Chapter 15 – Molyvos, Skala Eressos
They rose late the following morning, packed up, and went downstairs to load the car before going into the dining room for breakfast.
Giorgio found them just as they were finishing up.
"Ah, my two favorite ladies," he smiled broadly at them. "I hope you've enjoyed your stay and will consider coming back again."
"Oh, we have," Brittany beamed, "it's been great even though Santana is really tired." She laughed.
"I'm just not used to that many performances in such a short span of time." Santana grumped.
Giorgio laughed and handed her an envelope. "Well, you were amazing. Spyro and Sotiris did not exaggerate one bit. You are always welcome to perform here." He stood up and shook both their hands.
"Thank you, Giorgio, I really appreciate the opportunity you gave me here." Santana smiled. "Oh, can you tell us where we can go to ship some things back home?"
Giorgio nodded. "I will leave the information at the front desk for you."
"Thank you, again."
Giorgio smiled and left them to finish their coffee.
"You ready, honey?"
Santana took one last swallow of her coffee and nodded. "I am more than ready to go and relax on a beach. We just need to get the rest of the money out of the sugar canisters, add it to what's in this envelope, hit the bank, the shipping place, and then it's on the road to Skala Eressos."
xoxoxoxoxo
It took them almost no time at all to run the few errands they needed to run and they arrived at the Hotel Sappho around noon for check-in; by twelve-thirty they were lying on the beach.
They had a late lunch and spent and the rest of the afternoon sitting on the covered patio of the hotel; Santana was scribbling in a notebook while Brittany switched between playing Angry Birds and Sudoku on her tablet.
"Hey, San?"
Santana looked up from what she was writing. "Yeah?"
"Since you're going to do that Women's Festival thing, why don't we have dinner at Artemis House tonight? You can talk to Petrina about performances and whatever and ask her about a place to store your guitar."
Santana nodded. "Sounds good to me," she checked her phone. "It's five now; you want to go up, shower, change, and we can have dinner around seven?"
"Yeah. That sounds good." Brittany stood up and offered Santana her hand.
Santana took it and the two of them headed up to their room.
xoxoxoxoxo
They entered The Artemis House Taverna a little after seven and waited about twenty minutes for a table.
Once they were seated and had ordered, Santana turned a little serious.
"Hey, Britt?"
Brittany frowned. "Yeah?"
"I was thinking …"
"Okay …"
"I was thinking that, instead of heading to Cambridge the second week of December, we head there the second week of November. We can pack you up, you do what you have to do, then we can be in Lima for Thanksgiving. And, instead of leaving on the twenty-sixth or seventh, we can fly out on the second or third of January."
Brittany smiled softly. "Why?"
Santana shrugged. "I wasn't really thinking when I suggested we go there in December. I mean, I don't really have a family anymore, except my mom, and we never had a lot of traditions anyway so the holidays never really meant that much to me. Yeah, we went to midnight mass on Christmas Eve and had Christmas dinner at abuela's but Thanksgiving was always just another day and so was New Year's Eve and New Year's Day. If I didn't spend it with you and your family, I just ate microwaved meals and watched movies.
"I just kind of forgot how much they mean to you and your family. You guys start on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and go until January first. It's really not fair of me to stop you from doing all that stuff that you love; especially since there's going to come a time when we can't spend a month and a half in Lima for the holidays. You know, when we actually become responsible adults."
"I love you, you know that?"
Santana just looked at her.
"I didn't want to say anything because I know how hard the holidays have been since your abuela …" she trailed off but Santana just shook her head, indicating Brittany should continue. "I was, um, a little bummed that we were only going to be in Lima for, like, two weeks." She shrugged, a little uncomfortable.
"Britt … why didn't you say something?"
"I just didn't want to make you sad or uncomfortable or whatever."
"Sweetheart, I love you, I want you to be happy. Don't ever think you can't talk to me about anything, even if it's hard or painful. I just … I didn't think when I suggested we hang out in Europe until almost Christmas. Once I actually thought about it, though, I realized how selfish and thoughtless I was being. I can just stay at a hotel or whatever."
"What? No, you will not!" Brittany shook her head. "You will stay with my family. They all love you and you are ALWAYS welcome there, you should know that."
"Well, I mean, sure, for a couple of days or a week but, Britt, we're talking over a month."
"My parents won't care; they love you. And Court will be over the moon to have you around that much. You're my family, Santana. You're more than welcome, always."
Santana smiled at her. "Okay. If you're sure it won't be a problem …"
"It won't be," Brittany reassured her.
"If it becomes a problem," Santana started.
"It won't."
"If it does, just let me know and I'll go to a hotel."
"Never gonna happen."
"I love you."
"Good. Because I love you, too. Thank you," Brittany smiled softly at her.
"Of course. I told you, I just want you to be happy and I know how much you love all the holiday traditions your family has and I don't want to keep you from that."
Brittany giggled.
"What?"
"My parents, if you tried staying at a hotel; mom would be barging in 'Yeasty! Why are you in this nasty hotel room when Brittany has a perfectly good bed?' and dad with his 'Well, I don't know who you are but all my girls are upset that you're not at the house so I think you should come home with us.'"
Santana laughed. "Your father never gets tired of pretending he doesn't know who I am. And your mother," she shook her head, "I could win ten Grammys and a dozen Oscars and she still wouldn't let me live down that damn commercial."
Brittany laughed. "Nope," she said, popping the 'p', "you will forever be known as 'yeasty girl'."
xoxoxoxoxo
Their meal was excellent and, when the waitress was clearing their dishes, they asked if Petrina was around.
"She is in her office," the waitress said nervously.
"Can you just let her know that Santana and Brittany are here? She wasn't expecting us until tomorrow."
The waitress visibly relaxed and nodded.
Brittany shook her head. "Poor girl thought she was in trouble."
"I saw that. We'll have to tip her well so she knows she didn't do anything wrong." Santana frowned. "I didn't mean to upset her."
"I know, San."
Petrina came over to their table and shook their hands before taking a seat.
"Ladies, I didn't expect you until tomorrow," she smiled at them.
Santana nodded. "We know but we talked about it last night and decided it would be fun to do the Festival so we figured there was no point in waiting until tomorrow."
"Excellent!" Petrina opened her iPad and pulled up a file, turning it so Santana could see it. "These are the dates and times that are available. However many you'd like, one or ten, is fine."
Santana looked over the dates and times and shared them with Brittany. After some back and forth, they decided on three nights and a Sunday afternoon performance for the first week, then three nights the second week.
Petrina noted the dates and times. "Alright, we'll have you booked in the Sappho Hotel for the full two weeks of the Festival. This is wonderful! Thank you for agreeing to play."
"Thank you for the opportunity," Santana smiled warmly, "it really is an honor."
"Ladies, I'll leave you finish your meal. Dessert is on me, try the baklava." She smiled and stood up.
"Oh, one more thing?"
"Yes?"
"Is there anyplace I can store my guitar here or in Eressos proper? I was going to ship it home today but knew I was going to need it in September and I really don't want to lug it all over Europe."
Petrina nodded. "Bring it by here tomorrow. I have a large storage closet in my office that I use for just such purposes. Just make sure your name is on the case."
"Awesome. Thank you."
"You're welcome. I'll see you tomorrow."
She walked off and Santana saw her speak with their waitress. A few moments later, the woman brought them two pieces of baklava and two cups of coffee.
"Enjoy. Compliments of Petrina." She smiled at them.
They smiled back and enjoyed their dessert and coffee. They paid the bill, tipping their waitress quite a bit more than average, and went back to the hotel.
Xoxoxoxoxo
They spent a week in Skala Eressos; swimming, lying in the sun, playing backgammon and chess on the patio, and dancing in the local clubs.
After that, they left Lesbos and headed to Greece to start their European tour.