By the time they left the cafe, it was nearly midday. The streets were busier, the sun was hotter, and Olivia’s heart felt a little lighter.
‘Now, is this or is this not the best banana milkshake you’ve ever had in your life?’ Cece grinned, proudly raising her cup in the air as they made their way back to the beach.
‘It’s delicious’ – Olivia sucked the cold, sweet liquid in satisfaction – ‘but I’m surprised; I thought you yogis were all green juice and kale salads.’
‘Hell no!’ Cece looked horrified. ‘Life is way too short not to eat sugar.’
‘I can get on board with that.’ Olivia polished off her drink with one final slurp. ‘Although I’ll probably crash in about an hour.’
‘Ah, always the risk with a morning shake.’ Cece shrugged. ‘Have you got much to do today?’
‘I have a couple of churches to visit and, if there’s time, a small temple to the north.’ Olivia could feel her blood fizzingwith sweetness – under the heat of the sun, it was making her feel a little drunk.
‘Are you religious?’
‘No.’ Olivia steadied herself as a stray dog hurtled past her on the sand. ‘Definitely not.’
Her mind began to swim with images. Walking into the living room and seeing her mum and dad on their knees, eyes closed, fervently whispering prayer after prayer for Leah. The local priest visiting the house to bless the entire family, whilst her baby sister lay in the bed next to them, unable to even open her eyes from the pain. The funeral, with the same priest praising God for taking Leah into his arms and welcoming her to heaven.
‘But you love visiting churches?’
‘Let’s just say, I’m not very good at lying on a beach all day and reading books.’ Olivia nodded towards the swarms of tourists that had descended upon the beach, loaded with towels and not enough sun cream. The patchwork quilt of red and white skin was stark against the golden sand. ‘I needed something a bit more cultural to do while I was here.’
‘Ah, well that blows my offer of sitting by the ocean out of the window.’ Cece winked. ‘I have an hour until my next client.’
‘Hey, there’s always room for negotiation.’
‘Go on …’
‘I’ll sit for a bit, as long as it’s in the shade. I’ll roast in this heat otherwise.’
‘Deal!’ Cece gestured to a patch of palm trees a little to their left. ‘Over here looks perfect.’
Annoyingly, they had no towels or deckchairs to protect them from the searing hot sand, which, even in the shade of the trees, had risen to quite a temperature. Olivia hovered above the ground, switching her weight every so often betweenbum cheeks so as to avoid crisping one more than the other. As she rested her back against the rough bark of a tree, she took a moment to absorb the view. The ocean and sky bleeding their blues into one another like halves of the same whole. Children throwing themselves into the oncoming waves, tossing their bodies around as though they were easily replaceable. Fishermen hauling their catch up the beach, their boats standing to attention like neat wooden toys, each painted a mixture of reds and greens and yellows. It was beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, that Olivia couldn’t help but reach for her phone to take a picture.
‘I know, I know, it’s super touristy.’ She laughed as Cece watched her snap away. ‘But my friend Kate will kill me if I don’t show her this.’
‘Hey, no judgement here. I have about a hundred pictures of this beach on my phone. It’s idyllic.’
‘It is.’ She took a couple more for good measure and fired off the best ones to Kate, her brother and then, as a quick afterthought, her mum and dad.
‘I’ve been to many places in my life, but I don’t think anywhere beats this.’ Cece sighed, shuffling further down into the sand. ‘Where’s your favourite place?’
But Olivia couldn’t answer. In fact, she’d barely heard the question. Her whole being had become focused on the little notification that sat at the top of her screen. She hadn’t seen it before, the glare from the sun obscuring it from view. But there it was, almost yelling the words at her.
One new email from [email protected]
‘Olivia?’ Cece peered over at her. ‘Is everything OK?’
How could she even think about answering that withoutreading Jacob’s email? The fact that he was alive was a huge relief, but now the sting of his two-week delay pierced her heart. What was he playing at?
‘Uh-huh,’ she replied distractedly, clicking on to the message and watching as it loaded. Her eyes plucked words at random from the short paragraph on screen.
Was that it?
She tried to scroll further down the screen.
That’s it!
