Page 33 of The Trip of a Lifetime

‘What a few days we’ve had,’ I said. ‘I can’t believe how much ground we’ve covered.’

Erin had crawled under her covers now and was curled up on her side with only her nose and eyes poking out from under the duvet. There was so much I wanted to say to her but I decided not to. Instead, I got under my own covers and the next thing I knew it was morning.

We had the whole day at the hotel and Erin invited Noah to use the table in our room for some speed puzzling practice as he didn’t have quite the same luxurious set-up as us. Erin and I were supposed to be going out for a walk together but in the end I went alone, Erin happily sorting the edge pieces for Noah as I left.

I saw Harrison and Sam briefly in reception and overheard them telling Priya that they had got there in the middle of the night and that they were both exhausted. Harrison looked harassed and he needed a shave. I could only imagine how the last leg of his journey had been. Gone was the smug, clean-cut figure of a few days ago. Sam looked less ruffled but that was youth for you.

So, we would have a good time advantage over them, I thought as I wandered past.

And then I heard Priya say something odd.

‘I think that Martha is getting information from her producer. Do you think she might be cheating?’

‘What?’ Harrison said, a genuine note of surprise in his voice.

I was behind a group of guests who were milling around, waiting to check out, and I tucked myself further into their group and firmly out of sight. My woolly hat was pulled down fairly low and the collar of my coat was pulled up, so I didn’t think they’d notice me.

‘Well, she knew all about your taxi breaking down and was laughing about it on the coach. Off camera, of course.’

‘Really?’ Harrison said. ‘I suppose she’s not my number one fan after the first race, but… she was actually laughing?’

‘Gloating, I’d say, but maybe I misread the situation.’

I’m not really sure why I didn’t step out then and confront Priya but I hung back in the shadow of the group. All I could think about was what Erin had said. She didn’t like Priya. She got some sort of vibe from her. I felt as if she was best watched from a distance. Perhaps she was just being a bit of a bitch or maybe she had an agenda. Whether that was just to make Harrison see me in a different light or whether it was directly race-related I couldn’t tell. I made a decision to say nothing for now, not even to Erin as I slunk away from the group.

* * *

We had a fairly lazy day in the end. I didn’t walk far, my knee was protesting and despite several layers of plasters, the blister on my heel persisted to cause me pain. I decided it would be better to rest. Noah and Erin were competing against each other when I returned to the room. Noah clearly had the edge. I curled up on the sofa to watch them.

‘It’s so hard,’ Erin said. ‘We’ve been doing the same easy five-hundred-piece puzzle and my time is about two hours. Guess what time Noah has?’

‘I have no idea.’

‘Fifty-one minutes! I guess I won’t be going to the championships in Spain.’ She laughed. ‘I thought I was good at jigsaws.’

‘It’s not about being good, it’s about being fast and efficient. With a lot of practice, I’m sure you’d be great,’ Noah said.

‘No, it’s just not in me.’ Erin was defeated.

‘I need to go,’ Noah said. ‘Cally will be looking for me. Group dinner at five.’

We were down in the bar at four for pre-dinner drinks, although I decided to have a sparkling water. After dinner, I knew Cally would want to do a piece-to-camera at some point. If I didn’t have my wits about me I’d end up talking about Harrison or maybe Priya. Nothing good could come from that. Well, nothing good from my point of view – I expected that Cally would be delighted.

I stood back and watched Priya for a short while. She was talking to Liz and I tried to hear what they were saying to each other, but Erin was talking to Femi right next to me so I couldn’t make out any of their conversation. I was feeling paranoid they were talking about me. Liz looked over at me then, as if to confirm my fears. And then I laughed out loud.

Both Femi and Erin turned to me, surprised.

‘I’m not a teenager, am I?’ I asked.

‘Er, no,’ Erin said, bemused.

‘And we’re not in the playground?’

‘No offence, but we haven’t been there for decades,’ Femi said with a grin.

‘Exactly, we haven’t,’ I said and turned my back on Priya. I was way too old for playground games. And I wasn’t prepared to let her intimidate me. Whatever she was up to, I wanted no part of it.

At five fifteen we were all sitting down for dinner.