Olivia #2
‘Well, in the next three years I want to get promoted to be a director at work. Then I want to stay for a year before leaving to set up my own business. After that’s turning a profit, ideally within two years, I’ll get married and have my first child, followed swiftly by my second and third.’
Jacob let out a long, slow whistle. ‘Jeez.’
‘You asked!’
‘I know, and it’s my foolish mistake for underestimating your organizational powers,’ he replied kindly, softening Olivia’s defensive edges. ‘And I know you’ve thought these things through very, very
carefully, but I have a question …’
Olivia prickled once again. ‘What?’
‘Where’s the fun?’
‘Oi!’ She kicked him hard this time, causing sand to fly in every direction.
‘I’m serious. What about seeing the world? Or following a passion? Writing a book maybe? Don’t you want to do any of those things?’
‘My work is my fun; I’ve told you that.’
‘And yet you seem to have managed very well without it for the past couple of months.’
‘Only because I’ve had to.’
‘You know what I think we need to do?’ He started to draw a rectangular box in the sand. ‘I think we need to make you a living list.’
‘A what?’
‘A list of things to do that make you feel alive, that aren’t
work related.’
‘If you want to do that, you go ahead, but you’re wasting your time.’ She folded her arms and turned her attention back to the horizon.
‘Number one,’ Jacob mused. ‘Go to at least one new country a year.’
‘Not going to happen.’
‘Number two … climb a mountain.’
‘Absolutely not!’
‘Number three—’
‘Stop!’ Olivia scribbled out the markings he’d made in the sand. ‘This is stupid. I’m not a kid – I don’t need some fantasy list about becoming an actress or eating chocolate cake every day. You asked for my plan, and I gave it to you.’
‘Fair enough.’ Jacob sat up, clearly unbothered by Olivia’s little tantrum. ‘Can I ask a serious question about the plan?’
‘If you have to.’
‘Why do you have to wait so long to set up your own business? Why don’t you do it now?’
‘I don’t have enough experience yet. I’ll need funding and a client base, and right now I’m too young to do it alone.’
‘Hmm, those seem like excuses. Not real reasons.’
Olivia tried hard to keep her voice measured.
‘No offence, but I think I know my industry a little better than you do.’
‘I don’t doubt that you do, but sometimes those on the outside have a better perspective than those on the inside.’
‘How very profound of you.’
‘I’m just offering my opinion.’ He flicked a grain of sand in Olivia’s direction. ‘Do you have a name for your business?’
‘No.’
‘Come on! You’re telling me you haven’t already pictured the name, the little slogan that will go at the bottom of all your emails and company stationery?’
‘I haven’t.’ Olivia saw the mock-up she’d drawn on a Post-it at home, the different fonts she’d played with and the logos she’d sketched. ‘I have other, more important things to do than play pretend. When the time is right and I need the name, then I’ll think of it.’
‘How about …’ He scrunched up his face in thought. ‘Wait, what do you do again?’
‘I’m a business consultant.’
‘OK, I’ll ask the question again.’ He laughed. ‘What do you actually do
?’
‘I help companies become more efficient and improve their output. Ideally by motivating the existing workforce and inspiring people to do better.’
And not firing people as though they mean nothing.
‘OK, I’ve got it,’ he announced proudly. ‘Jackson Green Consulting. Putting people first … always
.’
‘No.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because—’
‘OK, how about Jackson Green Consulting,’ he cut her off. ‘Making people our priority.’
‘It wasn’t the tag line I had a problem with. It was the fact your name was featuring in my company.’
‘Yes, because obviously
I will be your ideas man.’
‘You’re finally going to hang up your nomadic lifestyle and come join us mortals in the real world?’
Jacob shot her a look of disgust. ‘Not a chance! Haven’t you heard of remote working? I can just email you.’
‘Oh yes, because you always reply so quickly and efficiently.’ Her comment made him wince. ‘I need my ideas guy in the office at my beck and call.’
‘Aha! Here she is. The corporate, ball-busting, bad-ass boss. I knew she was hiding in there somewhere.’ He poked her ribs gently.
‘Hey, I’m not a ball-buster. I’m just strong-minded. There’s a difference, you know.’
‘I see. Let me guess, you were a red personality type in all those leadership tests they made you do?’
‘I was a mix of red and yellow, actually.’ Olivia narrowed her eyes. ‘And how do you know about those personality tests?’
‘I did have a job once, you know.’
‘Oh yes, the corporate Jacob that nobody knows about. I wonder what he was like,’ she teased playfully.
‘He was just as handsome.’ Jacob winked. ‘But apart from that, completely different.’
‘Tell me more.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I’m curious. You know so much about me and I know hardly anything about you.’
‘You know loads about me.’
‘Not really. I know you grew up in Surrey, and that’s about it.’
‘And that’s probably the most exciting part.’
‘Hey, stop deflecting.’
‘Look, I don’t like to talk about my life back home.
’ His voice dropped. It wasn’t harsh or angry, but the tone had changed.
There was a firmness to it, a steeliness that wasn’t there before.
‘It’s so long ago that it doesn’t even feel like it belongs to me any more.
I’m not the same person I was, so to me, it’s irrelevant. ’
Olivia’s brain was overrun with questions, but she knew that asking them would push Jacob further than he was willing to go.
‘And in all honesty,’ he continued, drawing patterns in the sand with his toes, ‘there’s nothing much to say.
I’m an only child, my mum and dad are divorced.
I don’t speak to my dad. My mum and I stay in basic contact.
I was bored of living the same old life that everyone else did, so I left and never looked back. ’
‘I see.’ She sat up, brushing the sand from her arms. A few moments of silence passed before Jacob lifted his head and smiled. A simple gesture, but one that eased the building tension instantly.
‘Anyway, how are you feeling about coming to the end of your trip? I bet you’re looking forward to seeing your family again, right? Are you close to them?’
‘Erm …’
Don’t go back to me, don’t go back to me.
‘Kind of. My brother and I have a strange relationship. We don’t see or speak to each other a lot, but we’re still close.’
‘And your sister?’
Olivia’s heart contracted.
‘Yeah … she’s …’ The words were rushing up her throat. ‘She’s …’
Tears pricked her eyes and her chest ached with the weight of the grief. She had allowed it too much freedom lately, and now it believed it could come out whenever it pleased. But not with him. She couldn’t let it, with him.
‘Olivia?’ Jacob moved closer to her.
‘My sister …’ She faltered, her voice so small it was barely audible over the crashing waves. ‘My sister’s … well, she’s …’ Olivia took a deep breath and closed her eyes. ‘She’s dead.’
The words landed like bullets on the ground between them.
‘Shit, Olivia. I didn’t realize. I’m so sorry.’
‘It’s OK.’ She smiled through the stream of tears that were flowing freely down her face. Olivia lifted her chin to the sky and felt the sea air chill the salty tracks on her skin. ‘She passed away a few months ago but she’d been sick for years. She got diagnosed with cancer when she was four.’
‘She was a fighter, then?’
‘Just a bit! If there was one thing Leah loved, it was living.’
‘That’s why she bought you this trip?’
He remembered.
‘Yeah, she bought me a ticket as a farewell gift, wrote me this beautiful letter about how she wanted me to go and explore, and live my life …’
Olivia lowered her face and looked at Jacob. The cheeky bravado that seemed to permanently cloak him had softened to a gentle sweetness.
‘Wow. That’s special.’
‘I mean, let’s be honest, it had to take something special to get me to come and travel round India.’ She dug her toe deep into the baking sand. ‘I’m not sure if you’ve noticed, but it’s not exactly my natural habitat.’
Jacob lifted up her gigantic bag. ‘I have no idea what you mean!’
The pair burst out laughing.
‘I could never say no to Leah. Nobody could.’
‘It sounds like she was an amazing person.’
‘She was.’ Olivia raised her eyes to the ocean. ‘God, she would have loved this.’
‘What do you think she would be doing right now if she was here with us?’
Olivia didn’t have to think twice. The moment she’d seen the water she’d thought of Leah, running straight towards it and diving in.
‘She would have been in there, headfirst.’
‘The ocean?’
‘Uh-huh. I swear that girl was part fish.’
Jacob took her hand.
‘You want to do it?’
‘What? Go in there?’ She nodded at the swirling mass of blue.
He squeezed her tighter and grinned. ‘Exactly!’
Olivia closed her eyes and brought her sister’s face to mind. A face that hadn’t been ravaged by the drugs and the slow eating away of her body. A face that had years to live, a face that had a future, a world to inhabit and dreams to fulfil.
‘Fuck it.’ She snapped open her eyes and stood suddenly. ‘Let’s do it!’
‘Hell yes.’ Jacob jumped up and pulled Olivia towards the ocean. The pair ran so fast, mouths wide open, screaming at the top of their lungs as the cold water lapped at their feet.
‘It’s freezing
,’ she screeched, as the salty waves broke against her thighs.
‘You can’t think about it. You just have to jump in.’
Jacob let go of her hand and dived into the water, emerging moments later like a baby seal, his hair and skin shining wet. ‘Trust me! Just go for it.’
Olivia clenched her fists and tightened her jaw.
One …
‘The longer you stand there, the colder you’re going to get.’
Two …
‘Come on, Olivia! You can do this.’
Thr—
With a deafening scream, she lowered herself under the water. Her entire body went rigid as the cold engulfed her, the strength of the current sweeping her feet from the sand and tossing her upside down like a piece of paper on the wind.
‘Oh my god!’ she cried, finally breaking through the surface.
‘Are you OK?’ Jacob swam closer to her. His face was speckled with drops of the ocean, glittering in the sun.
There was water up her nose and in her ears, the salt stung her eyes, and her hair was splayed all over her face, yet Olivia couldn’t do anything but smile.
‘I’m great.’ She beamed, flinging her arms up in the air. ‘In fact, I’ve never felt better!’