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‘I have a car you can borrow,’ said Quinn.
‘No honestly, I don’t need your car, I can borrow my boyfriend’s car … ’ She paused. ‘Thank you, though, it’s kind of you to offer.’
‘Well if you borrow Greg’s car, you’ll have to go and buy new toothbrushes and that sounds – ’ his deep voice cracked slightly – ‘like hard work.’
Minnie flexed out the fingers on her other hand, every fibre of her body cringing.
‘Honestly, Minnie, I’d be happy to help you out. Let me know where you are and I’ll come drop off the car. Consider it restitution for stealing your name.’
Minnie walked back into the kitchen with a dazed look on her face.
‘Is Greg bringing his car?’ Leila asked, as she folded flat-packed cardboard into pie boxes.
‘No,’ said Minnie staring off into space, still shell-shocked. ‘Quinn Hamilton is bringing his.’
New Year’s Eve 2015
Quinn had booked a private dinner on the beach. He’d been deliberating between the hotel’s ‘Romance at Sunset’ package and the ‘Anniversary Package’. Optional extras included a serenading violinist, your own personal butler, or an upgrade to the waterfront gazebo complete with ‘waterside entertainment’, whatever that involved. When had eating food become so complicated? He’d opted for the basic ‘Romance at Sunset’ with none of the optional extras – good to keep this simple.
Throughout the afternoon, hotel staff had been back and forth to the beach outside their villa setting everything up. Jaya had spent the day at the spa and, when she returned, Quinn shut the villa blinds while she got changed so that their dinner plans would be a surprise. As he led Jaya outside, he saw how much effort the staff had gone to. A trail of paper lanterns made a path across the beach to a solitary white-linen-covered table. Tiki lights were positioned in a circle around it, demarking an island in the sand, and garlands of opulent white flowers hung between the flaming tiki lights.
Jaya gasped, ‘Oh Quinn, how romantic!’
‘The hotel set it up,’ said Quinn, anxious not to get too much credit for this ostentatious display.
They walked through the screen doors onto the sand and Jaya paused, bending down to take off her heels. Quinnwore a dark blue linen suit and Jaya was dressed in the green silk evening gown that Quinn had bought her during their stopover in Munich. She looked beautiful; the dress hugged her body in all the right places and she’d spent hours at the hotel salon, getting a blow-dry and various other treatments Quinn had soon lost interest in hearing about.
Quinn put one hand against the small of her back, guiding her forwards; with the other he pulled out the white cotton-covered chair for her. He noticed there was a pink bow tied to the back of it. It looked slightly frayed on one side and he wondered how many ‘Romance at Sunset’ packages this ribbon had been witness to.
It had been Jaya’s idea to come to India for the holidays. She wanted to see her family in Mumbai and she’d persuaded him to come too, promising him a week on the beach in Goa at the end of their trip. On one level the trip had been a success; Jaya’s family had all greeted Quinn like some celebrity, parading out cousins and aunts to meet the ‘man from Cambridge University’. Now they were at the most luxurious resort Quinn had ever stayed in, or paid for. Jaya had been an obliging companion, as insatiable as ever. He wouldn’t admit this to anyone, but last night he’d wondered if, just once, they couldn’t simply watch a DVD and not have sex four times.
On the plus side, Jaya had been so busy using all the hotel facilities that Quinn had had plenty of time to himself. It was such a relief to be away from home, not to be needed by someone at a moment’s notice, not to be called in the middleof the night. It was only being away that made him see how draining it was being in permanent standby mode.
He felt bad being away for so long, especially over Christmas. His mother had reassured him she’d be fine. She had her sister over from America; Aunt Patricia – one of the lucky, trusted few.
‘Oh look, how precious,’ Jaya said, wrinkling her nose into a smile, ‘they made the napkins into hearts, isn’t that cute?’
‘Nice,’ Quinn said, shaking his heart out with a sharp flick of the wrist.
‘The perfect setting for a special evening,’ Jaya said, leaning over to touch his arm, her deep brown eyes gazing into his. Looking across the table at her, he noticed that each of her eyebrow hairs had been perfectly combed into conformity.
On a cold, snowy November day in Cambridge, when Jaya had suggested sundowners on the beach for New Year, Quinn had not been hard to convince. Especially knowing his aunt was coming over, and it might be one of his few opportunities to get away. But as the trip went on, and Quinn was presented to more and more of Jaya’s relations, he started to worry that ‘meeting the family’ might have more significance to Jaya than he realised. He and Jaya had only been dating a few months – he wouldn’t want her to get the wrong idea.
Jaya smiled at Quinn across the table. He could see she was wearing the make-up she reserved for ‘big nights out’; the gold dust that made her cheekbones glow. She was wearing it on her cleavage too, and some of the make-up had smudged onto the dress by her breast. Quinn had a sudden urge to pick her up in a fireman’s lift and run with her into the sea, plungingboth their heads beneath the waves. Jaya didn’t like to get her hair wet. It made Quinn smile, just thinking about how cross she would be.
‘Can you?’ Jaya asked, pulling out her camera phone and handing it to Quinn. He obliged, snapping four photos of her at a flattering angle. She was never happy with any less than four.
‘Thanks, hun, I’ll get the guy to take one of both of us when he comes,’ she said, placing her phone face down on the table next to her fork.
Jaya had numerous social media followers, who she updated regularly about her life. Quinn noticed she posted a lot more on days when she’d taken time to add the golden glow to her face. Quinn didn’t have a social media account before going to Cambridge to do his Masters. It was Jaya who’d convinced him he needed to have one. She liked to tag him in photos of them together with comments like, ‘I want to let my beau know he means the world to me!’ Jaya was very worried he might miss these messages if she couldn’t tag him, so he had created an account to please her.
‘This holiday has been so magical, Quinny,’ Jaya said, looking out to sea where the sun was beginning to dip below the clouds. ‘Would it sound selfish if I said it’s been wonderful to have you all to myself for so long?’
‘I’ve enjoyed it too,’ said Quinn picking up the menu. ‘Hey, they have those curried clams you like, should we get a ton?’
‘Because sometimes in Cambridge, well, don’t take this the wrong way, but you can seem a little distracted,’ Jaya said, picking up her knife and checking her reflection in the blade.
‘Hmm,’ Quinn made a nondescript noise as he looked out to sea.
