Victoria Connelly - Wish You Were Here

‘But this place must cost a fortune to keep going.’

‘Yes, but the owner has plenty of money. He doesn’t need yours.’ He stood up and followed her along a footpath and there was a moment of silence between them as their feet crunched along the gravel.

‘Did you come to see Aphrodite?’ the young man said at last.

‘Pardon?’ Alice said, surprised by his question.

‘The statue of Aphrodite – over there by the fountain. Most tourists come here to see her. Perhaps you missed her.’

‘I think I must have,’ Alice said, annoyed with herself. She thought she’d seen everything.

‘They say she grants wishes,’ the man said with a little smile.

‘Do they?’ Alice said.

‘If your wish is for love or beauty, it will be granted.’

‘I don’t believe in wishes,’ Alice said.

‘Just because you don’t believe in something, doesn’t make it less real.’

She blinked in surprise. ‘Perhaps I’ll make a wish another day,’ she said, ‘if I come back.’

‘I hope you do,’ he said. ‘Goodbye.’

He turned to go and she watched until he was out of sight and then glanced in the direction of the avenue of statues. She’d walked that way earlier but now realised that she hadn’t been paying attention. She’d been thinking about Stella and her head had been full of worries which meant she hadn’t really seen the beauty of the place she was in.

She took out the leaflet from her handbag. She’d remembered reading something about the statues there.

The Goddess Garden is a place like no other , the leaflet proclaimed. Travel back to Ancient Greece and meet Hera, Athena, Artemis and Aphrodite whilst enjoying the lush beauty of the garden with its fountains and sea views.

It was, indeed, a beautiful part of the garden with its enormous urns spilling over with bright flowers and its fountains cooling the air with watery mist. Alice walked up to the first statue which was standing beside the protection of a cypress tree. Its figure was long and boyish and her hair was scraped away from her rather serious-looking face. She was reaching behind her shoulder to where she was carrying her arrows and her other hand was resting upon the head of a faithful hound.

‘Artemis,’ Alice said, ‘goddess of the hunt.’

She walked on and found the next goddess standing by a small pool. She was carrying a sheaf of wheat, a gentle expression gracing her face.

‘Demeter,’ Alice said, ‘goddess of the harvest.’ She smiled because she knew that her knowledge would have intensely annoyed Stella had she been there.

Alice walked on by the other goddesses and then she saw her. Standing in full sunlight at the end of the walk was Aphrodite. Alice recognised her at once because she was quite unlike all the other statues in that she was smiling. Artemis had worn the expression of a head teacher and Demeter had looked dreamy but Aphrodite was positively beaming with happiness, her long curls tumbling down her back and the finest of silken garments only just covering her curves as her arms reached up to lift her hair away from her face. Alice couldn’t stop looking at her.

‘So you’re the one everybody comes to see, are you?’ She took a step towards her. ‘Do you really grant wishes?’ she asked, looking into the blank eyes. She reached out, her hand resting on Aphrodite’s gown which was warm from the sunshine. ‘Heaven only knows I could use a granted wish or two right now.’

Alice thought for a moment. What exactly would she wish for? The health and happiness of her dear father, of course. A better, more normal relationship with her sister. But what for herself? If she was being really selfish, what would she wish for herself? Aphrodite was the goddess of love and beauty and the young gardener had said that wishes to do with those would be granted.

What would I wish for? Alice wondered, looking up into the beautiful face of Aphrodite. Should I wish to be as beautiful as you?

The warmth of the stone statue seemed to seep into Alice’s arm and she felt the strange tingling sensation that one feels after five minutes too long in the sunshine.

She shook herself out of her reverie.

This is silly , she told herself, and she quickly left the garden.

It had been very remiss of Milo not even to ask the English girl her name. He should have found out a little bit more about her but, by the time he’d thought to do so, she had long disappeared.

He’d recognised her as one of the tourists he’d seen in Kethos Town the day before. She’d been with the beautiful blonde girl who had looked so moody. Milo now realised that this was the English girl’s sister. He shook his head. He knew the sister’s name but not the girl he’d sat with for half an hour. How absurd was that? He felt as if he knew everything about this girl’s life from the father whom she obviously loved more than life itself to the job that seemed to be swallowing her whole.

He smiled as he remembered the way her past had tumbled out of her mouth with no regard for what he might be thinking. There was something curiously endearing about that. She’d had a certain sweetness and he’d adored her honesty when she’d tried to pay her entrance fee and she had the prettiest blue eyes he’d ever seen. He should have kept her talking at least until he’d finished work and then he could have got to know her better.

Perhaps she’ll come back, he thought. Maybe he should make a wish on the statue of Aphrodite so that the English girl would return. He smiled at the thought. He didn’t really believe in wishes even though he told all the tourists that he did. It was all just a bit of fun, wasn’t it? Still, as he walked towards the statue before the last of the sun’s rays dipped behind the villa casting Aphrodite into shade, he knew that he wanted this wish to be granted more than anything else.

Alice felt strangely flat when she returned to the villa, which was odd, really, because she’d had such a wonderful day. She knew what it was, of course. It was the gardener she’d met.

Why did she tell him those things, she wondered, blushing at the memory of having revealed so much to somebody she’d only just met. Perhaps it had been part of the magic that was the Villa Argenti. Perhaps it had woven its spell over her and had broken down her inhibitions. She’d certainly never behaved like that before in her life. She never expressed her true feelings to anybody around her because nobody ever seemed interested enough but this gardener had really listened to her.

He seemed to have cared too. She remembered the gentle look in his deep brown eyes and the expression on his face as she was leaving. But then something occurred to her. He was a good-looking young man who probably met and flirted with hundreds of impressionable tourists every year. Alice had been just another gullible young woman who would fall for his easy charm and handsome face, hadn’t she? Only she hadn’t given him a chance and she was glad of that now.

Are you? Are you really glad? a little voice inside her asked. Why did you up and leave him so quickly when he was obviously interested in you? How many chances like that come along?

Alice laughed. No chances like that ever came along in her life. She thought about Ben Alexander at work and how the only time he looked at her was when he was handing her a member of staff’s sick note.

‘Here you go, Anna. Another one for the collection.’ His brief eye contact was what got her through whole days of boredom and that was a very sad way to live. But here, on this beautiful magical island, she’d held the sole attention of one of the most handsome men she had ever seen and she had batted it away as if she received such attention all the time. What had she been thinking of? And what was it about Kethos that was making her so reflective? She’d never really stood still and examined her life before but she was beginning to realise how unhappy she was and she knew that something had to change.