‘It’s wonderful, isn’t it?’ Calli replied, remembering that the last time she had fallen asleep al fresco was in the arms of a man on a white rock perched above the sea, having just made love. She really had been having the most extraordinary time of late, she thought. After more than ten years of her life when nothing too remarkable had occurred to change things, suddenly everything had happened at once, everything turned upside down with no sign or warning; yet she was feeling more alive, more vibrant, more present than she had felt during most of her adult life. Things always happen for a reason: Maya’s words floated into her mind. When her friend had told her so, she had resisted its validity, but now she was starting to believe it.
Since weekends and especially Sundays were the only days of the week when the beaches were busy, it had been decided unanimously the night before to give the seaside a miss and instead head to the mountains, as Michalis had suggested, towards his family’s village. ‘Even the people in the hills run to the sea on a Sunday,’ they told her, ‘so we’ll have the place to ourselves.’
Calli had never ventured into that region of the mountains before, or if her mother and father had taken her as a child she had no memory of it. The car followed narrow roads snaking precariously above steep ravines towards the mountains. After climbing the tortuous route for about forty minutes, at last they arrived at an almost deserted village. Michalis parked the car in the small piazza dominated by an ancient plane tree whose hollow trunk was sheltering a sleepy dog that had taken refuge in its coolness. They made their way to some chairs and tables belonging to the village kafenio and sat under the leafy branches that covered the entire square. It was a good thing she’d skipped lunch, Calli thought, because the tray of sweet delicacies and coffee ordered by her new friends in her honour and now being carried to the table could not be resisted.
They spent the afternoon exploring the village, strolling through its streets paved with cobbles, before venturing into the cool green shade of a fruit orchard where orange and lemon trees grew among fig, olive, pomegranate and medlar, all mixed together in perfect discord with each other.
‘My great-grandfather planted a few of these trees,’ Michalis told them, becoming animated, ‘and then, other members of my family added more.’ His eyes sparkled as he spoke and Calli found his passion both touching and appealing. ‘I remember when I was a child this orchard was the perfect playground for all of us kids in the village. If you like’ – Michalis turned to Calli – ‘next time, I’ll take you to one of my olive groves.’
‘I would like very much,’ she said and was conscious that she was blushing.
Gradually, as the late afternoon turned to early evening, where day greets dusk and the cicadas’ song is temporarily replaced by the darting flight of birds preparing to roost for the night, the five friends decided it was time to return to the coast.
‘I have an early start tomorrow,’ Katerina said. ‘Maybe next time we can all go out on a Saturday.’
‘Next time,’ Michalis said, turning to Calli, ‘I will show you some beaches you never knew existed, and we can go to a small taverna I know in the hills that makes even better briam than your auntie.’
I can’t wait, she thought to herself as she nodded her agreement.
Michalis’s suggestion, which was noticeably directed at Calli, implying that his offer was for her alone, filled her with delight.
Froso was sitting at the wooden table in the garden doing her embroidery, one of the neighbourhood cats curled at her feet, her brow furrowed. She looked deep in thought. The sound of Calli’s footsteps made her start.
‘Sorry to startle you, Auntie,’ the young woman said apologetically as she approached her.
‘It’s not you, my girl,’ Froso replied with a sigh, ‘it’s me . . .’ Embarrassed by her reaction, she added, ‘I was miles away.’
‘And where were you, Thia?’ Calli asked lightheartedly, drawing up a chair beside her to look at her.
Froso put down her embroidery and turned to face her niece. The expression Calli saw in the older woman’s eyes was so unexpected, so haunting, that it caused her to reach for her hand.