past midday. She had had a fretful night; it was way past sunrise before she finally fell asleep, and even then she hovered between dreams and wakefulness. She was eager to see Maya and to discuss the strange events of the night before, but her new friend was nowhere to be seen.
‘Kalimera, Miss Calli,’ Stavros greeted her as she climbed onto a stool, looking subdued. ‘Was a good night last night, no?’ he continued, looking from her to a man sitting where Maya normally sat.
‘Ciao, I’m Paolo,’ the stranger said cheerily and offered his hand. ‘I saw you dancing last night but it was all such a big casino I didn’t get a chance to speak to you . . .’
‘Casino . . .?’ Calli looked perplexed.
‘Ah! Yes! Sorry,’ he laughed, ‘I mean a big noise, a big . . . how do you say . . . too many people! This is what means casino in Italian.’
Calli smiled, shaking his hand and her head in agreement.
‘Are you staying at the camping?’ Paolo swivelled round on his stool to face her better.
‘No, at the hotel – and you?’
‘Yes! Me I do!’
Evidently Paolo’s English needed some improving, but his accent and smile made up for it. He lived in Verona, he informed her, and had arrived the night before just in time for the eclipse.
‘Do you know Maya and Enzo? They come from Italy too,’ she asked.
‘Of course, we are old friends! We meet here every summer.’
It didn’t take long for Calli to find out that Paolo was a yoga instructor and travelled twice a year, first to Greece, spending three weeks holidaying at the campsite in Ikaria, then to India for longer over the winter, teaching yoga at an ashram in Goa. He chatted easily, sometimes asking questions but mainly volunteering information about himself.
‘Yoga is easy to learn if you are already used to Pilates,’ he told her when she informed him that she wasn’t really a follower. ‘I teach you if you like,’ he offered with a smile so charming that she found herself agreeing. The yoga discipline he practised, he began to explain, if possibly with a little too much detail for her liking, was called the panchakosha system which, he said, restores natural health and balance to those who practise it. Calli, surprising herself, sat attentively listening to Paolo explain the benefits of this school of yoga. His deep-set brown eyes and good looks, she realized with some amusement, were of more interest to her than the subject itself, although the idea of regaining her health and balance wasn’t entirely disagreeable. ‘If you had a past trauma or live stressful city life you lose the balance,’ he continued his monologue, edging a little closer to her while he spoke. ‘And this can cause . . . how do you say, many psychosomatic illnesses. But then you see, Calli, yoga wakens the body’s ability to heal itself.’
Did she see? She was doubtful. Nor did she follow all of Paolo’s explanations, despite the fact that his English when talking about his preferred subject seemed to improve miraculously. Nevertheless, Calli did understand one aspect at least, which was that once again since arriving on this island she was talking to somebody with an alternative lifestyle and view of the world that until now had been unfamiliar to her.
‘So, you come tomorrow at dawn for yoga?’ He leaned in a little closer. ‘Or you prefer this evening when moon rise?’ He smiled again, and two intolerably attractive dimples formed on either side of his cheeks making her incapable of saying anything but yes!
Calli spent the rest of the day interviewing and photographing islanders who had been recommended to her for her story, meanwhile counting the hours until her return to the beach to see Paolo again. She had met Sylvie for a quick coffee before dashing off to meet the owner of a local taverna and his family and took the opportunity to ask her about her new acquaintance.
‘He is the best yoga instructor I have ever met,’ Sylvie enthused, ‘and not only that,’ she giggled, ‘he’s pretty hot too, don’t you think?’ Calli, suddenly flustered, picked up her coffee cup and averted her eyes. Yes, she had to admit, Paolo was pretty hot! This Italian man made her heart race and her cheeks flush; he had caught her attention in a way that she had long forgotten. She had agreed with Maya that her face needed more colour, but she