Page 34 of The Christmas Holiday
After an early breakfast together in the dining room, we headed out to meet the car that would take us, in air-conditioned comfort, of course, to our next destination – Agra,home of the Taj Mahal. Although the plan was to see it this evening, at sunset, and the journey was in theory a little under four hours, taking the Yamuna Expressway south, this being India it had been deemed sensible to leave with oodles of time to spare. Just in case. I’d only been in the country a short time but I’d already learned plenty and allowing extra time for things (unless those thingsinvolved service at a top hotel) was definitely something to figure into the equation. Especially if it involved traffic.
‘Have a good day yesterday?’ Hunter asked as we settled into the car and pulled away from one luxurious hotel, bound for another. We’d had the luxury of a day to ourselves the day before. Liv and Sandy had wanted to savour things, and not just go straight from one thingto another without taking the time to enjoy what we’d just experienced. I loved this idea, not only because it gave me the chance to do exactly that, but because it meant I could get plenty of work done on those days too while everything was still fresh in my mind.
‘Yes, thanks. You?’
‘Good, thanks.’
‘Do anything nice?’
‘Some work. Went for a walk. Looked up a friend.’
‘Oh.Right. That sounds… nice.’
Talk about blood out of a stone. I’d begun to think Hunter was softening a little towards me – not inthatway, of course, but just that he didn’t seem to hate me quite so much as he had when he’d first come to my boss’ office. But this morning he seemed cooler again. Of course, if he’d met up with a friend, he could just be hungover… or something else if it hadbeen a female.
‘It must be nice to have friends all over the place you can catch up with when you travel?’
He nodded. And yawned.
‘Looks like you could do with a nap.’
‘Yeah. Probably.’ He yawned again.
I gave up on the conversation and looked out of the window, watching the assortment of life beyond the glass, from those who had everything as we passed luxury apartments setback from the road in carefully manicured and maintained grounds, their gated entrances jealously guarding the supercars parked beneath the buildings, straight across the spectrum to those who had practically nothing as they made their homes right there on the dusty, cacophonous streets.
‘Land of contrasts, eh?’
I glanced at Hunter, assuming he would already have nodded off, but he waswatching the same little girl I was, running around, her face shining with the most wonderful smile as she played with an incredibly raggedy doll that looked fit to fall to pieces at any moment in her tiny hands.
‘It is. It seems so unfair that some have so much and others barely anything.’ I turned my head away from the little girl and her play.
He rubbed his chin, dark stubble shadowinghis face. ‘It’s the same the world over. It’s just more obvious in some places than others.’ His eyes were shadowed from lack of sleep and, although his gaze still focused on the child, his expression seemed much further away.
‘I suppose you’re right.’ At my comment, he pulled his gaze away and it landed back on me.
‘You really do look ever so tired. Why don’t you try and get some sleep?’
He shook his head, reaching into his rucksack and pulling out an energy drink instead.
‘You know that stuff’s terrible for you, don’t you?’
He rolled his eyes at me and popped the can’s ring. I tilted my head and gave him an eye-roll back before Olivia leant across the spacious car to speak to me. As she did so, she caught sight of Hunter.
‘Oh Hunter! You know that stuff’s terriblefor you, don’t you?’
‘There’s a bloody echo in this car,’ he grumbled.
Liv looked at him, then me. ‘I sort of just said the same thing.’
‘Oh. Well. Then perhaps you should start listening?’ Liv fixed him with a look.
‘Don’t give me that snooty look.’ He shook his head, glancing past her to where Sandeep was chuckling at the interchange. Something out of the window caught Hunter’seye. ‘I’m seriously considering that bit of space on top of that bus. I bet they wouldn’t give me grief about my choice of beverage.’
‘Shall I get the driver to stop?’ Liv asked, her eyes innocent.
Hunter gave her a tight smile but we could all see the shine of amusement in his eyes.
‘Smart arse.’
