‘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 hisgrip 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.’
Jacob
He wasn’t often lost for words, but as the little boat made its way around the lake, Jacob found himself rendered speechless. There was something so comforting about the gentle rocking motion, the lapping of the water and the spray of cool breeze on his face. He’d often thought, in the early days of his travels, that maybe he should just buy himself a boat. Nothing fancy, maybe a little doer-upper, so he could learn to sail and spend his life on the ocean. Then he really would be alone. No one but the mighty waters to answer to, and no one to let down or disappoint. But for all his best intentions, he found that the reality of his idea was simply a step too far. Just because he would never have a fixed home again, it didn’t mean he should shun himself completely from society. Besides, after a while he always got seasick, and there was no place for that when living on a boat.
Jacob lifted his face to catch the final rays of the sun before it began its descent and clocked off for the night. Its farewell was greeted with appreciative ‘ooohs’ and ‘aaahs’ from the other passengers, who began clicking their camerasand waving their phones in the direction of the skyline. Who could blame them? Seeing the magnificence of the palace floating on the water was one thing, but set against the backdrop of the ruby-red and deep ochre sunset, it was breathtaking. It looked as though the entire sky was set ablaze, a beautiful inferno; a fittingly dramatic exit for the majesty of the sun.
‘So.’ He leant in closer to Olivia, who had been equally as quiet. ‘Was it worth skipping those boring temples to come and see this?’
‘Definitely,’ she whispered, the smell of peanuts and sweet vanilla cake still heavy on her breath. ‘Was it worth doing all that running for?’
‘I don’t know. You’ve seen one sunset, you’ve seen them all, am I right?’
The joke came out before he could stop it, his humorous reflex kicking in automatically. If only he could take back his stupid comment and tell her honestly that it had been one of the best things he’d done for a very long time.
Olivia simply tutted and rolled her eyes, shifting her gaze back out on to the water, and Jacob knew the moment had passed.
