sort of thing. The other thing was that I figured he had to be alive, else we wouldn’t be going to the hospital.
It was all a bit blurry when I got there. There were loads of burnt tourists hanging around the waiting room, or people looking green or grey from too much booze. I went to the desk and asked about Dad. There was a woman who seemed like she was expecting me because she beckoned across another woman – and then I was marched through the corridors. It seemed to go on forever, one turn after another, until we eventually got to where Mum and Julius were waiting.
Julius: Emma seemed really… spaced out – plus she was wearing that same panda T-shirt from the day before. It was six or seven in the morning and she hadn’t been in her room when Mum had knocked. I wondered whether she’d been drinking.
Emma: I’m not even going to dignify that with a reply. Was it Julius who said that?
Julius: The first thing she said was ‘Is he alive?’ Mum might have nodded, but it was me who said ‘yes’. After that, Emma asked what happened. I thought it was a strange way to order things. Wouldn’t you ask what had happened first if you didn’t know? Dad could have been taken to hospital because he rolled out of bed – so your first question wouldn’t be ‘Is he alive?’ Why would you assume something was that serious if you didn’t know?
Emma: I don’t remember what I said when I first saw Mum and Julius. I probably asked what happened. Julius then said that Dad had fallen off a cliff at the back of the hotel.
Julius: I don’t think she said anything to that. She just stared.
Emma: I’d braced myself for it to be a heart attack – and then it turned out Dad had fallen off a cliff. I’d have been shocked in any case, but, because of what happened on Galanikos the last time we were there, it left me stunned. I couldn’t talk.
Julius: Mum started to speak. She said that a villager had found Dad on the beach below the cliffs. The first thing Emma said was: ‘Like Alan…?’
Emma: It was impossible not to think of Alan. He was Dad’s original business partner until he’d fallen off a cliff nine years earlier. Then, the first time we returned to Galanikos, on night one, the same thing happened to Dad. How could anyone not be shocked by that?
Julius: It felt a bit theatrical, if I’m honest. Emma was gripping a door frame like she was trying to hold herself up. I’ve seen better performances on daytime soap operas.
Emma: Mum couldn’t meet my eye when I mentioned Alan – but I can’t have been the only one thinking how strange it was.
Julius: I was more worried about whether Dad was going to survive.
Emma: Mum said: ‘You weren’t in your room’ – and I remember feeling like I’d been caught sneaking out of the house as a kid. All I could manage was a simple ‘No’, but then she asked where I was.
Julius: I’m not sure Emma ever said where she was that night. Not at that time. I found out later.
Emma: I probably mumbled about being ‘out’, or something like that. It’s not like I was ashamed of being with Paul, but I hardly wanted to talk about it in front of my mum or brother.
It’s not as if I had a curfew. I’m a grown woman and don’t have to ask for permission to go out. It was none of their business.
Julius: Emma was being evasive about where she was, but I didn’t think much of it at the time. It’s only later when you look back and wonder.
As for me, Chloe and Amy had been tired from the long day, the flight, and too much ice cream at dinner. I put them to bed and had fallen asleep with the TV on. It was sometime after that when Mum knocked on the door to say we had to get to the hospital. One of the deputy managers said she’d look after the girls. They were asleep anyway and I didn’t want to wake them.
Emma: I’d probably only been there for a minute when the doctor came through. He said that Dad was critical but stable. He needed a machine to breathe for him and that, for now, there was little that could be done.