Chapter 6
Kalpana sat inside the hotel room, where the air conditioning was cooling, and looked out at the beach far below. It was all so beautiful. She took the book she was reading out to the balcony, but she couldn’t focus, so she came back inside. What should she do while waiting for Marcus to return?
She hadn’t brought her laptop with her because if she hadn’t been able to write at home, she didn’t want the reminder of her failure nagging throughout her holiday.
Besides, she didn’t even have an inkling of a story or a character yet.
Maybe, if she sat down with the new notebook she’d bought that morning and did a bit of brainstorming …
She tried it. It didn’t work. All the snippets of a story that floated into her mind were existing books or films. There was nothing that felt like it had potential. It was always hard to describe inspiration. You just knew it when you felt it … and she wasn’t feeling it right now.
Kalpana gave up and closed the notebook with a sigh. Well, she couldn’t work, she couldn’t read, she didn’t want to watch TV, so that left only one option.
She checked the time in the UK – late morning – and called her friend, Nyssa.
‘Kally!’ Nyssa sounded remarkably perky. ‘How’s the holiday going?’
‘Pretty well, actually,’ she said. ‘How’s the bump?’
‘Growing bigger every week. I feel so much better than I did a couple of weeks ago.’
‘So this “blooming” thing really happens?’
‘Seems to be. Although, ask me next week and things might be different. How about you? How’s Marcus?’
‘He’s fine. He’s trying to get some PR work done while he’s here.’
‘They know who he is over there? Really?’
Kalpana laughed. ‘Nyssa, everyone knows who he is. The man’s a literary giant.’
‘Literary giant ego, more like.’
‘Nyssa!’
‘Sorry, sorry, darling. I know you love him.’
Of all the people in Kalpana’s life, the only one who didn’t love Marcus was Nyssa.
Her parents adored him – he was a ‘serious’ writer they could look up to.
Most of her other friends cooed over the fact that she was going out with the handsome literary superstar.
Nyssa, despite being a writer herself, did not. It was confusing.
When Marcus had commented that Nyssa didn’t seem to be his fan, Kalpana had tried to minimise it.
The last thing she needed was conflict between her best friend and her boyfriend.
Marcus thought that perhaps Nyssa was jealous of him because it meant losing a lot of Kalpana’s attention.
Kalpana hoped that wasn’t the case because it made Nyssa sound silly and vapid.
‘How are the wedding plans going? Have you met up with your dishy wedding planner yet?’
Nyssa had seen Sampath’s photo on the website and had referred to him as the ‘dishy wedding planner’ ever since.
‘His name is Sampath,’ Kalpana said, pointedly.
‘Sampath organised a whole bunch of stuff to see. He’s working his way through the list of things that Marcus wanted to look at.
I think today showed that we really don’t want a stuffy indoor wedding.
Something near a beach or with a garden would be better. ’
‘Well, you’re in the right place for beaches.’
Kalpana laughed. ‘That’s what Sampath said.’
‘Oooh. Sensible as well as dishy.’
Kalpana shook her head. ‘Stop it. You’re a taken woman.’
Nyssa made a little ‘oof’ noise. ‘I am such a bag of hormones right now. I am hot for just about anyone. If someone like the dishy wedding planner looked at me suggestively, I’d be a goner.’
‘Does Ted know this?’
Nyssa’s chuckle was pure innuendo. ‘Oh, yeah. He does.’
‘I don’t want to know details,’ she said, quickly. She had to be able to look Ted in the eye when she next saw him. ‘I’m serious. No details.’
‘Wasn’t going to say anything,’ said Nyssa. ‘So, anyway. Tell me about what’s been going on. You decided you didn’t want the swanky hotels. What’s the plan for tomorrow?’
‘We are … looking at a few photography portfolios, then we’re going to a place where they’ll frame my wedding bouquet in fiberglass after the ceremony, and then choosing a wedding sari all afternoon.’
‘Wow, that sounds busy. How does Marcus cope with clothes shopping?’
In all honesty, she had no idea. They had got engaged after six months, so they’d only been together a year. She hadn’t ever been clothes shopping with him. ‘No idea.’
‘Well, Ted usually just fidgets. He tries to look interested but doesn’t often succeed.’
‘Marcus will probably be the same.’
‘Hah. He’ll probably start talking about some other famous person’s wedding that he’s been to or start banging on about looking like part of your heritage,’ said Nyssa. ‘At least dishy wedding planner is going with you. That way you’ll have someone else there who is actually interested.’
Kalpana shook her head, even though her friend couldn’t see her. ‘Yeah, well, Sampath sent me some photos and we’ve narrowed it down to ivory-coloured silk or silk mix with gold or sequins. So that should make things a bit quicker. I like the smaller patterns.’
‘What does Marcus think about that?’
‘I think he’d prefer something more embroidered, but … I guess I’ll have to see how I feel when I see the real thing.’
There was a thoughtful silence.
‘What?’ Kalpana asked.
‘Nothing really,’ Nyssa said. ‘It’s just … You don’t sound too excited.’
‘It’s only choosing what I’ll be wearing, Nyssa.
It’s not the actual wedding or anything.
Sampath has arranged for me to meet a dressmaker the day after, to get everything measured for making the blouse, before we head off for the rest of the holiday.
That way they can make it ready for a fitting when we get back to Colombo just before our flight home. ’
‘Hmm,’ said Nyssa. ‘I worry that you’re … just going through the motions of this. I’m not sensing any excitement from you.’
Kalpana sighed. ‘Just because I’m not obsessing over every last detail doesn’t mean I’m not excited about getting married, okay? Marcus is obsessing enough for two of us and if I start getting in on that too, it’ll just lead to arguments.’
‘Sounds like a bundle of laughs,’ Nyssa said drily.
Sometimes, this attitude of Nyssa’s annoyed her.
She understood that it was unrealistic to expect all her friends to love her boyfriend and the best friend–boyfriend clash wasn’t exactly rare, but she’d hoped that Nyssa would trust her judgement and be better than this.
‘It’s fine. We’re just very different types of people.
Sampath seems to have got the hang of dealing with Marcus to an extent.
Going by today, he showed him a great example of the thing he asked for first, then another one that’s different to what Marcus thought he wanted, but probably more practical, then something that’s almost exactly what he asked for and Marcus chooses the middle one …
and he thinks it’s a conclusion he reached all by himself. ’
Nyssa snorted. ‘And he’s meant to be a genius.’
‘Literary genius. He can’t be brilliant at everything. He’s one of those full of ideas, creative types.’
‘So are you.’
Kalpana chuckled at that. ‘Let’s not get carried away. I write commercially successful beach reads. People don’t read them over and over. I’m in a completely different part of the market compared to Marcus.’
‘Yes, the one that sells well and touches normal people.’
The lock to the room beeped and Marcus came in. His face was flushed, which meant he’d probably had a drink or two with Nirmala.
Kalpana waved to him. She lowered the phone and said, ‘I’m just talking to Nyssa.’
Marcus nodded. ‘I’ll leave you to it.’ He went out onto the balcony and shut the door behind him.
***
The next day, Kalpana felt a little less overwhelmed by the bustle of the city.
There were a lot of vehicles and a lot of people, but she was used to seeing that now.
She amused herself by looking at the brightly coloured shop signs.
There were even still a few hand-painted signs here and there. Everything was so vibrant.
‘We’ll do the pressed-flowers place first, it’s on the way,’ Sampath said, looking back from where he was sitting at the front of the van. ‘Then we’ll look at the cake. Then after lunch the sari place. Okay?’
‘Sounds good,’ she said. ‘Right, Marcus?’
Marcus had been deep in thought. He’d probably had an idea for his writing. ‘Sorry?’ he asked.
Sampath ran through the itinerary again.
‘Oh yes. That sounds great,’ Marcus said. He put his hand on Kalpana’s knee. ‘I have a lot of ideas for the cake.’
She smiled and patted his hand. ‘I know. You told me.’
Marcus lapsed back into silence. He seemed to be distracted by something else. Kalpana held his hand and settled back in her seat. If Marcus had been struck by inspiration, she needed to leave him alone to think about it.
She wondered why he hadn’t just written it down in his notebook to think about later. Maybe it was a particularly intriguing idea, and Marcus was giving himself some time to think it through before he committed anything to paper.
She looked out of the window and tried not to envy him. She hadn’t had an idea in months.
The pressed-flowers place was interesting, but didn’t take long.
There wasn’t much choosing to do. They simply wanted some photos of the bouquet and for the actual bouquet to be refrigerated and brought to them within twenty-four hours of the wedding finishing.
They would deconstruct it, treat the individual petals from the flowers and then make a 2D representation of the bouquet and preserve it in fiberglass and resin. It sounded like an adorable keepsake.
The cake place took longer, because they had to choose what they wanted on the cake.
The variety of cakes on offer was staggering.
Marcus was all for a tall, intricately decorated affair that was mostly iced Styrofoam.
Kalpana wanted a real cake. The ladies in the shop carefully explained about the weight of an actual cake and the cost involved.
Eventually, Sampath had stepped in and suggested a compromise of the top layers being fake and the bottom layers being real.
By the time they stopped at a chain café for lunch, Kalpana was exhausted.
Marcus seemed irritable and distracted. He kept looking at his phone.
Finally, he said, ‘It seems that Nirmala has got me a possible conversation with a journalist. You don’t need me for the next bit, do you?
I can get across to them now and do the interview before he changes his mind. ’
Kalpana stared at him. ‘What? But—’
‘It’s bad luck for the groom to see the wedding dress before the wedding, anyway,’ Marcus said.
‘That’s not really a thing here,’ said Sampath, quietly.
Marcus gave him an impatient glare. ‘I don’t know anything about saris, I’ll just be in your way.’
Kalpana looked at Sampath, whose eyes were moving between her and her fiancé.
Essentially, Marcus was abandoning her with two men she didn’t know that well.
But she felt she could trust Sampath. So far, he had been nothing but professional and kind.
She didn’t doubt that he would continue to be so.
‘Will you be joining us again after the interview?’ she asked.
‘Of course. But I don’t know how long it’ll take.’ His phone buzzed again. ‘She’s sending a taxi over. I’ll text you when I know more, okay?’
Kalpana sighed and nodded. She shouldn’t be surprised.
Marcus tended to make much more money from appearances than he did from book sales, and back at home, he was constantly doing interviews and appearing on talk shows.
If he was offered the chance to do a bit of that here, albeit as a profile-building exercise, rather than for pay, he was bound to jump at it.
Holidays were just a different angle of work for a man like him.
Marcus gave her a quick kiss on the lips and dashed off. By the time he left the shop, he was already on the phone.
‘That’s okay, isn’t it?’ Kalpana asked Sampath.
He nodded, thoughtfully. ‘I think so. You’re the one who is important when choosing the bride’s outfit. So yes, I think we’ll be fine. The people in the shop sound very knowledgeable.’
For one horrible moment, she thought he was intending to leave her by herself in the shop. ‘You’re not making me do this on my own, are you?’ she said, terror in her voice.
There was a pause. ‘No,’ said Sampath. ‘I will stay with you.’