With Love, Greece.

Chapter 8

I spent the rest of my day, after my impromptu drinking fest, and the whole of Wednesday holed up in my little villa working on my plan of action. When it got to Wednesday night, I was on my third instant sachet of coffee, and it was...not going well.

When my phone rang, I cringed with the thought that it could be my latest ray of sunshine client, or worse, the soon-to-be husband of said client. But when I saw my mother's name flashing across the screen, I wished it was Little Miss Sunshine.

"Hi mum," I answered, throwing on my best chirpy voice.

"Lana! Thank the heavens," I rolled my eyes at her dramatics and watched as Pascal made his way inside the villa from the top wall. I smiled at him. I had come to learn over the last couple of days that he disappears late morning, stays out all day and comes back in the evening. At least I had Pascal to keep me company in this cold and dreary little house.

"I haven't heard from you, and I was worried sick, you said you'd call when you arrived." I did promise them that.

"I'm sorry mum, I know. You got my text though, to say I had arrived." I know she did because she replied. "I've just been so busy. I promise to call you more often. How is dad?"

"Hello Al," I hear, mum must have me on speakerphone. Hearing my father's voice suddenly made me feel homesick.

"Hey dad, how are you?" I ask.

"Missing my little girl, how's Greece?" His little girl. I swallow the lump forming in my throat and stand, making my way to the sink to get some water to clear my sudden dry throat.

"I'm good dad, I've met some lovely people already on the island," I smiled, thinking of the Andreas'.

"What about your first clients Lana? Have you met them yet?" Mum asks.

Shit, how do I navigate this one. Oh yeah, I've met them. Plot twist, it's Matt, you know, my ex-boyfriend who mum has threatened to hunt down on many occasions and who tore my heart out and shattered it into a million pieces? That's the one. I'm planning his and Little Miss Sunshine's wedding.

"Yes, and they're...fine. It's all fine. Lots of planning and..." drinking, and ogling hot Greek men, or man, ogling one hot Greek man, and getting forehead kisses and being carried to bed and experiencing intense eye fucking. "And organising, mum. The usual."

"Ah lovely, well I can't wait for you to come back home..."

"Linda," my father's voice is disappointed and makes me smile.

"But, good luck and don't forget to call me Lana. Call. Me."

"I. Will." I laugh. "I have to go; it's getting late here, and I need to finish up before my next meeting tomorrow. I'll call you Friday, okay?"

"Of course Al, love you to the moon and back," my dad replies.

"Love you too dad."

"Love you so much Lana." When my mums voice starts breaking and I know were on the verge of an emotional outburst, I make quick work of wrapping up the phone call and throwing my phone to the bed.

"Wish me luck," I look to the roof of the villa, hoping my words travel a little higher.

***

When my alarm blares through my headphones, I quickly shut it off and resume my repetition of We are never getting back together. I woke up at seven am and took advantage of my lack of sleep by forcing myself from bed and putting my running shoes on.

I'm determined to take back control. We need to take back control.

After making it back to my studio, I stand under a cold shower for longer than necessary, frizz control my hair, get dressed and wish a good day to Pascal.

I can do this. We are channelling Fiore.

"Okay, the main point of this meeting is to discuss the logistics. There's no point in planning a wedding if you can't get married," I start.

Mia's face falls, "what? We can't get married?"

"Are you wanting a Greek Orthodox wedding or celebrant led symbolic wedding?"

Mia cocks her head, "huh?"

"Okay, do you want to get legally married while you're here? Because it's a whole lot of paperwork if you do for a religious wedding. Whereas a symbolic wedding is more if you plan to move away from the idea of a church wedding..."

"But I want it at the church," Mia whines, butting in.

I hold my hand up, "I know, but you don't meet the legal requirements to get married here hassle free, hence the paperwork. We only have a month and I really doubt we will get everything approved by then, but we can try if you really want. Anyway, what you need to realise is a symbolic wedding ceremony is not a legal marriage ceremony, so you won't be married. Most people have a small legal ceremony before their symbolic ceremony in the destination of their choice. But you're already here which makes it more difficult, are you planning to fly home before your wedding?"

Mia looks to Matt who's shaking his head, "what's the point in that when we're already here?"

Ignoring the arrogant tone of his voice, like I did for the last six years, I smile politely, "right, so you won't be able to legally marry each other in Greece. You can have your ceremony, that's fine, but you'll need to be legally wed when you return home."

Mia looks disappointed. "You don't even have to tell anyone. It can stay between us, let your guests think the marriage here is legitimate and go to a registry office when you get home with a witness or two and no one knows any difference."

"Now I wish we had waited longer to get the paperwork for a religious wedding here," Mia speaks.

Matt looks towards his fiancée, "why wait baby?"

Mia scoffs, "ugh, that's what you said Matty, but look," she throws her arms up. "We can't legally get married here with such short notice. That was the point of a destination wedding, right? To actually get married."

"I know," Matt starts.

"Then we should have planned it better! I mean we just up and left the country without even thinking about it properly. I mean what do we know about destination weddings," Mia moans.

Matt sighs, the sigh I'm so used to hearing from when he's tired of a conversation. "That's why I hired Alana, Mia."

When the gurgling of my empty iced coffee glass catches all of our attention, I place the now empty glass on the table and smile. Am I a horrible person for enjoying their first lovers tiff a little too much? Probably.

"Come on, let's work through this. Look, you both need to accept the fact you can't have your wedding on June eleventh and have a traditional religious wedding. Every single detail will be exactly the same, but you just won't have the legality."

"Okay," Mia nods. "I guess we can figure it out."

"We have to, we have t-minus thirty days until the big day and a lot of work to do before then. Let's meet again on Monday, I want to go over the décor with you to make sure I can get the deliveries from the mainland in time for the wedding."

Matt nods and stands, "thank you, Alana."

"See you Monday," I smile, folding my planners away.

When Mia and Matt have disappeared down the cobble walkway towards the boutiques, I turn back to see Demetri, Mela and all their other cousins watching.

"Now that's more like it," Mela smiles.

"That was badass," Hebe laughs.

"Hebe, who taught you that word?" Mela frowns.

Hebe laughs, "Demetri."

Demetri gives Mela a wide birth, holding his hands up in defence, as he walks past and comes to stand beside me, I rise as well and start placing my planners into my bag.

"That was incredible, proud of you prinkípissa," Demetri whispers, his hand hot and heavy on my lower back.

I can't hold back my smile.

YES! WE TOTALLY CHANELLED FIORE!