Eleni seemed to hold her breath for a moment and Elias wondered how she was going to react. Would she see his moving on as a good thing? Or would she be disappointed that he was moving on with someone not from Liakada?
‘It is the one with hair like toffee,’ Eleni said with a sigh. ‘The one who tells me there is something missing from my stifado recipe.’
Elias smiled at his mother. ‘Yes,’ he answered. ‘And her name is Becky, Mama.’
‘I know what her name is. I do listen!’
‘Good,’ Elias said. ‘Because there is more great news.’ He put an arm around his mother’s shoulders. ‘Becky has worked out what should be added to the stifado.’
‘What do you mean what should be added to my stifado?! There is nothing to be added. Nothing at all.’ Eleni’s arms went up in the air like a protestor marching outside parliament. ‘That recipe was my grandmother’s and her grandmother’s before her and—’
‘And it has really stayed exactly the same?’ Elias asked. ‘No one made any alterations in all these years?’
‘No.’ Eleni folded her arms across her chest.
‘How would you know?’ Elias queried. ‘If you were not alive at the time.’
‘I just know! It is tradition! Traditions are things that are passed down from years before.’
‘I know what tradition is, Mama. But even traditions can be improved and changed.’
‘I do not like change.’
Elias shook his head. ‘Is this the same woman who wants to travel around Europe?’
‘That is different,’ Eleni told him. ‘I am not going to put all my possessions into a backpack and never come back. It is a holiday and we need to make sure your father is fit to fly.’
Elias felt his heart lift. They had talked about his mother’s adventure. She was planning a trip. They were planning a trip together. He squeezed his mother’s shoulder, unable to easily find words.
‘Stop looking like that,’ Eleni ordered him. ‘Your father is on probation. We are going to take things slowly. He is going to stay in the shed until I am ready for him to come back.’ She sniffed. ‘He is going to take me out. Like he used to. We are going to start dancing again. There is a place in Corfu Town.’
Her eyes were sparkling as she spoke and Elias caught that moment before she shut it down again.
‘Nothing is decided,’ Eleni said quickly.
‘OK,’ Elias replied, still smiling.
‘Stop looking like that,’ his mother ordered. ‘We might not require your legal services yet, but anything could happen.’ She sighed. ‘I will not, and never will be, making him the breakfast of the English.’
‘OK,’ Elias said again, watching his mother start to toy with the strings of her apron.
‘And he needs to… start wearing aftershave again and… learn how to iron his own clothes.’
‘OK.’
‘And… and… I will stop taking him for granted,’ Eleni said, her voice choking up. ‘Because as irritating as he is for all of the time, I could not imagine my life without him.’ A tear escaped her eyes. ‘I don’t want to explore Europe on my own. Always the dream was to have him by my side.’
Elias drew his mother into a hug then. ‘I know,’ he whispered. ‘I know.’
‘And now you have made me cry!’ Eleni exclaimed in horror. She wrenched herself from Elias’s embrace and dashed away her tears with a fist. ‘I do not have time for tears. I have a party of walkers coming in in half an hour so…’ She waved her hands around as if she was waiting for Elias to complete the sentence.
‘So?’
‘What is this mystery ingredient the English girl is suggesting will improve the taste of my stifado?’
Elias smiled again then. He knew his mother would really want to know.
‘You will have to ask her,’ he replied. ‘And, Mama… her name is Becky.’
Fifty-Seven
‘So, asking for a friend… not really, I’m asking for me… how does it feel to know you almost killed someone?’ Petra asked with a grin.
With a mouthful of succulent chicken and red pepper, Becky couldn’t immediately respond. She desperately tried to chew so she could make comment, but it wasn’t happening. She knew that Megan wouldn’t hold back and Megan didn’t know how fragile Petra really was…
‘You really have no filter, do you?’ Megan retorted. ‘It’s very concerning.’
‘More concerning than nearly killing someone?’ Petra carried on, sucking on an olive.
‘Petra,’ Becky said, finally being able to speak. She took a sip of water to clear her palate. ‘We don’t know all the facts yet.’
They still didn’t. Megan had called Hazel earlier and Hazel said she thought Martin had grabbed the chickpea, chilli and cauliflower flatbread usually destined for Ambrose at the petrol station but someone had come into the florist’s to order for a funeral and Martin had got distracted and had flung a note at her and said ‘keep the change’. The allergic reaction had apparently been witnessed by Clare from the Co-op who was buying retirement party flowers and it was her who had alerted Martin’s boyfriend and Dennis the local builder who had provided the wheelbarrow to get Martin to the surgery… These details were great, but it didn’t help in terms of getting to the bottom of things. The three ingredients in that flatbread were not high-allergy risks. But Martin might not have known he was allergic, and if the flatbread wasn’t labelled… it was likely It’s A Wrap was going to be culpable.
‘Maybe,’ Petra began. ‘It’s all a con. You hear about it, don’t you? Like those people who claim they’ve had whiplash when they’ve been in a car accident that isn’t their fault.’ She slugged down the rest of her wine. ‘Maybe this Martin and his boyfriend are feigning this whole thing to sue you.’
‘I don’t think you can fake anaphylaxis,’ Megan responded.
‘No?’ Petra asked.
And suddenly Petra seemed to go rigid in her seat. Her face was turning chilli red, eyes bulging and she was gripping at her neck, mouth gaping like she couldn’t inhale.
‘Becky, where did you find her again? She’s quite mad,’ Megan said.
‘Petra, stop it,’ Becky ordered, flapping her napkin in the young girl’s face. ‘You’ll burst a blood vessel.’
Petra laughed out loud then and finally stopped herself from reddening, relaxing back into the chair. ‘See! Dead easy to fake.’
‘He went to the hospital,’ Megan told her. ‘I don’t think he could fake it in front of the doctors.’
Petra sniffed. ‘Well, these doctors work such long hours, don’t they? He’d only have to convince a really really tired one or a really really crap one and then job done.’
‘I’m sure it isn’t that,’ Becky said, popping a square of feta cheese into her mouth. Eleni’s food was excellent. This was simple fayre but delicious.
‘Martin has been a customer for a long time,’ Megan agreed.
‘There’s no loyalty these days though. It’s everyone for themselves. You’ve only got to look at these places that offer special deals for new customers only. Still,’ Petra said, ‘you’re going to get that party at the nursing home before your business goes under. Becky’s menu looks amazing. Even I wanted to eat it and I don’t remember any of the wars.’