Two Couples in Crete – Part 1: The Villa on the Cliff

The villa sat on a cliff above the Libyan Sea, white walls, blue shutters, a terrace shaded by an ancient fig tree. Sophie had found it, and Tom had complained about the price, and then the four of them had stood on the terrace with glasses of cold retsina and agreed it was worth every euro.

"We're too old for this," said Jake, leaning on the balcony rail.

"We're thirty-four," said Eleni. "That's not old. That's rested."

They had all met at university in Bristol, in a crowded flat with a broken boiler and a fridge that only worked for milk. Sophie and Tom had been together ever since. Eleni and Jake had married three years ago, in a small ceremony by the Thames. Now the four of them were together again, for the first time in years, with the sea below and the stars coming out over the hills.

Dinner was grilled octopus, tomatoes, fresh bread and a jug of local wine. They talked until the candles burned low. About work and houses, about the friends who had drifted away, about the children they had not yet decided to have.

"Can I say something?" Eleni asked, after the second bottle.

"Always," said Sophie.

"I miss this," said Eleni. "Being in a room where nobody needs to be perfect."

Tom nodded slowly. "I've been feeling the same. Like we've been so busy being grown up that we forgot to be honest with each other."

Jake poured more wine. "Then let's do it," he said. "Honest. Tonight. No judgement."

"Rules?" asked Sophie, with a half-smile.

"Rules," said Eleni. "Nobody lies. Nobody gets angry. And if someone says stop, everyone stops."

"Agreed," said the others at once.

They talked for a long time after that. Sophie admitted she had been bored at her job for two years and was afraid to say so. Tom confessed he had always been a little jealous of Jake's easy confidence. Eleni said she wanted to try something new in their marriage and didn't know how to start. Jake said he had been waiting for someone to ask him what he wanted, and nobody ever did.

"What do you want, Jake?" asked Sophie gently.

He looked up, startled, and then smiled, slow and warm.

"I want to be part of this," he said. "All of it. The honesty. The sea. The four of us, if you're all willing. But only if we ask, every step, and say yes out loud."

The table went quiet. The candle flames bent in the breeze.

"Green?" asked Eleni, looking at each of them in turn.

"Green," said Sophie.

"Green," said Tom, very softly.

"Green," said Jake, and reached across the table to take Eleni's hand.