Welcome To Crete Chapter 39

Fay spent most of that day on her sofa trying to comfort herself with chocolate and ice cream. The events of the last twenty four hours had buzzed around and around in her head until it became a physical pain to think about it any longer. She had also agonised over her behaviour towards Adam, both the kisses they had shared that night and her outrageous attempt at seduction the following morning. She could only imagine that it must have been a side effect of the traumatic events the night before that had led her to act so spontaneously and irrationally. Sal whizzed in and out every now and then, collecting her belongings and giving Fay updates on how she was arranging her new apartment. They had shared a quick lunch together, consisting of cheese sandwiches, crisps and coke, before Sal had rushed off again to prepare herself for a night of work at the airport. Adam phoned late that afternoon to check on how she was feeling and to tell her that he would pick her up for work at nine o clock. She had tried to argue with him, insisting that she could walk, or drive herself, but he had simply called her 'Miss Independent', reconfirmed the time and hung up.

Several hours later, sitting in the office, she was wondering why in actual fact he had wanted her to work that evening. Everything had been organized down to a T and Adam was more than capable of coping on his own with anything that might have cropped up. Nevertheless, she had to admit to herself that it was probably a good thing that he had forced her to move off the sofa and leave her apartment. She had begun to mope and that was unlike her. Now they were sitting in the semi darkness of the office with coffee mugs in their hands, waiting in silence for Sal to confirm that she had been picked up from the side of the highway by the coach driver that was to take her to the airport. Fay had never liked that as a meeting place for guides and coaches, however the often irritable and impatient drivers would always refuse to drive through the busy town to pick up the guides from any of the offices.

Fay glanced at the clock and frowned. "It's getting a bit late. Wasn't the coach supposed to pick Sal up at ten past nine?"
"Hmm, perhaps you should give her a ring," Adam suggested, rising from his chair and pacing nervously up and down the room. Fay watched him as she dialled Sal's mobile number. She had never seen him this uptight before and it made her wonder how much he had pinned on this particular arrival being a success.
"Sal, have you been picked up yet? Ah, okay...well, at least you are both on the coach now anyway. Give us a ring if you need anything. Okay, take care. Bye."

Fay hung up and turned to Adam with a reassuring smile. "The coach was a bit late but they have plenty of time." She noticed annoyance flicker across his face and she quickly added, "it happens all the time. To be fair it isn't the driver's fault, the dispatchers never give them enough time in-between pick ups. That reminds me, Nick is on on Sal's coach too. He will meet his coach at the airport as the driver had to rush off."

This news did little to reduce Adam's tension and Fay moved over to him, placing her hands on his arms and stopping his incessant pacing.
"Hey, it will be okay." She now knew why he had asked her to work that evening. "That's what I'm here for. I've seen it all before and this is nothing compared to the chaos of a busy transfer night."
"That doesn't make me feel any better," he frowned.


Minutes earlier Sal had stood at the corner of the highway with clipboard in hand, waiting in anticipation for the coach to pick her up. A lorry had gone whizzing past, beeping loudly. The driver and passenger had hung out of the windows shouting, what Sal presumed were, some unsavoury comments in Greek. She scowled at them and turned her attention to her mobile phone, checking for any updates from Fay or Adam. It was the second time that a vehicle had passed and beeped rudely at her so she was beginning to get a little annoyed, and also anxious to know where the coach was. It was nine thirty at that point but the arrangement was to meet at nine ten. What was taking so long? There were no messages waiting for her and she was just considering phoning Fay when she heard another loud beeping noise coming from behind her.

A motorbike flew past and she shouted angrily at the driver as it did so.
"Shut up you moron!"
She glanced nervously across the road however when the bike stopped and parked. As the man approached her through the darkness her anxiety grew but she sighed with relief when she saw who it was.
"Hiya Sexy Sal, that's not a very nice way to greet your fellow co worker now is it?" Nick teased. He reached Sal and leant against the wooden barrier at the side of the road, observing her surprised face with a grin.
"Sexy Sal? And what you doing here anyway? I thought you were catching the Elounda coach."
"I was, but seems as though it disappeared to the airport early so now I'm hitching a lift with you," Nick explained.
Sal sighed and glanced at her watch for the umpteenth time. "Don't speak too soon; it's nearly half an hour late!"
"Oops. Never mind we still have an hour and a half until the plane is due to arrive." He didn't look too concerned.
"Well I'm going to phone Fay, or by the time the coach turns up we will have zilch time until the plane arrives!" she said, dialling the office number.
"Don't waste your money, it's here," he said, hopping onto the coach as it pulled up and turning to speak to her over his shoulder, "come on Sexy Sal or we'll be late."

She cancelled the phone call and pulled a face at him as she climbed onto the coach, sitting on one of the front seats with the isle between them.
"You're very lucky you ended up catching this coach Nicholas, it's an awful long walk from Elounda to the airport," she said smugly. He gave her a similar smug look back and opened his clipboard folder to study the paperwork.
"So you got a good welcome speech planned then?" he asked. He flicked through the pages, pulled out a sheet and glanced sideways at her, hiding the sheet of paper with his hand as she leant across with curiosity to see what his speech was like. She shrugged and sat back in her seat.
"As a matter of fact I have. Fay gave me the basic guidelines and some more pointers to make an extra fantabulous speech," she boasted.
"It had better be extra fantabulous," he quoted her, "or your guests will all be falling asleep sexy Sal."
"If any guests are going to be falling asleep they're going to be yours Nicholas," she came back.
His eyes widened. "If you don't stop calling me Nicholas I'm going to whip that clipboard off you and then see how good your speech will be!"
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Ooh, that's outright sabotage Nicholas! And I'll stop calling you Nicholas when you stop calling me Sexy Sal."
He considered her comment. "Well it seems to me that 'sexy Sal' suits you a lot better than Nicholas suits me."
"I'm not ..." she began with indignation, "I'm just..." she faltered for a moment, "actually I've never thought of myself as Sexy Sal before, I quite like it!" she finished with a self satisfied look.
He grinned.

Sal and Nick arrived at the airport thirty minutes later than planned so they jumped off the coach and rushed inside the building to check the arrivals board for the flights. The guests were arriving on two different flights, which were conveniently scheduled to land twenty minutes apart from each other. This was an important factor in the planning of the guests' transfers as it meant that the guests didn't need to wait for a very long period of time due to the fact that people on both flights were staying in the same hotels. Should the landing of the second flight have been any later than that of the first, Adam would have had to book more coaches to minimise the waiting time for guests who had already arrived. Luckily this extra expense was not necessary, or so it had seemed until Sal and Nick had looked at the arrivals board to see the estimated time of arrival of the first flight only.
"Okay that is weird," Nick admitted, "the flight should be up by now."
Sal shrugged, at a loss to explain the disappearance of the second flight.
"Hmm, this smells like trouble," Nick said, as his instincts told him that a delay was on the cards. "I think you should give the office a ring."
"Great! My first transfer and you're smelling trouble," she sighed, taking out her mobile phone yet again.
He narrowed his eyes at her and teased, "Maybe I'm just smelling you. Are you sure you had a shower before you came out tonight?"
She tutted as she waited for Fay or Adam to pick up. "Yes I had a shower stupid!"
He put his nose to her back and proceeded to sniff her. "Are you sure Sexy Sal? You know you won't pick up any nice men if you don't take care of personal hygiene," he joked.
She pushed him away. "Get off, I'm on the phone."
He poked her in the stomach, making her squirm.
"Stop it! Bloody hell will you get off?"

Just then Fay answered the phone and Sal tried to explain the problem without laughing out loud as Nick continued to annoy her.
"Yes okay, we will do that now and phone you back, bye," she managed to get out before hanging up. She growled at Nick with frustration and threw herself at him, pushing and slapping him whilst shouting, "Stop, stop, stop! You're a bloody nightmare!"
He laughed and looked down at her with amusement. "You get ruffled very quickly Sexy Sal, but it's not good for your airport image you know. What with bad personal hygiene and tendencies for hysteria all the men will run a mile!"
"I wish that you'd run a mile!" she shouted. "How on earth does Jen put up with you?"
"Ah, she appreciates my finer qualities," he grinned. "Why? Are you jealous?"
She huffed. "No, just glad that I can send you back to her at the end of the night! Anyway stop messing about, we have a flight to chase up," she scolded, grabbing his clipboard out of his hand and running off with it.

****************************

Fay put down the receiver and glanced across at Adam who was sitting tensely, waiting for news about the second flight.
"Okay we have hit a small hitch, the second flight has an estimated two hour delay," she said grimacing. Adam rubbed a hand over his face and she gave him a sympathetic look.
"You're going to have to use one of the coaches twice. Nick can take the people from the first flight to their hotels and then he'll have to go back to the airport and wait with Sal for the second flight of people," she calculated.
"Can't we fit the people from the second flight onto one coach?" he asked hopefully.
"Well we could, but I think it would make the transfer too long as the Istron hotel is too far away from the others. It would add at least another hour onto the transfer time," she pointed out.
"That's too long isn't it?" he said with resignation.
She nodded. "Shall I let them know that they should do that then?"
"Yes okay," he agreed reluctantly, "but tell Nick to make sure that the drivers know to wait."

*****************************************

Sal held up Nick's clipboard out of his reach and continued to swing away from him as she spoke on the phone whilst he tried to retrieve it. She eventually hung up and ran towards the exit, slipping out of the sliding doors in a bid to keep hold of his paperwork. She sprinted across the road and into the coach park where she hid behind a coach and flicked through the papers in his clipboard to pull out his arrival speech. Peering around the side of the coach, she noticed Nick approaching the coach park and she hurried to hide the page amongst the papers in her file. She backed behind the coach again and moved to the other side but collided into Nick who had spotted her and taken her by surprise. He snatched his clipboard out of her hand with triumph.
"You're going to need that Nicholas," Sal smiled, eyeing it in his hand, "looks like you have got to do two transfers tonight. Ha!"
He frowned. "Two! Ah hell. They want me to wait for the delayed flight as well don't they?"
"Yep," she laughed.
"Right, you're in for it!" he exclaimed, grabbing her around the waist and throwing her over his shoulder. She yelped and took hold of his shirt to stop herself from falling.
"Okay very funny, now put me down!" she ordered as he headed back towards the airport.
"Lesson number one," he said, ignoring her plea, "never steal another person's clip board."
"You said that you were going to steal mine!" she interrupted.
"And lesson number two," he continued, "the punishment for stealing clipboards is total humiliation."
"Okay, okay, but you've got it back now so let me down!" she shouted.
"Hmm," he contemplated her request, "only on two conditions... one, that you never steal my clipboard again, and two, that you admit that I am the best transfer rep in the world."
She giggled.
"Looks like we're going into the airport then," he taunted.
"Okay, okay, I'll never steal it again...and you are the most amazingest transfer rep in the whole, wide world. Satisfied? Now you have to put me down," she stressed.
He paused at the doors of the airport. "I don't have to put you down Sexy Sal. You're not really in the position to make demands," he pointed out. "but considering that you did just admit that I am the best person in the world," he dropped her unceremoniously onto a bench by the entrance doors, "I'll let you off this time."
She scowled up at him. "I didn't say 'person', I said 'transfer rep,'" she corrected.
"Same thing," he shrugged as he sat next to her on the bench and glanced at his watch. "I'd better get a move on if I'm going to take the first coach. I'll find the driver Sal and you can wait by the arrival doors to greet the guests. I'll let you know where the coach is when I find it so that you can direct the people to me," he said, rushing back towards the coach park but turning briefly to shout out, "You give in too easily Sexy Sal!"
She pulled a face at him and rose off the bench.

***************************


Fay tapped a pen repeatedly onto the desk and sighed.
"Would you like some wine?" Adam offered. "I'm afraid there is going to be a lot of waiting around tonight."
"Well..." she pretended to consider it, "if you have some I guess that one glass wouldn't hurt."
He laughed. "You look bored to death. It will pass some time anyway." He thought for a moment. "Of course there are other things we could do to pass the time," he said suggestively.
She looked up suddenly. "I think I'll take the wine!"
"Kill joy," he said, moving to the fridge in the back room and appearing with a carton of wine and two glasses. He went to her desk, poured the wine and handed her a glass, watching her with a cheaky grin as a thought went through his head. Dare he verbalise it? He was feeling daring.
"Have you ever fantasised about getting frisky on an office desk?" he asked out of the blue as she took a sip of the wine. She coughed loudly and put a hand to her chest as her eyes watered.
"What a question to ask!" she exclaimed in shock.
He chuckled. "Come on Fay, there's nobody about and I could lock the door," he teased.
"Are you out of your mind?"
"I'll take that as a no then." His eyes scanned her flustered face and wickedly he had to admit that he enjoyed making her blush.
"Do you have to ask?" she frowned.
"I had the best sex I've ever had once in my London office," he announced.
"Way too much information Adam!" Fay cringed, covering her ears with her hands.
He shook his head at her and peeled her hands away. "You're so prudish sometimes you know." She rolled her eyes at him and he watched for a while as a question began to form in his mind. "So come on then Fay, what was the best sex you have ever had?" he asked intrepidly. She shrugged, feeling uneasy about the direction in which the conversation was going. "Well it can't have been that good then," he guessed, trying to find out information from her body language. She simply smiled at him and refused to be pulled into the conversation. He narrowed his eyes at her, determined to find out more. "What, none of the men you have been with have ever driven you wild in bed?" he asked, trying to evoke a reaction. She propped her chin onto her hand and kept her non-committal smile. He thought for a moment, contemplating her with interested eyes and then shook his head abruptly.
"Nah, one of them must have," he concluded.
She folded her arms and eventually spoke out. "I suppose that you drive the women wild every time then," she stated without conviction.
He raised an eyebrow. "Well put it this way, I always make sure that they enjoy it before I think of myself."
"Right," she gave him a look of disbelief, "every time?"
"Too bloody right, every time!" he confirmed adamantly. "Would you like me to prove it to you Fay?" His eyes began to move over her as he reached out for the arm of her chair to pull her closer. She slapped his hand away and glared at him, making him laugh aloud with amusement. "You know what I think?" he continued more seriously, "I think that none of the men you have been with have ever done that for you. " He watched her intently for a reaction and he smiled slowly as her face began to redden. "I'm right aren't I? Or you would have put me right by now." Her blush deepened and she scowled, turning her face away from him. His eyes widened in disbelief as he processed the revelation. "Really? Never?" he said incredulously. She tutted and stood up to move away from him, trying to escape his scrutiny.

Walking over to the window she stood with her back to him, glancing outside onto the sea front road.
"Well all I can say is that, boy oh boy are we going to have fun when you eventually give in to me!"
She swung around with annoyance. "You're very sure of yourself Adam! I've had enough of this conversation," she strode back to him and pushed him aside. "If you wouldn't mind moving off my desk, I'd like to ring Sal to see if the guests have arrived."

He stood up and went back to his desk as she phoned Sal, but his eyes stayed on her for some time as his mind thought up as many different ways to pleasure her as he could.

********************************************

Sal ran frantically around the coach park in a desperate attempt to find her coach. It was the third time that she had scoured the area and a rising feeling of dread began to grip her as she started to suspect that it was not actually there at all. Nick had left on his coach an hour and twenty minutes earlier but Sal was beginning to wish that he was there at that point to offer some advice, or at least to break the bad news to Fay and Adam in the office.

Oh lord! This could't be happening! Her first transfer and she'd lost her bloody coach!

She came to a standstill at the far end of the coach park, took one last futile look down the row of coaches and then collapsed onto a low brick wall to catch her breath.

Right, don't panic. She could wait until Nick came back. Maybe the coach driver had nipped off somewhere, the plane wasn't due down yet after all. But if she waited too long and the plane landed she would be in for it! No but Nick had to be back in time to take another coach load from that flight anyway so she could wait for him. Then again if her coach didn't come back, he'd have a coach and she would't and...oh hell, what would she do with thirty-two guests and no coach? But she could't possibly ring the office, losing a coach could't be the indication of a good transfer rep and she really want to do that job! She could steal one! She laughed to herself, maybe not. Or she could seduce one of the other bus drivers and make him take them.

She watched as a fat bellied man with greasy hair and a moustache cleaned the windows of a nearby coach and her face fell.

Okay, there had to be another way!

The man noticed her gaze and smiled with a toothless grin, putting down the rag he was holding and ambling over to her.

Oh no! She was only joking. She didn't really want to seduce him!

"Ti kanis?" he asked, slipping his hands into his pockets and observing her with interest.
"No, I don't want to!" she replied in panic, without understanding the question.
"Ti?" He looked confused but smiled at her again and pulled out a packet of cigarettes.
He took one out and lit it, pausing for a moment and then offering her one.
"I don't smoke Greeky man, now please go away," she said anxiously. He looked from her to the packet of cigarettes quizzically and then took another one out, lit it, handed it to her and moved back to his coach.

She said she didn't smoke!

She held the cigarette in one hand and went into her bag to pull out her phone with the other.

Right, she had to do something. She would ring Fay...in ten minutes, or fifteen. The coach may have come back by then. Bloody hell, nobody told her it was going to be that stressful!

Without thinking she took a drag of the cigarette and coughed loudly.

What was she doing? Not only had she lost her job and narrowly escaped from the clutches of greasy Greek guy, but now she was an addictive smoker and she was going to die young!

She took another drag but just then the phone in her hand rang loudly, making her shriek and drop the cigarette guiltily on the floor. She looked at the number before she answered the phone and cringed when she saw who the caller was.
"Fay, I was just about to ring you but I've been too busy running around the coach park looking for my coach and there's some bad news, I can't find it!" she came out with in a rush.
"What do you mean you can't find it? It has to be there! It left Elounda before you left Agios!" Fay shouted back.
"I know, I know, but it's not here. I've searched everywhere... a million times!" she replied defensively.
There was a small silence. "Are you absolutely sure that it isn't there Sal?"
"Positive," Sal confirmed.
"Okay, I'll get back to you," Fay finished, hanging up.

*********************************************

"Where the Flaming hell are you?" Adam bellowed down the phone to the bus driver. "What do you mean you have another job to do? I booked you for tonight!"
Fay listened to the conversation with disbelief.
"Ask him what company he is doing the other job for," she prompted him.
"Who are you working for now then? Manos tours, " he quoted the man, looking towards Fay.
"Do you want me to talk to him?" she asked, frustrated with not being able to hear everything.
"That may be a bit difficult," he said, smashing the receiver down, "he's hung up!"

She gaped at him, unable to believe the rudeness of the driver.
"You know, this never happens. One company stealing drivers off another, that's bloody well out of order!"
Adam sat staring straight ahead of him, processing the events in his head. "Once again someone is trying to put a spanner in the works for me," he concluded. "Any suggestions as to what we do now?" he said turning to Fay. She wracked her brain for a solution to the problem and eventually glanced over at him with uncertainty.
"I'm afraid I can only think of one possible person who could help at this last minute."
Adam imagined that he wasn't going to like this.
"Go on," he prompted.
"Jen," she said, waiting for a reaction.
He frowned. "Why her?"
"Because Adam, she knows all the drivers and she is on very good terms with them. If you tell her that you'll offer them a bit of extra money I've no doubt that she'll be able to find one willing to work tonight," she said persuasively.
"Yes but you seem to have forgotten one thing...I'm not her favourite person at the moment," he reminded her.
"Look," she continued with determination, "Jen loves attention. All you have to do is sweet talk her a bit and we'll get a driver, I'm sure of it."
He groaned. "Are you sure there isn't someone else we can ask?"
"No, she's our last hope," she replied with finality.

Adam moved his hand to the phone on his desk where it hovered above the receiver while he tried to figure out what to say to Jen. Fay watched him and he looked up at her suddenly.
"Haven't you got something to do?" He looked uncomfortable with her presence.
"No," was her simple reply.
"Can't you find something to do?" he frowned.
She laughed. "Just ring her!" She paused for thought and then added, "And don't forget to butter her up."

He finally picked up the receiver and dialled the number, swivelling around on his chair so that his back was to her. She was amused by his reluctance to talk to Jen, and by his unease at her being there when he did so.
"Jen, hi it's Adam here." He tried to put enthusiasm into his voice but swung his head back around with agitation when he heard Fay approaching his desk. "I'm fine, how are you?"

Fay sat down opposite him, picked up a pen and quickly scribbled down something onto a piece of paper for him to say to Jen. He looked down at the paper and rolled his eyes.

'Sweetheart?' Bloody hell Fay, he was not trying to get her into bed again.

He shook his head at her, snatched the pen away and put it back on the desk.
"I'm in the office at the moment, trying to organize the transfer for Sal and Nick."
She put her thumbs up to him and then picked up the pen again, scribbling down,

Act jealous!

She thought for a moment and then added,

Say you lost your chance with her.

He pulled a face at Fay and retrieved the pen, this time placing it out of her reach.
"So you two are going out now eh?" he said tentatively. "Well, that's good."
Fay shook her head with disapproval and mouthed, "Jealousy!"
"Although I guess that means that I've lost my chance with you then." He grimaced at his own words and Fay stifled a laugh. "I know, and I should have...but to be honest, I made such a mess of that night that I didn't know what to say to you." He tried to avoid Fay's eyes.

Go away Fay! This is a bloody nightmare!

He started to falter then so she pushed her chair backwards, grabbed a pen off her desk and began to jot down notes again.

Make her feel sorry for you. Say that you are upset about what happened and that the transfers aren't working out either.

She pushed the paper in front of his nose and he read it with gritted teeth.
"You know I probably deserve it after what happened, but I'm having one hell of a night tonight with the transfers. Seems as though someone has stolen the driver I booked."
Fay crossed her fingers in front of him.
"I know, and the plane is landing soon. I'm at my wits end Jen."

Babe

Gorgeous

Fay laughed to herself as Adam looked horrified at her notes and she began to get carried away, jotting down words and phrases randomly to tease him.

The woman of my dreams.

I can't stop thinking about you.

Those intimate moments we shared...oh sorry, may have been more than moments!

He pushed the pad of paper off the desk in anger and it hit the floor with a slap. She tutted and wagged her finger at him.
"Really? I would be extremely grateful if you would ask for me though. I'm sure he wouldn't refuse you eh Jen." His face began to brighten as he listened to her reply. "That's fantastic! You're a lifesaver Jen. So you'll let me know straight away then? You're wonderful! Speak in a bit. Bye."

He put the phone down with a sigh of relief and Fay raised an eyebrow at him.
"So, 'wonderful' Jen saves the day then." She was surprised herself by the note of bitterness in her own comment. She had after all asked him to butter Jen up, however he had actually seemed sincere at the end and she couldn't help but feel a little put out.
"Looks like we might have our coach! So what's up with you now?" he said, noticing her change in mood

****************************************************

Sal was sitting on the wall contemplating her fate when she looked up to see Nick strolling towards her. She ran across the gap and threw herself at him, jumping up and wrapping her arms and legs around him as though he were the last person on earth.
"Oh Nick, it's been awful! I've lost my coach and I'm going to get the sack and I've started smoking and you weren't here and..." She stopped then to catch her breath as he laughed and looked down at her in amazed bewilderment.
"Slow down Sal!" He let her go and she planted her feet on the floor again. "What's all the panic?"
Her lip began to tremble. "I'm going to get the sack," she announced, hanging her head.
"Woah, you are the most dramatic woman I've ever met! You're not going to get the sack." He watched her down turned head. "Look up, come on," he prompted.
She slowly lifted her head with a pitiful expression and he tried not to laugh.
"It's not funny Nick," she said pushing him away.
"How long till the plane lands now?" he asked.
"About an hour," she pouted.
"Well then, that's ages. I vote that we go to that canteen over there," he pointed away from the airport and across the back road to a café style canteen, "get a drink each and reassess. And you Sexy Sal can bloody well calm down a bit!" He put an arm around her shoulder as they walked across the road. "You're a classic Sal!" he exclaimed, ruffling her auburn hair.


Nick led Sal up the flimsy steps of the canteen and sat her down at a small red metal table with instructions to 'chill out', whilst he moved across to one of the fridges and pulled out two cans of coke. He paid the plump, middle-aged woman behind the counter and then proceeded to confuse her by ordering a portion of food as an afterthought. She frowned and muttered something in Greek, calling out the food order to the cook who was stood grilling various titbits of meat on a large, industrial sized grill to the side of the counter. The canteen was surprisingly full for the time of night but Sal supposed that being so close to an airport was the chief reason for its success. If more tourists had been aware of its existence the canteen would probably have made a small fortune with the number of customers, especially considering the extortionate prices of food in the airport. As it was however, most of the people eating there were taxi and coach drivers or reps, and many of them tended to take up seats for hours whilst waiting for delayed flights.

"Here, drink this. It will refresh your energy levels," Nick said as he placed one of the cans of coke in front of her and took a swig of his own. "Although I sometimes think that you have too much energy!" he laughed, sitting down on one of the hard, metal chairs and watching as she struggled to open the can with her long, immaculately French manicured nails. "So, how did you lose the coach then?" he asked.
"I don't know. Come to think of it there is no indication that it was ever here but I guess I should have checked when I arrived," she replied with a worried look as she eventually managed to pull back the ring on the can, only to watch it fizz and overflow onto the table.
He shrugged. "Nah, you have the right to expect the drivers to be here. If anyone should have checked, it should have been me as it was originally my coach."
She plucked a napkin out of the holder in the middle of the table and roughly mopped up the spillage. "Yes but you were busy and you are having to do two transfers tonight. Let's just face it I'm a washed up transfer rep," she sighed, leaning her head on her hand.
"There you go again! I don't know about a transfer rep but you'd pass with flying colours at drama school! Anyway, I take it that they know at the office?"
She nodded. "I told Fay and she said that she would phone back but I haven't heard anything yet." She began to fiddle with the damp napkin in her hand, shredding into tiny pieces and forming a small pile on the table in front of her.
"Listen Sexy Sal, you aren't getting the sack, you haven't done anything wrong and they are most probably taking some time to sort the problem out so stop doing that," he eyed the pile of shredded napkin, " and drink your bloody coke will you?"
She drank the coke whilst her eyes moved constantly from her view of the long airport terminal in the distance, to her mobile phone on the table.
"Souvlaki parakalo!" shouted the woman behind the counter.

As Nick went to collect the food the long awaited phone call came through on Sal's phone. Nick turned from the counter when he heard Sal's squeal of delight, which he assumed meant that Adam had sorted out the transport.
"So, is all well now then?" he said, placing a huge plate of chips and souvlaki on the table, together with a basket of bread and cutlery.
"Yes, everything is great! And guess what? I'm not getting the sack after all! Jen found us a last minute replacement driver. I love Jen!" She laughed and clapped her hands excitedly.
"Yeah, she's pretty cool," he smiled, relieved that Sal had snapped out of her manic depressive state. She watched his face break into a smile and pointed a finger at him.
"Ooh... you love her," she stated with enthusiasm, "when should we expect an announcement?"
"Slow down woman! I've only known her for a bloody week!" He looked horrified at her implication.
"Nothing wrong with planning ahead Nicholas," she said, taking a piece of bread out of the basket and picking pieces off it which she popped into her mouth.
"Don't tell me, you've got your marriage, house, kids and pension planned out to the last detail," he said, digging into the food and gesturing for her to share some.
"No," she said defensively, "but I know what I want and it doesn't happen to be all those things at once. Actually I want to have lots of fun first before I think about marriage and all that. I was kind of hoping for some gorgeous man who would whisk me away on his private yacht where we would spend weeks having mind shattering sex until I got bored with him and came back here to meet Mr Right. Then Mr Right and I would spend some time exploring the rest of Greece, and then maybe we would think about buying a house, and if all that went well," she pulled a face as if unsure, "then maybe we might think about having kids."
"Wow! So I guess I was wrong about you planning out every last detail then," he said with sarcasm. "You know, if I were you I'd forget about Mr Right and stay on the yacht for the 'mind shattering sex,'" he quoted her. "Mr Right seems a bit boring compared to that guy."
She gave it some thought and watched as he pulled the second helping of pork off the souvlaki stick. "Yes but if I did want kids, the 'mind shattering' guy wouldn't be the type and so I'd die a sad lonely woman after he fell off the edge of the yacht one stormy night."
He shook his head at her in amazement. "Did anyone ever tell you that you have one hell of a vivid imagination Sal?"
She giggled, but then her face fell as another thought hit her. "Of course kids can take over your life and drain you of all your energy, making sex out of the question. So if I did opt for Mr Right, I would then neglect my beauty regime, grow fat and ugly with all the comfort food I would need to eat and still end up a sad, lonely woman when my husband couldn't stand to look at me anymore and went off with a blonde bimbo half my age."
Nick howled with laughter. "They can't give you the sack Sal, we need you here for entertainment purposes whenever there are delays." He thought for a moment and then added, "Or else we could all waste away with boredom...or maybe even fall asleep on the job, get run over by a coach, or a plane, and cost the company millions for a clean up operation!" he finished, looking impressed with himself.
"Don't be ridiculous," she scoffed, "they'd just put it down as road kill and keep running you over until you were ten foot wide and half an inch thick."
He began laughing again.
"Anyway," she continued, "whichever way you look at it, seems like I'm doomed. Maybe I'll just become celibate," she concluded.
"Stop it! You're killing me!" he exclaimed as his sides began to ache with laughter. "You wouldn't last two minutes! For a girl, you think about sex more than anyone else I know."
She looked indignant. "Really, well according to popular knowledge Nicholas, men think about sex every three minutes so by my calculation you are well ahead of me."
"Yeah, but with you around reminding me all the time I'll end up the most frustrated man on the planet!" he replied, polishing off the last of the food on his plate.
Sal grinned. "I'm sure that Jen will keep you satisfied won't she?"
"Hmm maybe, but what about you Sexy Sal? What the hell are you going to do without a man to satisfy your voracious appetite?" he teased.
She sighed and gazed out towards the airport. "I have no idea. Seems to be no decent men around."
He watched her for a while with amusement and then jumped up off his seat. "Come on drama queen, time to check on the flight."