Wish You Were Here (6 page)

Alice walked on by the other goddesses and then she saw her. Standing in full sunlight at the end of the walk was Aphrodite. Alice recognised her at once because she was quite unlike all the other statues in that she was smiling. Artemis had worn the expression of a head teacher and Demeter had looked dreamy but Aphrodite was positively beaming with happiness, her long curls tumbling down her back and the finest of silken garments only just covering her curves as her arms reached up to lift her hair away from her face. Alice couldn’t stop looking at her.

‘So you’re the one everybody comes to see, are you?’ She took a step towards her. ‘Do you really grant wishes?’ she asked, looking into the blank eyes. She reached out, her hand resting on Aphrodite’s gown which was warm from the sunshine. ‘Heaven only knows I could use a granted wish or two right now.’

Alice thought for a moment. What
exactly
would she wish for? The health and happiness of her dear father, of course. A better, more normal relationship with her sister. But what for herself? If she was being really selfish, what would she wish for herself? Aphrodite was the goddess of love and beauty and the young gardener had said that wishes to do with those would be granted.

What would I wish for? Alice wondered, looking up into the beautiful face of Aphrodite. Should I wish to be as beautiful as you?

The warmth of the stone statue seemed to seep into Alice’s arm and she felt the strange tingling sensation that one feels after five minutes too long in the sunshine.

She shook herself out of her reverie.

This is silly
, she told herself, and she quickly left the garden.

It had been very remiss of Milo not even to ask the English girl her name. He should have found out a little bit more about her but, by the time he’d thought to do so, she had long disappeared.

He’d recognised her as one of the tourists he’d seen in Kethos Town the day before. She’d been with the beautiful blonde girl who had looked so moody. Milo now realised that this was the English girl’s sister. He shook his head. He knew the sister’s name but not the girl he’d sat with for half an hour. How absurd was that? He felt as if he knew everything about this girl’s life from the father whom she obviously loved more than life itself to the job that seemed to be swallowing her whole.

He smiled as he remembered the way her past had tumbled out of her mouth with no regard for what he might be thinking. There was something curiously endearing about that. She’d had a certain sweetness and he’d adored her honesty when she’d tried to pay her entrance fee and she had the prettiest blue eyes he’d ever seen. He should have kept her talking at least until he’d finished work and then he could have got to know her better.

Perhaps she’ll come back,
he thought. Maybe he should make a wish on the statue of Aphrodite so that the English girl would return. He smiled at the thought. He didn’t really believe in wishes even though he told all the tourists that he did. It was all just a bit of fun, wasn’t it? Still, as he walked towards the statue before the last of the sun’s rays dipped behind the villa casting Aphrodite into shade, he knew that he wanted this wish to be granted more than anything else.

Alice felt strangely flat when she returned to the villa, which was odd, really, because she’d had such a wonderful day. She knew what it was, of course. It was the gardener she’d met.

Why did she tell him those things, she wondered, blushing at the memory of having revealed so much to somebody she’d only just met. Perhaps it had been part of the magic that was the Villa Argenti. Perhaps it had woven its spell over her and had broken down her inhibitions. She’d certainly never behaved like that before in her life. She never expressed her true feelings to anybody around her because nobody ever seemed interested enough but this gardener had really listened to her.

He seemed to have cared too. She remembered the gentle look in his deep brown eyes and the expression on his face as she was leaving. But then something occurred to her. He was a good-looking young man who probably met and flirted with hundreds of impressionable tourists every year. Alice had been just another gullible young woman who would fall for his easy charm and handsome face, hadn’t she? Only she hadn’t given him a chance and she was glad of that now.

Are you? Are you really glad?
a little voice inside her asked.
Why did you up and leave him so quickly when he was obviously interested in you? How many chances like that come along?

Alice laughed.
No
chances like that ever came along in her life. She thought about Ben Alexander at work and how the only time he looked at her was when he was handing her a member of staff’s sick note.

‘Here you go, Anna. Another one for the collection.’ His brief eye contact was what got her through whole days of boredom and that was a very sad way to live. But here, on this beautiful magical island, she’d held the sole attention of one of the most handsome men she had ever seen and she had batted it away as if she received such attention all the time. What had she been thinking of? And what was it about Kethos that was making her so reflective? She’d never really stood still and examined her life before but she was beginning to realise how unhappy she was and she knew that something had to change.

‘Oh, there you are,’ Stella said as Alice walked out onto the terrace. ‘You’ve been gone for hours.’

Alice couldn’t help but be surprised that her sister had even noticed her absence. Sitting down on the sun lounger beside her, she wondered whether to tell Stella about the young gardener she’d met but decided not to. For the time being, she wanted to keep him secret – a wonderful secret.

‘What are you grinning about?’ Stella suddenly asked, peering at her from behind her oversized sunglasses.

‘Nothing,’ Alice said.

‘Don’t lie – you’ve got a silly smile plastered right across your face.’

‘Have I?’

‘Yes, you have,’ Stella said.

‘I’m just happy.’

‘Are you?’ Stella said. ‘Well,
I’m
bored.’

‘I’m not surprised if you’ve just been sitting here all day doing nothing.’

‘What was your villa like, then?’

‘It was—’ Alice paused. If she told her sister just how beautiful it was, Stella might decide to visit it for herself and Alice knew exactly what would happen then. She would be bound to run into the gardener and then he wouldn’t even notice Alice any more. It was a pattern that had repeated itself since the girls had become teenagers and it had happened with at least two of Alice’s boyfriends.

Alice took a deep breath. She didn’t like telling lies but this was a time when a lie was definitely needed. ‘Oh, the villa was deadly dull,’ she said. ‘You were right. I don’t know why I went there.’

‘I told you!’ Stella said. ‘Didn’t I say?’

‘Yes,’ Alice said. ‘I should’ve listened to you.’

Stella nodded. ‘Nobody ever listens to me but I’m always right and I don’t know about you,’ she continued, ‘but I’m going to spend the entire week right here.’ She stretched out her long legs which were gleaming with sun lotion and settled back to soak up the rays.

‘I thought you said you were bored.’

‘I am but at least I’m getting a good tan.’

‘You really shouldn’t lie out in the sun all day,’ Alice said.

‘Oh, don’t start!’ Stella said. ‘I haven’t come to Greece to remain all pale and pasty like you.’

‘I’m just saying that you want to take care of yourself.’

‘Oh, lighten up, Alice. Stop worrying about everything and start
enjoying
life!’

Alice sat stunned for a moment. Not because of her sister’s rude tone – she was quite used to that – but because perhaps for the first time in her life, Stella had actually given Alice some advice worth listening to.

That night, Alice couldn’t sleep. Stella’s words kept somersaulting around her head in a teasing chant.

‘Stop worrying about everything and start enjoying life!’

Alice sat up in bed. Start enjoying life!

She couldn’t remember the last time she’d enjoyed herself. Stella was right. She was always worrying about everything, wasn’t she? Perhaps it was time to relax a little and have some fun.

For a moment, she thought about the dark-eyed gardener at the Villa Argenti. She didn’t even know his name but she couldn’t help wondering if he was somehow inextricably linked with Stella’s advice.

There was something else too – an idea which Alice just couldn’t shake from her mind.

‘Aphrodite.’ She spoke the name quietly into the silence of her bedroom. It sounded like a magical spell and seemed to weave rainbows in her mind. Lying back on her pillow, Alice closed her eyes. She knew it was ludicrous and impossible but, all the same, what did she have to lose? She would go back to the Villa Argenti tomorrow.

The bus ride up into the mountains from Kethos Town was just as beautiful the second time. Alice had left around mid-morning and had tried to be as casual as possible when Stella asked her where she was going.

‘I don’t know yet,’ Alice had said with a shrug. ‘Probably a museum or something. Want to come?’

Predictably, Stella had declined which was a great relief to Alice who had made her escape into town and was now just about to get off the bus at the stop for the Villa Argenti. This time, a young couple got off the bus with her and they all walked together down the road that led to the villa. They were from Worcester and had just got married and Alice couldn’t help but envy them their new life together. She saw the way that Tim looked so adoringly at his new wife, Janey, and the way that they held hands so tightly.
What must it be like to be so adored
, Alice couldn’t help wondering?

There was a little old man by the gate today and he took their money with a polite little nod and Alice watched as Tim and Janey walked hand in hand towards a sunlit bench. She didn’t follow them.

All of a sudden, Alice wondered what she was doing there and a coldness resembling fear chilled her whole body. It had all been very well imagining romantic scenarios with the handsome gardener whilst in the safety of her bed but Alice really wasn’t the kind of girl to initiate something as wonderful and frivolous as a holiday romance.

She stopped by a little fountain and trailed her fingers in the cool water and sighed. Perhaps she was worrying unnecessarily. She couldn’t see the gardener anywhere and it occurred to her that he might not be there at all. She couldn’t help smiling at that. The one time she had allowed herself to be a little bit brave and the man in question had foiled her by having a day off. Besides, she had every right to be in the garden, didn’t she? Not only had he invited her to come back but she was a tourist who was simply enjoying a beautiful place. That was all. She nodded to herself and determined that she would let things fall into the hands of destiny.

It was then that Alice remembered that she hadn’t just come back to the garden in the hope of seeing Milo again but to see the statue too.

She walked down the neat path which led to the Goddess Garden, passing Artemis, Demeter, Athena and the others but she hadn’t come to see them. She’d come to see Aphrodite.

Once again, the statue of the goddess of love was in full sunlight and the loveliness of her face made Alice smile. She placed her hand on the hem of the finely-carved gown and felt the magical warmth seep through her skin. What did she have to lose? She closed her eyes.

Concentrate.

What did she want for herself that the goddess could grant? What was it the gardener had told her?

‘If your wish is for love or beauty, it will be granted.’

Love or beauty. The two words spun inside her mind until she had her wish.

‘I wish,’ she began, her fingers trembling against the warm stone, ‘I wish men would notice me. I wish I wasn’t so invisible to them but that they really
really
saw me.’

She thought of Stella for a moment and how much attention she got from the opposite sex. Her life seemed like one long joyous date and she was constantly showered in gifts and spoilt rotten. Just once, Alice wanted to know what that would be like.

‘Yes,’ she told Aphrodite, ‘I want men to notice me at last!’

She stood perfectly still for a moment longer and then she opened her eyes and the sunlight dazzled her before everything settled back to normal. Alice smiled. The world looked exactly the same as before and she felt no different than she had a moment ago. What had she been expecting? It was silly to think anything would change. The statue couldn’t grant wishes. It was just a piece of masonry that had been carved for the pleasure of a few tourists.

Suddenly feeling very silly, she walked away from the statue before anybody saw her. It was when she was back at the fountain that she saw him.

‘Hello,’ he called, waving a tanned hand at her and smiling as if he were greeting a long-lost friend.

‘Hello,’ Alice replied.

His pace picked up and he was beside her in an instant. ‘You left without saying goodbye yesterday.’

‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘I had to run for my bus.’

His eyebrows rose and she could feel herself blushing at her lie. He would know exactly when the buses ran, wouldn’t he?

‘I mean, I was scared I’d missed it.’

‘I could have given you a lift back. I have a very fine moped,’ he said, his dark eyes twinkling.

‘Is it safe?’ Alice asked and then cursed her question. This wasn’t the new, carefree Alice she had determined to be the night before. ‘I mean – that sounds fun.’

‘You’d like a ride?’

‘Oh!’ Alice exclaimed, taken by surprise at the speed of his invitation.

‘It can be arranged,’ he added.

Alice smiled at the sudden image of her on the back of a moped with the handsome Greek gardener, whizzing along the mountain roads around Kethos, her hands clasped around his waist.

‘Okay,’ she said.

‘Okay?’

‘Yes.’

The gardener looked as surprised as Alice felt. ‘I – er – I think I’d better introduce myself. My name is Milo,’ he said, extending a hand towards her.

‘I’m Alice,’ she said, shaking his hand, and marvelling at how warm and strong it felt.

‘So,’ he said, ‘did you come back to make a wish?’

‘I might have done,’ Alice said evasively.

‘Ah,’ he said. ‘You do not want to say in case it doesn’t come true, yes?’

‘Maybe,’ she said and then she did something curiously out of character and winked at him.

Milo’s eyes widened and he grinned. ‘Listen,’ he said, ‘it’s my day off tomorrow and I was thinking of going to the beach. It’s not far from here but tourists don’t know about it. It has the softest, whitest sand in Greece and the bluest sea in the world. I think you’ll like it.’

‘You mean you want me to go with you?’

‘Of course!’ he said with a grin. ‘It will be fun. It’s my day off and you are on holiday. It’s bound to be fun, yes?’

Alice bit her lip but then nodded. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘That does sound like fun.’

‘Good,’ he said.

Alice waited for him to say something else and, when he didn’t, she spoke. ‘You’re not married, are you?’

He visibly blanched at her question. ‘What?’

Alice shrugged. ‘I mean, I don’t want to get involved with anyone who has commitments elsewhere even if this is just to be a fun holiday thing.’

‘I’m not married,’ he said.

Alice nodded. ‘I didn’t mean to pry but – well – in your job, you must meet a lot of women and it must be easy for you—’ she paused. What exactly was she trying to say?

‘Easy for me to…?’ he prompted her.

‘I think you know what I mean,’ she said, ‘and I need you to know – right now – before this day at the beach – that I’m not one of those girls.’

‘Okay,’ Milo said, shoving his hands into the pockets of his rather beaten-up trousers. ‘You’re not one of those girls and I am not married.’ He smiled at her and she couldn’t help but smile back. ‘So we’re still on for this day at the beach?’

Alice took a deep breath. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘We’re on.’

‘Good. Shall I come to your hotel and pick you up?’

‘Oh – no,’ Alice said quickly, imagining the scene if Milo arrived at their villa and Stella clapped eyes on him. ‘I’ll meet you in Kethos Town.’

‘Okay,’ he said. ‘Are you sure
you’re
not married?’

‘No!’ Alice said. ‘I’m not hiding anything. It’s just easier if we meet in town.’

He laughed and it was a delightfully warm and full-hearted laugh and Alice was instantly at ease. ‘Good. Then I’ll meet you at the harbour front where you got off the ferry.’

‘All right,’ Alice said. ‘Is eleven o’clock okay?’ She thought a late morning departure would be less suspicious to her sister.

Milo frowned. ‘That is so late. Half the day is gone at eleven o’clock.’

‘What about ten?’ Alice said, thinking Stella might very well still be in bed by then.

He nodded his approval. ‘Ten o’clock.’

‘Do I need to bring anything?’

‘No – no. This is my day to you. I will prepare it all.’ His hands were out of his pockets again and waving about in the air as if conjuring up the day for her right there and then. ‘You need do nothing but turn up, please.’

Alice couldn’t help feeling charmed by his sweet enthusiasm. ‘All right,’ she said.

‘Good. Then I will see you at nine o’clock.’

‘
Ten!
’ Alice corrected him.

‘Okay,’ he said, raising his hands in defeat. ‘Ten o’clock!’

She watched as he sauntered away down the path with a little wave and then disappeared behind a high hedge. Had that all really happened, she wondered? Had she just promised a strange man that she would spend a whole day with him on some deserted beach? She had, hadn’t she? And the thought of it made her feel so excited that she wanted to leap right into the fountain and do a zany little water dance.

Men like Milo just weren’t interested in someone like her. It was a fact of life that she’d learned to accept years ago and yet he had asked her out. He wanted to prepare a whole day for her and take her somewhere that was special to him, and that really touched her.

She suddenly felt herself blushing at her forwardness when she remembered asking him if he was married. What had got into her? And where on earth had that wink come from? She’d been behaving like another person entirely and that made her wonder about something.

Had Aphrodite granted her wish?