should have said no. She would have been better off taking a week off work and sitting in her favourite chair reading a big pile of novels.

As she pottered around the kitchen trying to find something to eat, her mind floated back to Kethos and she couldn’t help wondering what Milo was doing. He was two hours ahead of her so he would probably have had dinner by now. Perhaps he was putting some of his many children to bed.

‘I’m not going to think about him,’ she said to herself. He probably wasn’t thinking about her, was he? Not with six or seven children to see to.

After eating a rather dull pasta supper, Alice showered and went to bed. The unpacking could wait; all she wanted to do now was sleep and forget.

When she awoke the next morning, a coldness swept over her as she realised where she was. Home. She was no longer on the little Greek island with the promise of a day of sunshine and fun before her. She was on the outskirts of Norwich with a day of work ahead of her. Life was back to normal.

She got out of bed and began the usual ritual of getting ready to go to work, her body carrying her through the motions with little need for consultation with her brain. Reaching into her wardrobe, her hands automatically went for a white blouse, a dark skirt and a cardigan in a shade that purported to be ‘dove’ but was just a bog-standard grey. This was the true her, wasn’t it? She couldn’t wear turquoise or violet to the office. It just wasn’t her. That other Alice had been nothing more than a dream but she had awoken now and had accepted a life that was far less colourful.

She’d just shut the front door when a familiar figure walked up the path. It was Wilfred the postman and he was looking flustered.

‘Are you okay?’ she said. ‘You’ve gone quite pink!’ She reached out a hand to touch his arm and he leapt in the air.

‘Alice!’ he said, breathing out her name in an alarming manner, his voice seeming to have lowered by at least an octave.

‘Wilfred?’

‘You’re
wonderful
,’ he said, his eyes scarily huge in his face as his postal bag dropped to the ground.

She frowned. What on earth had got into him this morning? ‘Wilfred – you’re scaring me! Do you want to sit down?’

‘No,’ he said. ‘I feel I could
fly
when I’m with you, Alice! Why would I want to sit down?’

‘I really think you should go home. You don’t sound normal,’ Alice said, genuinely concerned.

‘That’s right! I’m not normal because I’ve realised something for the first time in my life!’

‘What?’

‘That I’m in love!’ he said, his pink face now practically glowing. ‘And it’s with you, Alice!
You!

‘I’ve got to get to work,’ Alice said quickly, perturbed by the strange behaviour of her normally dour postman.

‘Don’t leave me!’ Wilfred said, grabbing hold of Alice’s arm as she walked away. ‘You can’t leave me like this!’

‘Wilfred – let
go
of me!’ Alice tugged and her arm was free. ‘Go home,’ she told him. ‘
Please
go home!’

She shook her head as she walked away. What on earth had got into him? She had never seen him like that before. She glanced back quickly to make sure he wasn’t following her but luckily he wasn’t. He’d picked up his bag once again and was off on his round as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.

Alice made her way to the bus stop. Bruce was standing there, half-hidden behind his newspaper as usual. He turned around to give Alice his usual nod but then something strange happened and he did a double take so fast that Alice felt sure his neck would snap.

‘Hello, Alice!’ he said.

She started. She hadn’t been sure if he’d even known her name before because this was the first time he’d used it.

‘God, you look great,’ he said, shaking his head from side to side as if he didn’t quite believe the image standing before him.

‘Do I?’ Alice asked.

‘You look amazing.
Amazing!
What? I’ve never told you that before?’ he asked.

‘No, Bruce – you haven’t.’

‘Haven’t I?’ His eyebrows shot into his hairline and he looked genuinely appalled by this declaration. ‘Well, you’ll have to forgive me. You will, won’t you?’

‘Bruce – this is all very—’

‘Alice! You must forgive me!’ He dropped his newspaper to the ground and took hold of both of her hands in his, wringing them tightly. ‘I couldn’t live with myself if I thought I’d done you wrong.’

‘But you haven’t!’ Alice assured him, eager to put a stop to all the nonsense.

He shook his head. ‘I fear I must have done if I’ve never told you how wonderful and special you are to me.’

‘What?’

‘You must
know
that, mustn’t you? I mean, a woman like you can’t go through life without knowing the effect she has.’

‘Bruce – I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

He took a step towards her and she instinctively backed away.

‘Alice,’ he said, his voice raspy and laced with intent.

Luckily, the bus arrived at that precise moment and Alice leapt onto it and sat next to an elderly woman, leaving no room for Bruce to pursue her further. Fifteen minutes later, she hopped off and lost herself in the crowds in the centre of Norwich, hurrying to work before she could be accosted by any more mad men.

What had got into Wilfred and Bruce that morning? Wilfred usually did nothing but moan about his aching joints and the woes of the world and Bruce never even noticed her so what was so different about this morning?

Reaching the office, Alice made a hasty retreat to the ladies’ where she stood gazing at her reflection in the mirror above the sink. What was going on? She’d never got so much male attention in her life before but why now? It was more than the fact that she’d got a bit of a tan and a few highlights in her hair from the Greek sunshine, wasn’t it?

Of course it is,
a little voice said.
It’s the wish.

She shook her head. The idea was ludicrous. Besides, she didn’t believe in wishes. She’d only made it because she’d been on holiday and it had been a bit of fun. It was nothing more than that. But what did you do if you didn’t believe in wishes but they came true anyway? Alice really wasn’t the kind of person to believe in such whimsy and yet she had placed her hand on the statue of Aphrodite and made that wish.

She thought back to the holiday and remembered the boy on the bicycle, the dark-haired man in Kintos, the babbling gentleman outside the villa and the waiter at the taverna. Even the pelican had been amorous.

‘What did I
say?’
she asked her reflection. ‘What were the words?’

She thought back to the moment she’d been standing in the garden, her hand touching Aphrodite’s dress.

‘I wanted men to notice me,’ she said to herself at last. But the pelican wasn’t a man, was it? Alice shook her head. Maybe Aphrodite had a sense of humour. The Greek gods were well-known for being mischievous, weren’t they?

Alice left the sanctuary of the ladies’ and made her way to her desk. Whichever way you looked at it, Aphrodite was just a statue – an inanimate object. She wasn’t a goddess who could grant wishes. She’d never even existed. She was a myth, a legend, a storybook heroine. Alice was just getting carried away. There was probably some perfectly logical explanation for the odd behaviour of Wilfred and Bruce. Maybe they’d had one too many the night before. Maybe their water had been contaminated. Or maybe it was just the fact that it was spring and they were exercising their masculinity.

Alice switched her computer on and prepared herself for the boredom that lay ahead. Actually, she was quite looking forward to a morning of routine jobs after the extraordinary behaviour of Wilfred and Bruce but, by lunchtime, She realised that there was something seriously wrong. Her inbox was jam-packed with emails and they weren’t the normal kind of emails either. For a start, there were an alarming number from her boss.

The first one seemed normal enough:

Alice, I must talk to you.

It sounded a little ominous, perhaps, but it was in Larry’s usual curt style.

The second one was a little more concerning:

I really must speak with you at your earliest convenience. It’s very important.

What could be so important, she wondered? Was there a sudden vacancy they needed to advertise for? Had some vital piece of legislation been decided upon whilst she’d been away?

The third message followed hard upon the heels of the second one:

Alice – see me in interview room number one
now
.

She looked up from her desk. What was it with all the emails? Larry usually just ordered her around from the comfort of his desk. She swallowed hard, left her desk and walked towards interview room number one.

The door was ajar and she stepped inside and there, standing by the window with his back to her, was Larry.

‘Shut the door, Alice,’ he said. She did as she was told. ‘And sit down.’

‘Goodness, I feel like I’m about to be fired,’ she said as she sat down in the chair that was usually reserved for interviewees. ‘You’re not going to fire me, are you?’ she joked but then saw the expression on his face. He looked deadly serious. ‘Oh, dear! You are, aren’t you?’


Fire
you?’ he said. ‘Are you kidding? I’m not going to fire you!’

Alice sighed in relief. ‘You looked so serious. I thought I was in trouble!’

‘It’s nothing like that,’ he said.

‘What is it, then?’ Alice asked, completely confused now. She watched as Larry paced the room for a moment, loosening his tie and smoothing a hand over his bald head. Finally, he came to a stop and placed his hands on the table between them, his shoulders slumped forward.

‘I’m leaving my wife, Alice,’ he said.

At first, Alice didn’t know what to say. Even though she had been working alongside Larry for the last three years, they had rarely spoken about their private lives so this sudden declaration was quite shocking.

‘Oh,’ she said after a moment’s silence. ‘I’m sorry to hear that.’ She really was too. She’d chatted with Monica Baxter at a few office parties and she’d seemed like a sweet soul and they’d been married for absolutely ages. In fact, Alice was pretty sure that their twentieth anniversary was coming up. Hadn’t Larry mentioned it just last month? Yes, she felt sure he had. He’d booked some fancy restaurant where you had to reserve a seat at least six months in advance. So what had happened?

‘I must admit that it’s come as a bit of a shock,’ he continued.

Alice nodded, hoping that he wasn’t going to confess that Monica had been having an affair or something. She really wouldn’t know how to respond to something like that. She’d never talked to Larry before about anything more important than the photocopying.

She waited for him to say something else, wondering how long he would keep her. He obviously needed to talk to somebody and she couldn’t help feeling sorry for him.

All of a sudden, he cleared his throat and sat down in the chair opposite her.

‘What is it?’ she dared to ask, seeing a strange look cross his face. Now she came to think of it, he did look rather flushed. He wasn’t about to have a heart attack, was he?

‘Alice,’ he said. ‘I’m leaving my wife.’

‘Yes, you said.’

He frowned. ‘You don’t understand. I’m leaving my wife for you.’

For a moment, the words hung in the air between them and Alice wondered if she had heard him right.

‘Pardon?’ she asked.

‘I’m leaving my wife for
you
,’ he repeated.

‘I don’t understand what you mean,’ Alice said with a nervous little smile.

‘I mean, I’m in love with you, Alice, and I can’t understand how I haven’t noticed it before.’ His forehead was ridged and furrowed as if he was in some sort of pain and his hands were reaching out towards her across the table like a pair of predators.

Alice automatically leapt up out of her chair. ‘I can’t listen to this,’ she said, making a run for the door.

‘No!’ Larry yelled, springing up from his chair with the speed of a man half his age. He grabbed Alice’s arm and spun her around. She tried to wriggle free but his grip was too firm.

‘Larry!’ she shouted. ‘You’re hurting me!’

He let go but placed a hand firmly on the door so that she couldn’t escape. ‘Listen to me, Alice. You mean the world to me and I have to be with you.’

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