Olivia
been forced to miss an entire afternoon of activities due to the delays.
Her mind was buzzing as the taxi dropped her off outside her homestay.
How was she possibly going to manage to fit everything in now?
There simply weren’t enough hours in the day and, judging by the exhaustion weighing heavily in her bones, missing sleep was not a clever plan.
Her restless night had been caused in part by the noise outside her window, but mainly by the racket inside her own head.
Her thoughts had thrashed around, as slippery as eels, in between and over one another.
Too many to catch and too many to count, but all coming back to just one thing.
Jacob
.
To message him or not to message him? To message him or …
The internal argument looped around her brain as she plodded down the dusty path to her homestay.
She was so distracted that she barely noticed the yellowing, parched grass growing greener and lusher as she rounded the corner.
The sounds of tooting horns interspersed with the swell of laughing voices, and the smell of exhaust fumes blended into rich, spiced cooking.
It was only when Olivia was standing right outside the bright, sky-blue building that she registered her arrival.
The Blue Paradise Homestay certainly seemed, on the outside, to live up to its name. It was an injection of tranquillity and colour in the seemingly endless landscape of dust. The building stood tall and proud in the centre of a quaint little courtyard; stone water features tinkled merrily in the
corners whilst red, pink and orange flowers broke through the rich green foliage that bordered the edges, like cheerful waving hands. It was a far and distant cry from the misery of her Delhi hotel room.
Olivia had barely set her bag down when a warm, doughy-faced woman came hurrying out of the house to greet her.
‘Hello!’ she cried, her jewellery jangling and her smile beaming. ‘You must be Olivia. I’m Suki – welcome, welcome!’
Olivia’s reply was lost amongst the folds of Suki’s skin, as she was unexpectedly engulfed in a firm hug.
‘You look so tired! Come, let’s get this big lump of a bag of yours up those stairs and I’ll show you to your room.’
‘Oh no, please don’t,’ Olivia cried, as Suki hoisted the backpack off the ground in one fell swoop. ‘It’s really heavy!’
‘Heavy?’ She let out a deep, rumbling laugh. ‘You want to try raising three children and carrying their chubby butts around all day, then you’ll know heavy! Come, let’s get you settled in.’
Without waiting for a response, Suki turned and strode off inside the house. Olivia trotted behind, noticing how the scent of spices seemed to strengthen with every step they took.
‘Was your journey OK? Where did you travel from?’ Suki chattered, as she led Olivia down an egg-yolk-yellow corridor.
‘I came from Delhi, and if I’m honest, the journey was awful.’
‘Let me guess, train delays?’
‘Delays, cancellations, traffic jams … I was meant to be here with the whole afternoon to spare and now it’s practically evening.’ Olivia’s bitterness felt out of place in the sunny interior of the house.
‘Ah, but at least you’re here now, hey?’ Suki’s comment
was as bright and breezy as the violet-coloured staircase they had begun to climb.
‘Yes, but I’ve wasted a whole day travelling and I have to replan everything
.’
‘Now, see, that’s the problem.’
‘What is?’
‘Trying to plan!’ Suki turned to her as they stopped outside a lurid green door. ‘In this country, you can plan and plan all you like, but things will happen as and when they want to. All we can do is relax and go with it.’
Suki’s laissez-faire attitude reminded Olivia instantly of Jacob and his tales of universal powers. Her frustration doubled on the spot.
‘I see. Well, unfortunately I don’t have time to relax. I need to adjust my schedule and do some prioritizing.’
Suki looked Olivia up and down, a smile dancing at the edges of her lips. Without saying another word, she unlocked the door and pushed it open to reveal a charmingly decorated and wonderfully clean-looking bedroom.
Olivia’s entire body melted in relief at the sight.
‘Hopefully this will be a comfortable enough place for you to do all your planning?’
‘This is perfect
, thank you!’
‘My pleasure. Now, why don’t I bring you up some tea whilst you sort yourself out. And then you can come and have some dinner with us all.’
‘Thank you, but I don’t have time.’
‘To eat? Or for tea?’ Suki chuckled. ‘Because in this country, they are the most important activities in life. So, you’d better get used to that!
’ She put the bag on the floor and gave Olivia’s shoulder a squeeze.
‘I’ll leave the tray outside so I don’t disturb you, and I’ll call when dinner is ready, OK? ’
Olivia didn’t even wait for Suki to close the door before diving into her bag and digging out her thick, bound itinerary.
Suki could bring her all the tea she wanted, she thought, but there was no way she was going to give up on her plan yet.
She had to regain some semblance of control.
Too many things had gone wrong so far, and she was barely a week in.
She needed to organize herself.
And … she looked down at her hand, the black ink almost illegible in the dying light. She needed to stop thinking about Jacob. Life out here was hard enough without anything more to distract her, especially when it came to an idiot boy with no sense of responsibility.
Press on, push forward.
We have a job to do.
*
Thankfully, by the time Suki had sounded the dinner gong, Olivia had managed to salvage an agenda for her only day in Agra. True, cuts had to be made, but overall she felt satisfied. Tomorrow was a new day, and maybe, at last, she could relax just a little bit for the evening.
As she descended the stairs, Olivia was instantly hit with the most delicious and intoxicating smell of food.
It was potent and rich, with a kick of chilli that she could feel at the back of her throat.
Her stomach growled in anticipation and her mouth began to water.
As she approached the kitchen door, she could hear the same hum of chatter that had greeted her when she’d first arrived at the homestay.
How many people were staying here?
Suddenly the anxiety that had quietened to a low simmer reared up and gave an almighty kick. The thought of sitting in a room full of strangers with their questions and curiosity
turned her stomach. Could she ask to eat in her room alone? She knew Suki would object, and besides, Olivia was many things but blatantly rude was not one of them.
With a deep inhale she pushed the door open to reveal an egg-yolk yellow room, filled with steam and laughter and the sound of very content and very full people.
‘Ah, Olivia!’ Suki stood in the centre of the kitchen, her bulky frame wrapped in a glittering sari that hung like a dark green snakeskin over her body.
‘Come, sit down here next to me.’ She beckoned her over to the other side of the table.
Everywhere Olivia looked there were bowls of food, almost as vivid as the paint on the walls.
‘This looks incredible!’ she gasped.
‘And all of it must be eaten, so come.’ She grabbed Olivia’s hand and pulled her round to the empty chair next to hers.
Olivia’s cheeks flushed as she noticed the eyes that were following her to her seat.
There were two sets of couples, one old and one young, both rosy-faced and freckled from the sun.
Sitting in between them was a ruddy-faced, short-haired woman who, despite being fifty plus, was wearing an ensemble fit for a toddler.
The effect of the orange dungarees with the lime-green T-shirt and polka-dot socks pulled up to her knees, was quite something for the eyes.
‘Hey, why didn’t you put old Liv next to me, Sooks? Us solo travellers have to stick together, am I right?’ the woman barked across the table. Her voice was abrasive, like stones rubbing against the inside of Olivia’s ears.
‘Because she didn’t want her running for the hills on her first night,’ the elderly man whispered to his wife, just loud enough for everybody to hear.
‘Now, now, let Olivia sit down before we descend into total chaos,’ Suki artfully interrupted, piling food high on a
plate and placing it in front of Olivia. ‘Shall I do introductions?’
The group nodded, mouths too full to object.
‘Right, well then. Everybody, this is Olivia.’
‘Hi, Olivia,’ they chorused cheerfully.
‘And we have Andrea and Alison.’ The two women sitting in the corner waved. ‘Betty and Peter.’ Suki gestured to the oldest pair of guests, who were seated to Olivia’s right-hand side. ‘And, last but not least—’
‘Tracey Warwick, a pleasure to meet you,’ the brash lady interrupted, reaching her thick hand across for Olivia to take. ‘I have to say, it’s nice to see a young woman braving it by herself out here. Single women travellers. We are a rare old breed, you and I!’
‘That’s because you’re both off your rockers.’ Peter snorted, stuffing a piece of roti into his mouth. ‘Who on earth would try and tackle this place by themselves?’
‘Peter.
’ Betty swiped at his hand. ‘Don’t be so rude.’ She turned her wrinkled face to Olivia. ‘I’m sorry about him. He doesn’t know how to behave sometimes.’
‘Feels like all the bloody time with the amount you tell me off,’ he grumbled, reaching for a bowl of thick, red curry.
‘No!’ She moved the dish away from her husband’s reach.
‘Remember what the doctor said, less saucy stuff. It’s not good for your arteries.
’ Ignoring Peter’s angry mumblings, Betty turned her attention back to Olivia, her blue eyes so light in colour they looked like they were made from glass.
‘So, how long have you been in India then, dear?’
‘This is my fourth day,’ Olivia replied, trying her best to resist the urge to shovel all the food into her mouth in one go.