Claudia's Big Break by Lisa Heidke Page B

view,’ I said, ignoring the appalling conditions and patio carnage. ‘It’s even more dramatic if you stand on the edge. Absolutely mind-blowing.’
    â€˜It would be if it wasn’t so freakin’ freezing. The travel guides don’t mention that , do they?’ Tara growled. ‘Can we hurry up and move inside?’
    While Levi twirled in the wind, Marcella unlocked our painted wooden front door (blue!) and then lifted the latch so the door swung open. I was bursting with excitement. Downstairs was a kitchenette, bathroom, bedroom off to the side, and a combined lounge and dining room that opened out onto the huge terrace with the stunning views; upstairs were two more bedrooms.
    â€˜You like?’ she asked, smiling.
    We all grinned.
    â€˜It’s gorgeous,’ I said.
    Finally, we’d have our own rooms. In Athens we’d shared two tiny rooms, which was fine, at a stretch, for two nights, but there is such a thing as too much togetherness. Here we each had a cosy bedroom with built-in wooden cupboards and bookshelves. Mosquito netting draped elegantly over the four-poster beds. Perfectly romantic — not that any of us would be seeing any bedroom action, but it was nice to know the setting was there, just in case.
    Sophie and Levi chose the downstairs bedroom, close to the bathroom and kitchen, while Tara and I took the rooms upstairs. As we’d found during our short stay in Athens, no matter how late Levi went to bed, he’d still wake before dawn. Here, he and Sophie could access the bathroom and kitchen and breakfast on the terrace early in the morning without waking us.
    Although simply furnished, the apartment, with its polished marble floors and high decorative ceilings, felt comfortably relaxed and struck a perfect balance between traditional and contemporary (clearly I had spent far too much time reading Tara’s magazine).
    Marcella gave us sightseeing brochures, the bus timetable and several other useful pieces of information. She handed us the keys and smiled at Levi. ‘A gorgeous boy, no? I look after him. You ask me.’
    Obviously Marcella couldn’t smell the vomit because of the howling wind, which was just as well. When you got up close, Levi really did stink. The stench didn’t seem to bother him, though — he was already playing with his cars and dinosaurs on the floor.
    â€˜It does not fill my eye,’ Marcella said, opening the front door and walking out onto the terrace.
    â€˜Pardon? Sighnomi? ’ I said.
    â€˜Here,’ Marcella gestured. ‘I am not happy with this cloud.’ She threw her hands into the air. ‘Clow-di-a, there is nothing I can do. Tomorrow, weather much better.’
    Nodding, I walked back inside, smiling to myself. The Greek Isles. I didn’t care that it was blowing a gale. I was finally in Santorini!
    I dragged my bag upstairs to the front bedroom overlooking the cliffs, which Tara had graciously insisted I take. ‘Finder’s fee for bringing us along,’ she said. I didn’t argue.
    Downstairs, Sophie was saying, ‘Levi, wash yourself! You smell. No. Stay in the bath.’
    No doubt he was struggling to escape his mother’s clutches. I felt a fleeting twinge of sympathy for the poor kid. It wasn’t his fault the plane ride had been so bumpy. On the other hand, he did reek.
    Looking out my bedroom window onto the terrace below and further south to the cliffs and water, I could see rows of dazzling white houses perched on reddish-purple rock. On the southern side were more houses, and to the north, at the other end of the island, another white village, Oia, clung to volcanic cliffs. According to my map, the island I could see in the distance was the volcanically active Nea Kameni; apparently, if we were feeling energetic, we could scale the volcanic cone and crater. And maybe throw Levi in, if he continued vomiting in confined spaces.
    I couldn’t wait to