One Year Later Olivia
One Year Later
Olivia
As she stood on the beach and looked out to the ocean, time seemed to dissolve around her.
Had it really been a whole year?
So much had changed – in fact, almost everything had changed – but this place remained untouched, with its acres of sand and deep blue waters.
The smell of smoky spices and metallic petrol still infused the dense, hot air, and the sounds of oncoming traffic still blasted over the slapping beat of the waves.
‘Is it how you remembered it?’ Cece came to stand next to her, the tinkling of her beaded hair signalling her arrival.
‘No.’ Olivia looked at her friend. ‘It’s better.’
‘The company probably helps, right?’
The pair turned to look over to the group of bodies making their way towards them down the beach: a collection of people Olivia had never anticipated seeing all together, let alone halfway across the world in India.
The trip had taken so much planning and countless hours of organization that at times Olivia was tempted to pack it all in and ship everyone
off to Scarborough for the week. The logistics alone were a nightmare, and on top of that, trying to take time off work when she’d just started her own business was insane. But standing here, she knew it was worth every second.
‘Yeah, it’s been good for us to get away. I mean, don’t get me wrong’ – she dropped her voice – ‘there have been some challenges.’
‘Going on holiday with family is never easy.’
‘No, and I’m not sure my mum knows what to make of Tracey and her parenting style.’
‘Going out with your daughters until 4 a.m. drinking fishbowls isn’t what you and your mum like to do together?’
Olivia burst out laughing; the memory of seeing Tracey and her girls at breakfast that morning, heads hung low, eyes red-raw from lack of sleep, was something she wouldn’t forget in a while.
‘No, strangely not.’
‘And how are you doing?’ Cece nudged her gently, her tanned, inked skin so soft to the touch.
‘I’m OK.’ Olivia watched as the motley crew drew closer.
Her mum and dad arm in arm, glimmers of happiness finally breaking through their walls of grief.
Kate chatting animatedly to Tracey and her daughters, who appeared to have made a miraculous recovery from their earlier hangovers.
And then there was Kyle and Helen, one either side, supporting Jacob as he limped gingerly towards them.
Unfortunately, it hadn’t just been one operation that Jacob had had to endure. They were now on number four, each one taking a little more out of him and making the recovery that much more challenging. Yet after months of painstaking rehab and physical therapy, there was one thing they
hadn’t managed to take from him. One thing that Olivia knew they never would. And that was hope.
‘It’s obviously been tough, but we’re getting there. Day by day, living in the here and now, and all that crap.’
‘Ha!’ Cece threw her head back. ‘Still not a believer in the universe then, I take it?’
‘I don’t know.’ She looked at Jacob, his jet-black eyes narrowed in determination. ‘It did give me one good thing, I suppose.’
‘Yeah.’ Cece squeezed her hand. ‘It looks that way to me.’
‘Right, ladies!’ Tracey bellowed, causing the other holidaymakers to practically jump out of their crispy red skins. ‘Enough chatting – are we going in that ocean or what?’
‘Yes!’ Jacob cried. ‘A woman who finally
speaks my language.’
‘No!’ Olivia and Helen replied in unison, as the group finally came together. ‘There is no way you’re going in there, Jacob,’ Olivia stated firmly.
‘Come on
. It’s either that or the motorbike: you choose.’
‘Motorbike?’ Kyle’s face lit up.
‘Don’t you dare
,’ Kate hissed, glowering at him with a look worse than death.
‘Well, I don’t know about you kids, but I reckon saltwater is the perfect thing to blow my cobwebs away.’ Tracey ripped off her T-shirt and threw it over her head. ‘Suze, Dave?’ She draped her arms across Olivia’s parents’ shoulders. ‘What do you say?’
‘I’m not sure …’ Olivia’s mum faltered. ‘Someone will need to stay here with the stuff.’
‘Mum, I’ll do that. You go.’ Olivia took the beach bag from her mother’s shoulders and shooed her parents away. ‘Go! Have fun!’
‘You don’t need to tell me twice.’ Kyle swept Kate up into his arms and charged towards the water, her legs kicking wildly and mouth screaming every step of the way.
‘Helen, you fancy a dip?’ Cece held out her arm for Jacob’s mum to take.
‘Why not? These legs haven’t seen daylight in about thirty years – I might as well make the most of it.’
The pair walked off to join the others at the water’s edge, leaving Olivia and Jacob to watch on from the shore.
‘Well, it looks like you’re stuck on dry land with me.’ Jacob sighed, allowing Olivia to take the weight of him.
‘I think I can manage that.’ She planted a tender kiss on his cheek.
‘Good, because I was wondering’ – he reached into his pocket – ‘if you fancied playing a little game with me?’
He held out a very worn and weathered-looking pair of dice.
‘Jacob, you didn’t!’
‘Of course I did! It wouldn’t have been right not to bring them along for the ride.’ He waggled them in front of her face. ‘Shall we?’
‘Fine.’ She helped lower him to the ground, shocked that even after a year he could still find ways to surprise her. ‘How do you want to play it?’
‘Let’s keep it simple: we each get to ask the universe a question. Evens is yes and odds is no.’
‘Simple yet totally ridiculous.’ She sighed, grabbing the dice and shaking them. ‘Will Jacob ever grow up?’
She let them fall across the sand.
A five.
‘Aha’ – he smirked – ‘I could have told you that one for free.’
‘One can always hope.’
‘Now, my turn.’ He scooped up the dice and held them close to his chest. ‘What to ask … what to ask …’
After thirty seconds of him deliberating, Olivia became too exasperated to care. She lay back on the sand and stared out to the ocean. It was always best to leave him to it when he was in one of his particularly annoying moods.
‘All right, I’ve got it!’
‘At last …’
He gave his hand one last shake, before opening his palm to reveal something very different from the beaten-up pair of dice.
Olivia sat bolt upright.
‘What’s that?’
‘Excuse me.’ He smiled slyly. ‘I thought it was my turn to ask the questions.’
‘Jacob, I’m serious – what is that?’
‘What does it look like?’
Olivia’s mouth went dry.
It was a ring.
A dazzling, square-cut diamond ring.
‘I don’t understand.’
Olivia’s palms were sweating. Her entire body was on fire, and her heart felt far too big for her chest.
‘Well, let me make it a little clearer.’ He awkwardly hiked himself up on to one knee. ‘Olivia Jackson, will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?’
‘Are you serious?’
‘More than I’ve ever been in my whole, entire life.’
And in that moment – as she wrapped her arms around him, screaming her answer to the sky; as she agreed to marry the man who had become her best friend, the man that was
fighting every single day to be here with her, who had shown her in so many ways what it meant to live, and above all else, what it meant to love – in that precious, magical moment, a tiny part of Olivia Jackson couldn’t help but believe in fate.