‘Well, we were supposed to take a walk around the Badi Lake, which isn’t too far from here, but …’ She checked the time and felt a stab of panic. How had it got so late?
‘But what?’
‘I don’t think there’s enough time to do it all. We still have to see the temples and head back to the city in time for the sunset on the lake.’
‘How behind are we? Surely it can’t be by that much.’
‘You say that, but somehow we are.’
‘This is my fault, isn’t it? All because I wanted a stupid dosa.’ He kicked the ground hard, sending clouds of dust flying.
‘I won’t say it helped things, no.’
‘I’m sorry.’ His face became solemn. ‘And you’re sure there’s no way to get us back on track? Surely you can come up with something. If anyone can do it, it’s you.’
Olivia brought the agenda for the day to her mind, locating each place on the map she’d imprinted to memory. Unfortunately, this was going to be one problem not even her finest logic could solve.
‘I can’t. But it’s OK, we can prioritize. Like you said, seen one temple, seen them all. Now, the best way to do this is to group things by proximity, therefore reducing the travel time and ticking more off the list. So, it makes the most sense to stay up here and do the lake and the temples. We’ll have to skip the boat ride and sunset.’
A pang of sadness struck her. The boat ride was the thing she had been looking forward to most. The one thing she had specifically saved for her last night.
Jacob shot her a look of intrigue.
‘Oryou could prioritize based on what you want to see most? Surely there are some things you’d like to do more than others?’
‘Yes.’ Was her disappointment that obvious? Olivia needed to get her poker face back, and fast.
‘Right then!’
‘Except, emotion doesn’t have a part to play when it comes to efficiency.’
The statement, although very simple and obvious to Olivia, looked as though it had physically assaulted Jacob, whose jaw was nearly on the floor.
‘Jesus Christ! You are brutal.’
‘I’m thoroughly organized; there’s a difference.’
He ran his hand through his mess of hair and let out a slow, long whistle. ‘I don’t know. I think deep down you’d rather sack everything off and just go and do the boat ride.’
‘Do you now?’
‘I do.’
They were in a standoff, but the intensity of his gaze threatened to disarm her resolve at any moment.
‘I vote the boat ride,’ he shouted.
‘I vote the temples,’ she replied, a little less convincingly.
‘Alas, we find ourselves at an impasse, then, don’t we?’ He took a purposeful step towards her.
‘Yes.’ She tried not to let his sudden closeness unnerve her. ‘I suppose we do.’
‘You know the only way I think we’re going to solve it?’
Another step.
‘How?’ Olivia cursed the quiver in her voice.
