Olivia
‘What did you think?’ Jacob asked. ‘Not the best temple I’ve seen.’
‘Spoken very diplomatically, considering it was nothing more than a destitute wreck.’ He reached for her arm and tipped her watch towards him, his hand around her wrist a welcome shock to the system. ‘Now, do we have time to get you some food? You must be starving.’
‘Yes, please! I just don’t know where’s good.’
And clean.
And safe.
And not going to give me food poisoning again.
‘That’s all right, we can ask some of the locals. No big deal.’ Jacob made to flag down another tuk-tuk, catching the eye of its driver as it sped past.
‘The thing is …’ Olivia hesitated.
‘Go on?’
‘Since I got sick, I haven’t been eating anywhere other than my homestays.’
‘I see.’ Jacob nodded in understanding.
‘And there definitely isn’t time to go back there and have food before the boat ride.’
‘No, I don’t think there is.’ He shook his head in dismay. ‘What a devastating blow to the stuffed paratha business. I thought I’d made one of their best customers out of you.’
His gentle tease was enough to ease Olivia’s embarrassment.
‘I know, but at least I got to sample a very good one before abstaining.’
‘It was
tasty, wasn’t it?’ He smiled dreamily.
‘Don’t! I’m still hungry, remember.’
‘Sorry, I’ll keep that sacred memory to myself from now on.’
‘Thank you.’
Jacob chewed the corner of his mouth in deep contemplation.
‘What to do … what to do …’
Olivia was thinking the exact same thing. Why hadn’t she at least packed some emergency snacks?
‘I know!’ Jacob exclaimed.
‘You do?’
‘Yes. You don’t think you’re the only one with a brain for planning, do you?’
‘No,’ she lied.
‘Good, because I have come up with an ingenious, efficient and extremely creative answer to your problem.’
‘Really?’
‘Really! The only question is …’ Jacob turned, their knees knocking together as the tuk-tuk trundled along the bumpy roads. ‘Do you trust me?’
No.
‘Yes,’ she replied, unable to take her eyes off his. ‘But only because I am starving.’
‘Don’t worry, my lady, you won’t be for much longer!’ He leant forward and whispered something into the ear of the driver, who nodded in acknowledgement and jerked the little tuk-tuk off to the left. ‘Hold tight, we’re making a pit stop.’
*
Twenty minutes, a supermarket visit and one chai stop later, Olivia found herself sitting by the lake with what could only be described as a tourist’s dream picnic laid out in front of her.
Multipacks of crisps, bags of peanuts, granola bars, packets of cakes and biscuits, and, of course, large slabs of melting chocolate spilled out from the grocery bag next to them.
It was a junk food addict’s heaven, and despite her initial disgust, Olivia found that it hit the spot.
‘Pass me the rest of the chocolate – it’s got to go before it becomes too liquid.’
Olivia pushed the sticky packet in his direction. ‘You haven’t totally weaned yourself off the hard stuff since leaving Kushal, then?’
Jacob dipped his finger in the mush and scooped it up into his mouth.
‘Absolutely not – I’m too far gone. There’s no coming back from it now.’
‘You were only with him for a few weeks!’
‘Some people only take a day to change your life, Olivia.’ He smacked his lips together. ‘It’s not about time, it’s about impact.’
The weight of his words struck her. Hadn’t she experienced that first-hand? Not just with Jacob, but also with Tracey, and Betty and Suki … all the wonderful, kind souls she’d met on her travels so far. Fleeting flashes of joy, of comfort and of friendship.
‘And anyway, there’s worse things in life than being addicted to chocolate.’
Olivia went to comment but thought better of it.
Unfortunately, it hadn’t gone unnoticed.
‘Go on.’ Jacob cocked his head. ‘What were you about to say?’
‘Nothing.’
‘Come on, say it!’
‘It was honestly nothing.’
‘Olivia.’ He wiped his hand on the front of his shorts and shifted himself to face her. The way he said her name made the hairs on her neck stand to attention. ‘You are many things, but a good liar is not one of them. Tell me!’
‘Fine. I was only going to ask if you are always so optimistic? But then, I think I know the answer without having to ask.’
‘Well, nobody is always
optimistic.’ He grinned, clearly a little flattered by her comment. ‘But I’d say, 99 per cent of the time I am. Life’s too short to be any other way. You
either dwell on your problems or you do something about them. Joy can be found even in the darkest of places. That’s my opinion anyway.’
‘Hmm.’
Olivia bit down hard on the inside of her cheek, the flippancy of his answer igniting a burst of anger.
Clearly his problems had never run so deep that they nearly broke you in two.
Clearly his life had been untouched by the darkness of loss and grief and excruciating, earth-shattering heartbreak.
Clearly, he’d never lived in the real world.
‘You don’t agree?’
‘Not entirely.’ The tension in her jaw was building as she tried to hold back the words that were piling up, rushing to be spoken out loud. But it wasn’t his fault. How was he to know what she’d gone through? What she’d lost? Who
she’d lost?
‘Care to expand?’
‘Not really.’ She managed to push the rage back down and out of sight. ‘And anyway, like you said before, even the best of friends can disagree.’
‘Touché, Miss Jackson.’ He began to chuckle. ‘Now, any more food? Because it looks like our boat is coming in.’
Olivia lifted her head, scanning the shimmering expanse of water that rippled like silk before her.
People were crowded at the edges of the lake, adults admiring the view whilst children desperately tried to dip their toes in.
The grand hotel floated majestically in the centre, as though it had simply been plucked from the sky and placed there as a gift to the city.
It was a hive of activity and yet still managed to remain incredibly peaceful, a feat quite rare in the midst of an Indian city.
‘Where? I can’t see it.’ She squinted, unable to make out any sign of a touring boat on the water.
‘You won’t by looking out there. It’s already in the dock!’
She followed the direction of his pointed finger, where, just as he’d said, their touring boat was sitting, its deck filling up with a line of eager visitors.
‘We’re going to miss it!’
‘No, we won’t.’
‘Yes, we will.’ She jumped up, kicking over the bag of peanuts and sending them flying. ‘We haven’t even got tickets.’
The panic of unpreparedness whipped her like a lasso around the chest, squeezing the air from her lungs and flushing blood to her face.
‘We’ll make it if we run. It’s only down there.’ Jacob nodded calmly to the little jetty about a kilometre down the road.
Olivia began to flap, looking from her watch to the jetty and back down again.
They needed to clean up first. They couldn’t leave the food here.
Then what about the tickets; could they even get them so late?
And even if they did make it, would there be room for them?
They should have been first in the queue.
They should have been there waiting, not lounging around stuffing fake food in their mouths.
‘I don’t know what to do!’ She was paralysed by her own thoughts.
‘Come on.’ Jacob grabbed her hand and pulled hard. ‘Let’s go.’
‘We can’t!’ she squealed. ‘What about the food?’
In one move, he swept the floor and shoved everything back into the bag. ‘There we are, now let’s go!’
‘Jacob, this is stupid,’ she cried, as he dragged her along behind him. ‘We’re never going to make it … look!’
He followed her finger to where the little boat floated, now nearly full. Instead of slowing, he simply tightened his
grip on her hand and picked up his pace. At first, Olivia resisted, dragging her heels in resignation at their inevitable defeat, but still Jacob pulled, his hand like a vice on hers.
‘Come on, Olivia, we can do this!’ he bellowed.
Maybe it was a delayed rush of sugar hitting her system, or maybe the fact that suddenly the jetty seemed within reaching distance, or maybe … just maybe it was the reckless thrill of it all, but soon Olivia found herself running just as hard and just as fast as Jacob down the street.
‘Wait!’ he shouted. ‘Wait for us!’
They were almost there. She could see the man ushering people on give a nod to the skipper.
No.
Not yet. Please, not yet.
‘WAIT.’ A loud, piercing screech erupted from Olivia’s mouth. ‘Hold that boat!’
They closed the final few metres in seconds and Jacob tried, in between deep, heaving breaths, to persuade the man to let them on.
‘We’ll pay double!’ Jacob begged. ‘And we’re only small. Look, we can fit right in the back, nobody will even notice.’
The other customers were staring in blatant disapproval at their holding up the boat.
‘Please …’ he tried again. ‘We really want to make this trip. It’s our last night together and I promised my friend here we’d do this. It’s the only thing she’s been desperate to do since she got to India and—’
‘All right, all right, get on!’ The man cut Jacob’s rambling short, shoving them on to the boat and giving the final command to the skipper to go.
‘I can’t believe we just did that,’ Olivia panted, wiping her brow self-consciously. ‘Everyone must think we’re crazy.’
‘Nah, they just think we’re typical Brits abroad. You want to sit?’
‘Yeah, I think my legs are in shock.’
Jacob led them to two empty seats near the back of the boat. It was a full deck and they had to squeeze their way in between a pair of rather sullen-looking men and a very sunburnt middle-aged couple, who were already glued behind the lenses of their cameras.
‘This’d better be worth it.’ He lowered his voice to a whisper. ‘I don’t run like that for just anything, you know.’
‘It will be.’ Olivia shuffled closer, the entire length of their bodies touching now, beads of her sweat mixing with his. ‘Trust me, it will be.’