Nerissa Gamboa was 29 years old and worked behind the delicatessen
counter at Stephenson’s Supermarket in Chapel Hill, and although she was quite
a shy girl but was very popular with staff and customers alike.
Nerissa was a very slim and attractive girl with beautiful long dark
brown hair and dark skin, reflecting her heritage as did her gorgeous brown
eyes.
In her ancestry she had Filipino and Spanish blood, but she was born and
bred in Britain and had no family ties with either country or even in Britain
for that matter.
She was the only child of two only children and both of her parents were
gone now and as a result she was now all on her own and lived alone in a small one-bedroom
flat about a mile from the store.
Which begged the question why was a lovely slim girl with a personality that
was equally lovely, living alone in a dingy one-bedroom flat?
Her next-door neighbour in flat 2a of Gladstone
Court was 32-year-old Harry Devonshire; he though had the luxury of a large two-bedroom
flat in which to live alone in, courtesy of a failed relationship some eight
years earlier.
Unlike Nerissa his heritage was strictly British, and he did have living
family, two brothers in fact, unfortunately they were both living in Australia,
so he hadn’t seen either of them for over 8 years and Harry also worked at Stephenson’s
where he was the warehouse manager.
Nerissa and Harry were best friends and did everything together, if
either of them had an invite anywhere, the other was always their plus one.
It would be true
to say that they loved each other but their relationship was strictly platonic,
and their friendship had been forever, and they were close to the point of
symbiosis.
Coworkers at the
store used to think their relationship was almost comic, but Harry and Nerissa
got each other, and their thoughts and desires were quite esoteric.
However, their all-consuming
purpose in life, their primary objective, was finding life partners, in
particularly a serious romantic relationship, but their frantic search for love
remained fruitless.
Though not for the
want of trying, they tried online dating, blind dates, clubs, pubs, and speed
dating, all to no avail and as a result they had both kissed more than their fair
share of frogs along the way and neither of them knew why they hadn’t struck
gold.
Nerissa couldn’t
understand why a good-looking man like Harry was unattached and he couldn’t fathom
why a gorgeous woman like her was still single, but the search went on for them
both.
As they
were walking home from work one particularly cold Friday night in October,
Nerissa was unusually quiet as Harry prattled on about the arrival of the
Christmas stock into the warehouse.
“I
might have to cancel Christmas this year” she said out of the blue
“Why?”
Harry asked
“My
rents gone up” she said “and I’ve just got my Gas and Electric bills”
“Well
look on the bright side” he said “You might have found Mr. Right by Christmas”
“I’m afraid I’ll have to put looking for him on hold” Nerissa said as
they arrived at the flats “And I’ll have to break into my savings just to get
through the winter”
Harry didn’t know what to say and they walked upstairs in silence when
they got to their floor, he said
“Right, you go and get changed and I’ll get the supper on”
“I think I’m just going to have a bath and get an early night” she
replied flatly
“Are you sure?” Harry asked “We can have a glass of wine and talk it
through”
“Yes, I’m sure babe” She insisted “I’ll be fine after a good night’s
sleep”
“Ok Hon” Harry said and kissed her cheek “I’ll see you in the morning”
Nerissa closed the door and once inside she decided to skip the bath and
went straight to bed and cried herself to sleep, and while Nerissa sobbed into
her pillow Harry decided to forgo supper and opened a bottle of red wine instead
and by the time, he drank the last drop, he thought he had a solution to her
problem.
The next morning, he was up early and went round to the bakery in
Convent Road and picked up fresh croissants.
As he returned to Gladstone Court, he could see the lights were on in
her flat so when he reached the door to flat 2b, he rang the bell.
After a minute or two she opened it looking like she hadn’t slept in a
week.
“Come on sleepy head, croissants and coffee” Harry said
“Not for me Harry” she said
“No to croissant?” he said and putting his hand to his chest as if he
was having a heart attack.
“Not today” she said
“I won’t take no for an answer, so get your dressing gown on” he ordered
her
Reluctantly she did as he instructed and followed him into his flat.
“Do we have to do this this morning?” she asked “I really don’t feel up
to it”
“Yes, we do need to do it now” Harry said “and when you’ve heard what I
have to say you’ll understand why”
“Ok give me some coffee” she said resignedly
After he had poured two mugs of strong black coffee he sat down and
began.
“I think I have a solution to your problem”
“Oh, yes? And what might that be” she said doubtfully
“I think you should give up your flat and move in here” he said
“What?” Nerissa asked scarcely believing her ears
“Give up your flat and move into my spare room” he elaborated
“But that’s a ridiculous idea” she said
“Is it?” Harry said
“Well, isn’t it? Nerissa asked back
“Look we eat together most nights; we watch TV together most nights” he
explained
“And you only use your flat as a bedroom and dressing room anyway”
“Yes but” she interrupted
“And my spare room is almost as big as your whole flat” Harry added
“Yes, I know, but” she persisted
“I’ll continue to pay the rent and we can split the bill for the
utilities” Harry concluded
“Well, I…” she began
“And here’s the clincher, with the money we both save we might finally
get that holiday we’ve always talked about” Harry said
“Greece?” she asked
“Greece” he replied
“Ok” she agreed “now give me a croissant”
Harry and Nerissa had often talked about a foreign holiday, not that they
ever thought they’d actually achieve it, it was planned more in a fanciful way.
Neither of them had been abroad or even owned a passport for that
matter.
At first, they spoke in general terms but over the years they had
narrowed their search and had decided on Greece as the object of their dreams,
or more precisely a Greek Island.
The particular Greek island was unspecified as of that moment when Harry
invited Nerissa to move in; their only stipulation was that it mustn’t have its
own airport.
The reasoning for that was that it would limit the number of binge
drinking lager louts.
Later that day they were sat in his flat, looking through old holiday
magazines.
“Are you sure?” Nerissa asked
“Sure, about what?” he replied
“Me moving in” she explained
“Never more so” Harry said
His leant over and kissed her forehead and said
“So have you seen anything you fancy?”
“Andros” she replied instantly and handed him the magazine, and after
reading the article in detail he replied
“Andros it is then”
Harry got up and switched on his laptop and went online, he typed in the
address and navigated around until he found the relevant page
“Here we go” he said, and Nerissa moved closer.
“It will be cheaper if we go before the School summer holidays”
“June” Nerissa said “that will give us more time to save, and we’ll get
our Easter bank holiday pay in May”
“Ok” he said “two weeks in June”
“Two weeks?” she asked, “can we afford two weeks?”
“Oh” she said as he pointed at the figure on the screen “Two weeks then”
He entered his details in the form and picked up his wallet from the
table, entered his credit card number and hit the button.
“Booked” he said
“We’re really going, aren’t we?” she said and giggled.
“Indeed” Harry concurred “We are taking our search for love and romance
on the road, so to speak”
“Hooray” Nerissa yelled and danced around.
“Let’s open a bottle to celebrate” Harry suggested
“Let’s not” she said “Lets save the money and open one in Andros”
“Damn you’re so sensible” he said
On Monday morning Nerissa gave notice on her flat and over the following
month she completed the move into Harry’s flat.
This involved helping him clear the spare room and redecorating it, they
then had to decide what she would take from the old flat and what would be dumped
or sold.
She and Harry then gave her flat a thorough clean, and they were
rewarded by the return of her deposit in full which meant she could clear her
bills and put the remainder straight into the holiday fund.
As of the 30th of November, she was properly moved in and
there was no turning back because the day after a new tenant moved in to her
old flat.
As a result of their saving up, Harry and Nerissa had become a quite
boring pair and put on hold any expectation of finding Mr/Miss Right as their
focus was one hundred percent on the holiday.
The run up to Christmas added to the coffers as they picked up extra
shifts as a result of the age-old tradition of seasonal panic buying.
They also restricted their spending on entertainment by only attending
certain festivities, like staff parties and such like, and by cutting back on buying
Christmas gifts.
This was a difficult decision as they were both huge Christmas fans and
liked to make the most of the season.
The decorations went up promptly on the first of December and that
Christmas they had twice the decorations to put up.
What they didn’t stint on though were the festive services from the
first Sunday of advent to Christmas morning.
After the morning service on Christmas day, they really pushed the boat
out, despite having spent a pittance.
They bought the damaged or reduced items wherever possible and used their
staff discounts on the rest and as a result they had a sumptuous feast.
“Well, that was very indulgent” Harry said as they sat on the sofa after
dinner.
“Very” Nerissa said and burped
Both of them laughed and Harry patted his stomach and said
“I don’t know why I’m laughing this belly is going to look great with my
speedos on the beach”
“I hadn’t thought of that” Nerissa said and patted her own tummy and
burped again.
When they exchanged presents, they both had novelty chocolates and one
main present each.
Harry bought Nerissa a small Gold crucifix and she bought him a Gold tie
pin engraved with his name.
On New Year’s Eve, they normally hit the town, but this year they stayed
home and saw the New Year in quietly with Jools and then they worked the next
day for double time.
January was a hard depressing month, the decorations were packed away
and the flat looked bare, the weather was bitter cold and snowy, and it was a
long 5 weeks until payday.
When pay day finally arrived, they applied for their passports.
February brought more cold, more snow but a much quicker payday, but no
valentine cards save for the joke ones they gave each other.
March brought an end to the snow and cold and showed the first hint of
spring and the passports arrived.
With April came Easter and another chance for extra money which would be
in their pockets in time for the holiday.
In May they did their holiday shopping and packed their cases, and they
were all set.
The first week of June and they arrived at the airport an hour earlier than
necessary.
Harry had only been to the airport before to either drop someone off or
pick someone up.
Nerissa on the other hand had never been to an airport before in her
life.
When they eventually got on the plane they sat very quietly.
Neither of them had flown before and were both quite scared but didn’t
want to mention it to the other and as the plane raced down the runway, they
held hands.
Once in the air they soon relaxed and enjoyed the rest of the flight to Athens
and nervousness was replaced by excitement.
However even once they had landed in Athens, they were still a long time
and a long way from their destination.
First, they had to wait half an hour for a coach at the airport then a similar
duration coach trip to the docks where they boarded a ferry.
There they had to wait a further 40 minutes before the ferry departed on
a journey which took two hours to carry them to Andros Island in the Cyclades.
To the seasoned travelers aboard, the journey would have been very
tedious indeed but to Harry and Nerissa being novices at travel, they didn’t
mind a bit as they saw everything about the journey as a great adventure and on
the journey, they were rewarded for their patience by the appearance of a pod
of porpoises who escorted them across the azure blue Aegean Sea.
This they took as a good omen for the holiday ahead.
When they docked on the island, they were met by another bus that took
them on the last leg to the village of Batsi.
As they walked into their apartments, they had travelled for a total of
12 hours door to door, but they enjoyed every minute and thought it would all
be worth it when they met the person of their dreams.
On the afternoon
of their first day, they had an orientation meeting with their tour rep who
gave them the spiel about the resort and handed out information on places of
interest, transport timetables, day trips and local entertainment.
However, the two
of them were less interested in the talk than they were in their fellow
tourists as they were looking for romance in the sun.
But as
they scanned each and every face in the assembly, they noticed there appeared
to be no singles present.
Although
Harry and Nerissa both noticed independently, they chose to keep it to
themselves.
However,
over the next 24 hours they both came to the conclusion that they had come to the wrong resort for romance
because the visitors were all, without exception, already paired up.
Over an Al fresco
breakfast next morning on the waterfront, as they sat in the fresh morning air
at a quayside café it was Nerissa who broached the subject.
“Have you noticed they’re
all couples?” she said
“Yes” he replied
“We’re not going
to find them here, are we?” she asked
By “Them” she
meant their soul mates, their perfect other halves, Mr., or Miss Right.
“I’m afraid not” he
agreed
“So, what now?”
Nerissa asked glumly
“Now we just have
fun” Harry said
So, they resigned themselves
to the fact that they were not going to find who they were looking for and
decided they should just enjoy every minute of their holiday instead.
Their search for
love over, they spent a lot of time on the beach or in the water, or on a boat
or in bars and Taverna’s, they filled every possible moment.
Walking the beach
together, playing in the waves and having fun, before finding a quiet sheltered
spot or a shady tree to siesta under.
They took day
trips to Tinos and the Church of Panagia Evangelistria and visited the monastery
of Agia Zoodochos Pighi and took the bus to Andros town.
Evening
entertainments included cocktails at the Koala bar,
Nightcaps at the Paradise, Greek dancing, Beach BBQ’s and a Greek night of
local cuisine and drink.
But most of all
they spent their time in or near the water.
One of their
favourite spots was a narrow stretch of beach, north of Batsi at Agia Marina with its own beach side Taverna run by a
colourful character called Stavros where they often had lunch.
He was an elderly man
with deeply wrinkled skin the colour of tanned leather.
When Harry introduced him
to Nerissa
he said,
“Oh, what a lovely name, that means Goddess of the sea you know?”
Harry thought that might make her big headed, but Nerissa blushed.
Mind you when
Harry watched Nerissa walk out of the water wearing her yellow one piece, he
could see what Stavros meant.
As the holiday
drifted amiably into the second week, any casual onlookers could have been
forgiven for thinking that Harry and Nerissa were a couple, they behaved like a
couple and a happily married couple at that.
Every
evening the pair dined together happy
in each other’s company but unknown to everyone they slept
alone.
One day the beaches on their side of the island, was covered in dead
jellyfish, each translucent disk was roughly the size of a dinner plate.
Apparently, June
was the spawning season for jellyfish and having spawned out at sea, they
promptly died and drifted into shore and then two days later drifted back out
to sea on the tide never to be seen again.
One afternoon
Harry was lying on his stomach on the beach snoozing off his lunch and Nerissa
picked up a dead jellyfish from the lapping waves and from a height of four
feet, dropped it squarely in the middle of Harry’s back.
“What the hell” he
yelled and looked over his shoulder to see Nerissa wearing a pink bikini,
almost wetting herself with laughter.
“Oh” he said, “I
suppose you think that was funny?”
“Oh yes” she
confirmed and laughed even harder
“Right, that’s it”
Harry said scrambling to his feet
Nerissa, still
laughing like a drain turned and ran down the beach with Harry hot on her heals
holding a jellyfish freshly plucked from the waves.
Her laughter
turned to squeals as he chased her, and she ran about a hundred yards before
she fell over in the lapping water and as she lay on her back in the wet sand.
Harry, with great
delight, dropped the jellyfish on her exposed belly.
Nerissa screamed
in disgust and it was Harrys turn to laugh.
The evening after
the Jellyfish fight as the sun was setting, the sultry air was heavy with the scent
of oregano, and they sat on the terrace of the Medusa Taverna accompanied by
the familiar symphony of evening birdsong.
“It’s been another
lovely day” Nerissa said
They had ordered
their dinner and were just enjoying an aperitif; the cracking of ice cubes was
clearly audible in their Gin and tonics.
“It really has” he
said, and they chinked glasses.
After dinner and
the best part of two bottles of wine and a hilarious reliving of the afternoons
Jellyfish escapades the subject of the conversation took a familiar turn.
“Of course, there
is one thing that could have made today even better” Nerissa said
“And what’s that?”
Harry asked before draining his glass
“Our perfect
partners” she replied
“Oh yes, I’d
forgotten about that” he said
“Of course, it
would help if we could recognize them if we saw them”
“Well yes that
would help” Nerissa concurred
Harry thought she
looked lovely that night and he was particularly pleased to see she was wearing
the gold crucifix Harry had bought her for Christmas.
“Ok then” he said,
“do you have pen?”
He already knew
the answer; Nerissa always had at least one pen in her bag, so she fished in
her bag and produced a one.
“So, what is your
ideal?” he asked
“What do you
mean?” she replied with a puzzled expression
“What would you
want in a partner?” he elaborated
“Tell me what
qualities you are looking for and we’ll make a check list”
“Oh, I see, ok”
she said “Well the usual I suppose”
“Let’s write them
down then” Harry said and using a napkin he headed the list “The perfect other
half”
“Someone I can
trust” she said
“Dependable” he
wrote followed by “trustworthy”
“Someone who
shares my values and my faith” she added
Harry wrote “Moral
compass”
“Someone who makes
me laugh and laughs with me” Nerissa said
“Good sense of humour” he wrote
“Someone who loves
me, and will cherish me” she said
He wrote “Romantic”
“Someone who will
be there for me” she said “whenever I need them”
“A friend” he put
“Someone who
listens to me and understands me” she added
“And who values
me”
Harry thought for
a moment before writing
“A confidant, Kindred
spirit” and for good measure “Open and honest”
“Someone I can
grow old with” she said “who will want to grow old with me”
Harry wrote “Soul mate”
Nerissa was silent
for a moment as she gave it some more thought and then said
“That will do I
think”
Harry took another
drink and then read down the list and his brow furrowed.
He read each item
and mused over it, added the occasional word to it, and muttered under his
breath as he studied it and in the end after what seemed to Nerissa like an
age, nodded his assent.
“Are you ok?” she
asked with concern
“I agree with every
single one of those” he said
“Good” she replied
“And furthermore, I
know the person who has all of those qualities and more” he added
“Really?” she said
open mouthed
“Who?”
“You Nerissa”
Harry said
“What?” she asked
“It’s you” he said
“you tick every single box on this list, you are my perfect other half”
“Don’t be daft”
she said
He didn’t say
anymore but handed her the napkin.
Nerissa took it
from him and started reading down the list of her suggestions and his additions
and was very thoughtful for a few moments and then she went down the list in
front of her again.
“You’re right” she
said finally “you are the perfect other half of me”
Knowing smiles
were exchanged and then they sat in silence as a confused turmoil raged inside them
and thoughts raced in and out of focus.
“More wine sir?”
the waiter asked breaking in on their silent deliberations.
“Absolutely” Nerissa
said and returned to her thoughts.
Both of them shared
the same thoughts and were afraid, afraid to take a chance, afraid of being
wrong, afraid of getting hurt but most of all afraid of losing their best friend.
The wine came and
they drank in silence as they continued their internal struggle, until in a
moment of perfect clarity Nerissa looked at Harry and smiled as it dawned on her that they had come to Andros looking for
love but the romance they had searched for wasn’t on the island at all, they
had brought it with them.
And when Harry saw
her smiling countenance, he was immediately entranced and all his doubts melted
away and the deep passion for her that he had always harbored subconsciously, stirred
within him, and rose to the surface.
Her inner beauty
exposed Harry reached his hand across the table and Nerissa took it.
“All this time I
was looking for Miss Right and she was there right under my nose”
Harry mused
“Living next door”
She added
“Living in my
spare room even” Harry corrected her
It was a miracle finding
their heart’s desire so close at hand.
“How could we have
been so blind?” Nerissa asked as she caressed his hand.
“Love is blind”
Harry replied
“Yes” she agreed “yes,
it is”
Neither of them
could comprehend how it was possible they were both so short sighted.
He had always
thought she was lovely but now Harry’s feelings for her were of love for his soul mate who
lived in his spare room.
On the moonlight
walk back to the apartment’s they were holding hands and drinking in the heady
atmosphere of the night, not wishing to forget a single second of it, and when
they reached her door, they kissed for the first time and it was a kiss that
made the hairs stand up on the back of their necks and their skin tingles from
head to toe.
“That was a first
kiss to remember” Nerissa said and giggled
“Let’s try number
two” Harry suggested, and she obliged
“Wow” Nerissa said
after kiss number two
“I think we should
sit down for a minute”
“I think so too”
Harry said
Nerissa walked a
few feet and sat on the wall and Harry sat next her, she immediately leant into
him and rested her head on his shoulder, and he put his arm around her.
So, they sat there
quietly in the moonlight, their hearts filled with a newfound love and their
minds awash with previously undreamt-of possibilities.
Nerissa kissed
Harry once more and it was the equal of its predecessors.
But as much as
they wanted each other in that moment they resisted the desire until their
minds were clear and their desires not fueled by cheap wine and Gin and tonics.
So, they
reluctantly said goodnight and slept alone.
Though neither of
them actually slept.
Harry and Nerissa
were both up and about early next morning and both had made independent decisions
on their futures.
The quandary was,
had they both made the same one.
There were three
possibilities, two of which could cost them their friendship.
Harry was sitting
on the terrace drinking his coffee when Nerissa appeared.
Harry smiled and
stood up to greet her but remained frozen to the spot, she returned his smile
and said
“Hello soul mate”
The relief Harry
felt in that moment was palpable.
He found he was
able to move again, and he stepped forward and scooped her up in his arms and
said.
“Hello, my perfect
other half”
And then he kissed
her as he had the night before and the feeling was just the same.
Their complete and
utter surrender to each other came that afternoon when they made love for the
first time.
When loves
consummated passions reached the ecstatic heights of fulfillment.
To the untrained
eye the remainder of the holiday appeared to go much the same way as the days
before their epiphany.
Harry and Nerissa
still appeared as if they were a couple as they behaved like a couple, a
happily married couple.
Every
evening the pair dined together, happy
in each other’s company, but now unknown to everyone they did sleep together.
Harry and Nerissa had
gone to the Cyclades in search of love and romance, and it turned out they had
actually taken it with them.
All too soon they were
on the ferry heading away from the northern most isle in the Cyclades, and
looked back at Andros, bathing in warm sunshine, the hills and valleys, the
groves and vines and painting the hillsides in differing hues.
They would miss
the place and its warm-hearted people, the scent of herbs on the warm night air,
the culture, the food, the warm sun, the blue sea and the golden sand and the
soft sea breezes.
But most of all
they would miss it because it would be forever the place where they fell in
love.
Harry and Nerissa
stood at the stern of the ferry, for one last look across the Aegean as Andros
faded from view.
“Will we come
back” Nerissa asked with a tear in her eye
“Oh yes” Harry replied
“On our honeymoon”
A smiling Nerissa
turned towards Harry and she kissed him.
