Page 31 of The Greek Café

‘And if the apartment upstairs is renovated to a good standard, it could possibly sell for almost double that amount,’ she informs me. ‘It could be a good investment.’

I thank her for coming and the cheerful estate agent disappears, along with Jack, and Ireta looks at me, as if trying to gauge my reaction.

‘So, what do you think, huh?’ she eventually asks.

‘I think it’s a little more than I want to pay,’ I tell her.

It would take a big chunk of my money, with the renovation costs added in. Although, of course, I definitely want to offer her a fair price.

‘Hmm. Okay, we say sixty,’ she says. ‘You sell to me. No estate agents’ charges.’ She shakes her head.

‘That might be a little low if the valuation is eighty,’ I find myself saying.

‘You say it is too much, now the price is too low.’ She gives me a puzzled look.

‘I don’t want to underpay its worth and rip you off.’

‘Rip off?’

‘Fiddle you, take the Mickey.’

‘Who is Mickey? Take him where?’ She frowns and has me laughing. I realise I must speak to her in standard English.

‘Sorry.’ I smile. ‘What I am trying to say is, we must agree a fair price.’

‘Nai.’ She nods.

‘So how about we meet in the middle and say seventy thousand euros?’ I suggest, which will still give me plenty of money over, even after the renovation.

She mock spits on her hand and holds it out to shake. ‘Okay.’

And just like that, it seems I have agreed to a private sale on a café in the middle of a lemon grove in Rhodes.

For a second, I wonder whether I have lost my mind. I also wonder what my mum and Mel back home will say, now that it is really happening. Maybe they thought it was just another daydream, which is something I am prone to having. Let’s just hope I haven’t bitten off more than I can chew.

EIGHTEEN

‘You have bought the café in the lemon grove?’

‘I have.’

I bump into Takis as we are both making our way to the hotel and my pulse quickens.

‘Kai has a builder friend who gave me a good price for the renovation, so I just thought why not go for it? You only live once, and all that.’

I try not to stumble over my words, such is the effect of his presence.

‘That is true.’ He nods. ‘Although buying a café here in Greece may be a bit of a risk?’

‘Are you trying to put me off?’

‘Not at all. I am merely saying, running a café in England may be a little different to running one here in Rhodes,’ he reasons.

‘Oh, I get that but I need a change.’

‘That’s a pretty big change.’ He raises an eyebrow.

His opinion has doubts creeping in. It is a big change, and I am ploughing everything into it. What if I can’t learn enough Greek words for the locals to understand me? Will they laugh at me?