Joe

We first met on Friday evening and now it's Monday morning. I can't believe how much has happened in that time. How easily Sienna has worked her way under my skin.

Those first two days I spent with Sienna went by unbelievably slowly in relation to the next two days.

Our last two days together.

From Monday though, things jump into high gear. We leave on Wednesday morning and everyone knows the last couple of days of a holiday always fly in. You want to hold onto them, make them last, but you sadly have no control over them.

On Monday morning, we're both a little hungover, sunburned and exhausted from spending a lot of the night awake. Although it doesn't stop us repeating the antics of the previous night, obviously.

I have the car until Tuesday morning so once we have recovered from our sore heads, I suggest we go to Argostoli. "We can drive over and leave the car there. I can run and get it in the morning."

"Oh, so you're a runner?" Sienna asks, raising her eyebrows admiringly as she blatantly perves on my body. "That explains a lot."

"Stop it." I can't help but smile though. I like her ogling me. "Just to warn you, the walk back from Argostoli is pretty steep."

"I'm sure I can manage," Sienna says airily. "I've been to the gym at least three times in the last six months."

We head to Argostoli via the coast road as I have a feeling Sienna will like the lighthouse on the way.

I was right. "Oh, this is seriously cool," she says, after we've parked nearby and wandered up the man-made peninsula to where the white structure lies at the water's edge. It's like no lighthouse I've ever seen, with its round structure and numerous columns but it's awesome.

"Look, I match!" Sienna poses in front of the building in her white strappy dress. She runs over with her phone. "Take a photo of me? I need to Instagram this shit."

"Of course." I snap one of her with her phone and then I can't resist taking one of her with my own phone. I need that memory of her leaning against one of the columns and smiling at me coyly to be real.

"That for the spank bank once you get home?" She asks me, grinning. "Oh Joe, if you need a photo, I'm sure I could do so much better than that." She winks as she grabs her phone back off me and wanders around the lighthouse to grab another picture of it from a different angle.

While I try desperately to control my libido.

Sienna has grabbed a couple of cans of Fanta Limon from her fridge before we headed out and we sit by the lighthouse in the bright sunshine and drink them, relaxing for a few minutes. Sienna lays her head on my shoulder contentedly and I find myself playing with her hair. "That's nice," she sighs. I press a kiss on her head too before I release her and we head back to the car. I'm very aware of the fact I'm acting like a boyfriend but I can't stop myself somehow.

I don't think I want to.

In Argostoli we wander over the De Bosset Bridge and back before Sienna spots pedalos. "Oh, we should hire one of those!" she exclaims excitedly. "I read somewhere that you might see a giant sea turtle."

"Let's do it."

We head to the kiosk to hire one and set off through the water. "God, I'm tired of pedalling already," Sienna groans after about ten minutes. "And now I'm worrying that a sea turtle is going to appear right next to me and give me the fright of my life."

We drift along for a few moments, making sure we're not close to any land or other boats.

"So why did you move back to Glasgow?" Sienna asks suddenly, taking a sip from her bottle of water.

"I'm not sure really," I admit. "I just missed it. London was exhausting me; and it's always reminded me too much of . . . Well, you know, what happened."

"Ah," she nods. "How long ago did you come back?"

"Actually just before the pandemic."

"Did you manage to find freelance work easily during that?" she asks. Now I've unloaded my secrets on her, I don't mind all the questions as much.

"I found it pretty scarce unless I wanted to write about covid. And I didn't. But I was lucky that I had money and I own my flat outright. So I didn't have to actually find work."

"So what did you do instead?" She's flopped back against the seat and closed her eyes.

"I . . ." Why is this so difficult to say? "I actually ended up writing a sequel to 'Thought Clouds'."

"What?" She shoots upright. "You're kidding!"

I shake my head. "No joke. I was stuck in the flat, didn't have anything better to do. And suddenly, after not wanting to think of that book for so long, I found myself wanting to continue the story."

"That's amazing! And is it . . . Is it getting published?" Sienna gasps then laughs at herself. "Sorry Joe, I think I'm fangirling a bit over here right now!"

"Actually, yes. There's a press release going out about it. On Thursday." I swallow. "After we're back home."

I've been dreading this for weeks now. Months, even. Ever since I started writing that sequel, unable to stop myself. Knowing there was a chance my slightly murky past could come back to haunt me. Almost hoping it wouldn't be any good so that my agent, who had been bugging me for years to write another book, would laugh in my face after reading it. So that there would be no chance of it getting published.

"Are you okay about that?" Sienna asks astutely. I shake my head.

"Not really."

We start pedalling again and quietly I tell Sienna all my worries about potentially being in the spotlight again. She strokes my arm lightly and calms me down, talking me off my metaphorical ledge.

I feel ridiculously close to her at this point. Like I could tell her anything. She knows all the bad stuff already though, and seems to accept me for it.

We leave the pedalo and wander to a nearby restaurant, sitting next to the water with plates of feta baked in pastry and drizzled with honey, and of course a carafe of wine. Sienna picks up her glass and looks over the sea to the mountains with a contented sigh.

"I can't believe we didn't spot any giant sea turtles the whole time we were in the boat . . . and then saw one immediately on the other side of the bridge the second we walked away," she gripes a moment later.

I laugh. "You basically said you'd piss your pants if one appeared next to you on the boat, you should be relieved."

"That's true," she concedes. "They're cute but they also kind of scare me. A bit like E.T."

I nearly choke on my wine. "You're scared of E.T?"

She shrugs. "I mean, he's adorable, but if he just appeared beside you when you weren't really expecting him, you'd probably get a bit of a fright, right?"

I suppose she makes a good point.

After we've finished the feta and polished off the wine, we make a start on the aforementioned steep climb over the hill. "Shit, this is terrible!" Sienna cries, stopping for at least the third or fourth time in as many minutes. "This is not the sort of exercise one should have to do on a relaxing holiday."

"I did warn you," I remind her.

"It just feels like this must be my punishment for having such a good time with you," she rues, and I find myself stopping as her words sink in. I realise, not for the first time, that it's been a long time since I've had so much fun. The last few days have been a revelation.

Sienna stops and turns, glancing at me impatiently before her eyes turn pleading. "Can you push me up the hill for a bit?" She asks. "Just shove my back for a minute or two."

I place one hand on the small of her back and start directing her up the rest of the hill, while struggling not to overthink things.

When we finally reach the top of the hill between Argostoli and Lassi, she pretends she's about to faint, then launches into some sort of victory dance. "I survived! You're my hero!" She declares dramatically before flinging her arms around me and smiling into my eyes. She is such an eejit.

I can't believe we only have one day left together.

So Sienna and Joe are already nearing the end of their time together . . . Will the end of the holiday mean the end of their relationship?

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