Free The English Lesson (The Greek Village Collection Book 11) by Sara Alexi Page B

the opposite.
    Once at her door, there is no more putting off the job. Keys in hand, she opens the heavy door with a shove. Little splinters of paint flick off where her shoulder has applied pressure to the moulding around the door, but she does not care. It will not be her problem soon. All she can focus on is the smell, the intense horrible smell, like rotting potatoes, but many times worse.

Juliet
     
    Juliet and Michelle sit at the vacant table. Two Greek women, whose faces Juliet recognises, are taking up their usual seats. They are not from the village. If they were, she would know them by name. They are from the town, which is not so big. She sees the same people over and over again, at the laiki —the farmer’s market, in the post office, in the bank. She will have seen them somewhere. They exchange good mornings.
    The days are getting cooler now, the sun has lost its intensity, and it is pleasant to sit without shade. Three weeks at this time of year is all it takes to change to a new season. It rained again last night, hissing as the soil soaked up the moisture, drumming on the roof. There were only a few drips through the old skylight window in her kitchen, which leaks when it rains hard. She must get that fixed before the winter really sets in.
    Michelle checks her watch again, pulls her cardigan up her arm.
    'You will be a mess if you keep looking at your watch. The train comes at ten and not before!’ Juliet tells her. Michelle takes a mirror from her bag and studies her face. Shaking her head, Juliet lets out a little snort. But she does not kid herself that she is not just a little jealous. She likes having her own home, no one to answer to, and she loves her financial independence. But she is also now aware of how much she has been looking forward to Michelle being next door all winter, of being able to share the long evenings with someone, games of scrabble maybe, share a bottle of wine or a hot chocolate when it gets really cold, building up the wood fire and snuggling in—but with company. It took the edge off the thoughts of long winter nights and short winter days.
    Now, it will not be that way at all. Michelle is waiting to see if her winters, all her winters, will be different, and Juliet has no doubt that they will be.
    Idly, Juliet leans over and picks up a local newspaper that someone has left on the windowsill. On the front page, there are pictures of the harbour, where it extends at right angles out into the sea, to give more area for yachts to dock. It seems that this old jetty, with its modern tarmac top, complete with white lines to indicate car parking spaces, has started to subside. The water is reclaiming its own and the newspaper gives notice that it is no longer advisable or permissible to park there.
    Juliet turns the page. Toula has not been in touch since she sent a postcard of Big Ben. She must have been back a week now. But then, travel can be very unsettling. She will be finding her feet, getting into a rhythm of life again, winching up things in her basket and replenishing her larder and fridge with dishes for Apostolis.
    'Oh look,' Michelle says with animation.
    At the end of the lane, two men with ladders are hoisting a big sign up onto the side of Toula’s building.
    'What on earth?' Juliet strains to see what is painted on the board. Lettering of some kind.
    The waiter comes out, smiles widely at them, turns to go indoors, presumably to get their usual, but then seems to change his mind.
    'Coffee? Or maybe you would like hot chocolate?'
    Juliet cannot see past him to read the sign, so she turns her attention to what he has suggested.
    'Yes, hot chocolate sounds good.' It isn't really cold enough, and here in the sun, she is happy to sit in her thin jumper, but the idea of a mug of steaming chocolate sounds great.
    'Me too,' Michelle agrees. 'But with a dash of something stronger in mine.'
    'Peppermint schnapps, rum, or whiskey?' The waiter shows no surprise at this request