Chapter 16
Sampath sat on his bed and swiped back a page on his Kindle. This was the third time he’d had to go back because he couldn’t remember what he’d just read. He would get through a few sentences and then Kalpana would float back into his mind.
She deserved someone who could focus on her.
Not to be second fiddle to Marcus’s writing career.
Marcus didn’t even respect her writing. When Sampath had claimed The Sweetest Thing was about an artist, he had known that wasn’t true, but Marcus hadn’t.
Despite claiming it was his favourite book of hers.
No. That guy hadn’t read a single book that Kalpana had written, Sampath was sure of it.
And the stuff he said! ‘Oh, you write so fast; your work is so commercial.’ How could Kalpana not see that it wasn’t a compliment?
Was she so in love with him that she didn’t notice the sneery subtext?
Sampath gave up and turned the screen off. Kalpana loved the guy. So he had done the right thing when he’d helped her see that her doubts were just down to nerves.
‘Bugger.’ He hit the back of his head against the wall. If it was the right thing to do, why did he feel so awful about it?
Because he was an idiot, that was why! What kind of a damn fool wedding planner caught feelings for a bride? Seriously. He needed his head examined.
Well, tomorrow was the last time he needed to spend time with them until the day they left. After that, they were supposed to be having a nice little holiday together. That should give them time to patch things up and give him time to get over himself.
Yes, the sooner he put some distance between himself and Kalpana, the better. He should go out clubbing or something when he got back to Colombo. There were some places on his list that he should check out. Dancing was always good for emptying his mind and tiring out his body.
Lal came in, carrying a wet towel. His hair was damp. ‘Do you want to see what’s in the kitchens? Or shall we go out? There’s a good fish place in the village.’
‘Fish place sounds good.’ Sampath sat up. ‘Let’s do that.’
It took a few minutes to put on a clean shirt and run a comb through his hair. When he got back to Mrs Pieris’s B&B in Colombo, he would have to ask if he could do some laundry. She’d said she could do that for a small fee.
Lal raised his eyebrows when he saw him. ‘How can one person own so many ridiculous shirts?’
Sampath looked down. This shirt was blue with a large peacock feather motif on one side. Like most of the shirts he was wearing this holiday, he’d bought it in a handicraft place. ‘What’s wrong with my shirt?’
‘Come on, men. I’ve heard of the statement shirt. I’ve got a few nice ones myself. But you’ve been coming up with them every single day. What happens if you wear a plain shirt? Do you explode or something?’
‘I have a whole load of plain shirts at home,’ he said. ‘I’m on holiday. I want to wear fun stuff.’ He put his hands on his hips. ‘Now if you’ve finished criticising my wardrobe, can we get on with finding some food?’
Lal shook his head. ‘Fine. Fine. Let’s go.’
‘By the way,’ Sampath said to Lal, as they set off. ‘I’m going back to Colombo for a few days. You’ll be okay to run Marcus and Kalpana around if they want to go and do a bit of sightseeing, right?’
‘Oh, sure. I know this area pretty well. We often have clients staying in hotels around here.’ Lal blipped the van open and got in. ‘What are you going to do in Colombo?’
‘I’m checking out a few more places on the list. Tick off the last of the service providers.
Get a feel for Park Street Mews at night.
That sort of thing.’ Sampath did up his seatbelt and then stretched his arms out above his head.
‘The happy couple can spend some quality time together. I daresay they’ll be pleased to be rid of me. ’
Lal gave him a shrewd look. ‘You think?’ He put the van in gear and pulled out. ‘I think they’re glad you’re around. It means they don’t have to talk to each other.’ He gave a short laugh. ‘I guess in that sense they’re already like an old married couple.’
‘Hey, married couples can be happy together years after they get married!’
The younger man laughed. ‘You really believe in this true love shit?’
‘I have to,’ Sampath said. ‘It’s my job. Also … I’ve seen it. My sister and my brother-in-law … Things were hard, but they loved each other.’
‘Your sister you were telling me about last night?’ Lal cast a quick glance at him and then focused on the road again. ‘The one who …’
‘The one who died, yes.’
‘She was married?’
‘Yeah. That was the first wedding I ever organised.’ He looked up through the windscreen at the cloud-streaked night sky.
‘They wanted to get married before she died. She was too ill and he was too busy juggling work and looking after her, so they asked me to organise it. I was the events guy, after all. It was …’ The tears threatened again.
‘We got permission to use the hospital chapel. She was so ill that Thatha had to push her down the aisle in a wheelchair. We had to adapt the wedding dress with slits to feed the tubes through, and Mum had to follow the bride holding her drip stand. A lot of the nurses came, some of them in uniform. It was a quick ceremony, but … she looked so happy. So did Nick. It was … It was beautiful. I hadn’t seen her smile like that in a long time. ’
For a moment they were both quiet. Insects flitted across the stream of the headlights. Cars zipped past. It started to rain.
When Lal spoke again, his voice sounded tight. ‘Is that why you became a wedding planner?’
Sampath smiled. ‘Yeah. If I could do something to make another human smile like that … I thought I should do it again. And again.’ That was his favourite thing about every wedding.
After the formal wedding bit was done, there always came a moment when the bride and the groom relaxed, looked at each other, and smiled.
All the tension would drain away and, in that moment, they would be supremely happy.
He loved that he was able to do that for people.
‘My akka said that you couldn’t be happy for long, but that you got these moments of pure joy – when everything feels just perfect.
Like when you’ve eaten just enough to feel full, but not enough to feel bloated.
Or you bite into a piece of fruit that’s just right. That sort of thing.’
Lal nodded. ‘Like when you’ve been out in the heat all day and you walk into a room with air conditioning.’
‘Exactly like that. The trick is to recognise those moments when they happen, so that you can remember them when you need to later.’
‘That’s deep.’
‘Hmm.’
The silence settled for a few minutes. They arrived in the town and found a parking space. Just as Sampath was about to get out of the car, Lal said, ‘She sounds like she was a really great person, your akka.’
Sampath felt that familiar tug in his chest whenever he remembered that she was gone. ‘Yes,’ he said. ‘She was.’ He glanced at Lal’s sombre face. Oh. He really had brought the mood down, hadn’t he? He smiled, hoping to lighten things up a bit.
‘When we get back,’ he said, ‘remind me that I need to send the photos I took of some plants to my brother-in-law.’ He jumped out of the van.
‘You’re still close to your brother-in-law?’
‘Of course. He’s family.’
‘What if he gets married again?’
It was a question he had thought about. Lihini wouldn’t want Nick to be alone for the rest of his life. ‘He’s still family. We’ll be as involved as he wants us to be.’
Lal shook his head. ‘That’s way too wholesome to be real. No wonder you believe in true love.’
‘I can’t believe you don’t,’ said Sampath. ‘And you so young! Who hurt you?’
Lal laughed. ‘No one hurt me, old man. I’m just not a starry-eyed idealist like you.’
Bickering gently, they went into the restaurant.
***
The next morning, Kalpana had breakfast by herself, which was no fun at all. Marcus had left early so that he could make his appointment in Colombo.
‘I’ll be back by this evening. I’m sorry to leave you by yourself,’ he’d said, when he sat on the bed to say goodbye. ‘Sampath is still here though. So is the van. Maybe you can do a bit of sightseeing with them when you’re done seeing the wedding package guy.’
It would have been better if he’d been there too, but she didn’t see the point in arguing just before he went off, so she nodded. ‘I’ll make notes on the wedding things.’
‘That’s my girl.’ He had kissed her quickly, added ‘be good’ jokingly and left.
She sipped her fruit juice, thoughtfully.
She still had an hour or so before she’d arranged to meet Sampath in the lobby.
Loitering here, looking out at the garden and the sea visible beyond, wasn’t as much fun when you were alone.
She felt prickly and self-conscious. Grabbing a banana to eat later, she headed back to the room.
The room felt bigger without Marcus in it.
She paced around a bit, wondering what to do with herself.
If she was going to write, she’d need to do it by hand since she didn’t have her laptop.
There were a few things she wanted to look up, in the name of research, but Marcus had taken his laptop with him to Colombo and she hated reading long pages on her phone, so she couldn’t do that.
She was too antsy to read a book. In the end, she pulled out the notebook she’d been writing in and read back over the brainstorming she’d done.
There were the beginnings of something there in the notes.
She needed a few more elements so that she could start shaping the character arcs and working up a story.
She sat at the small desk, rolled out her wrists and started to write.
She was so engrossed in her work that she completely forgot the time until Sampath called her.
‘I’m so sorry.’ She shot to her feet. ‘I’ll be right there.’