Winter Hearts

Milk for the Cat

Siana had bathed and changed and was downstairs in less than fifteen minutes, but she found Leo already waiting on the pavement, leaning against the telephone pole near the edge of the road.

He didn't notice her, and she took the time to look at him.

He had a peacoat on that was dark blue and slightly longer than usual. The collar was large and high, obscuring his neck, and with his hands in his pockets, his overgrown hair, his down cast eyes looking past the pretty bridge of his nose, he looked like something out of a period drama.

Except that he also had ripped skinny jeans and slouchy sneakers on.

Siana pulled out her phone and snapped a picture of him unawares. He looked up when he heard the sound, and smiled a small smile, standing upright and turning to face her.

She walked up to him, feeling a little shy all of a sudden.

"I hope you don't mind, I took a picture," she said. He shook his head, his lips still a gentle smile as he peered down at her.

"Are you hungry?" he asked. She nodded, holding up her hand and jangling the keys in it.

"Dad gave me the car, I'm going to take you to Galaxidi for seafood," she said, pressing the remote to unlock the car doors. They got in, and she turned on the local radio.

She drove out onto the main road and turned up the middle of town past the church and towards the junction where the school was. There she took a left and very quickly they found themselves on a coastal highway that gave them open views of the sea to their left as they drove west along a meandering shoreline, past a huge bauxite refinery that turned the land and road a rusty red around it, and then on towards the next town, Galaxidi.

She explained to him that Galaxidi was a name taken from two words, Gala meaning milk, and xidi meaning vinegar. The name meant soured milk, or vinegar milk. She wasn't sure why it had been named that, but romantically assumed it was something to do with the crying of the womenfolk over their men who went to sea for weeks and months on end. However it probably had a more pragmatic reason.

Because Itea was situated on one side of the huge bay it lay in, and Galaxidi on the other, the towns faced each other over water despite the fact that they were on the same mainland - they just had a huge span of shoreline between them.

They drove in comfortable silence, Leo taking pictures every now and then with his phone. Siana remembered the last time they had felt this comfortable before that fated kiss - when they had strolled amicably together to Miami and had enjoyed drinks and snacks in the late afternoon sun. It was before they realised what a weird roller coaster ride they would take together.

She felt amused by how they seemed to switch from being very comfortable and easy with each other to being highly charged with their attraction for each other. Right now, it felt as if they were old friends hanging out on their way to lunch. Whereas just yesterday, they had kissed under cover of trees to the point that he had to have a few minutes to himself to regain his composure.

Siana had had enough history to know that she had never experienced such a relationship. Perhaps it was because this was Leo, or perhaps it was that what she felt for him was different, new. She was unable to put her finger on it yet, but was looking forward to finding out more about what made their experience together so different from what she knew.

Eventually they entered the town via a sharp turnoff form the highway, into some minor backroads which led them upwards into the town and into a series of one-way roads that had her practically zigzagging towards the centre.

Because it was so old, the town buildings were small, cramped - but very pretty. There was no room for a double carriageway within the town limits, which was why almost every road on the approach to the centre was a one-way street.