Wish You Were Here

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.