Page 37 of The Christmas Holiday
Chapter Nine
‘OK, that’s twenty minutes now and you haven’t spoken a word. I’m officially worried.’
Hunter’s voice close behind me made me jump. I turned and looked up. The sunglasses that had shaded his eyes earlier were now pushed up on his dark hair. His shirtsleeves were folded back to just below the elbow and his hands were shoved casually into his pockets. His camera hung fromhis shoulder.
‘You’re funny.’
‘I have my moments.’
‘Well, just so you know, that wasn’t one of them.’
He pushed his bottom lip out for a moment and nodded. ‘OK, so are you still mad at me about the photo thing earlier, or is this a new reason to be pissed off at me?’
I sat down on a marble step, still cool despite the blazing heat that had been beating down on it all day andwas only now ebbing. Hunter sat next to me.
‘I’m not mad at you. You’re an arse but you’re a decent one. I think. At least you were. And I think sometimes you just like a reaction.’
‘I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.’
‘And the reason I haven’t said anything for the last twenty minutes is… it’s the Taj Mahal, Hunter! You know how I’ve always wanted to see it. And I’m finally here.I’m actually seeing it and it almost doesn’t look real. It’s so familiar that it’s kind of illusory. To really be standing – or sitting – here now, able to put my hands on it… I guess I’m just taking it all in.’ I turned a little and watched it all – the other visitors, the security guards replete with scary-looking guns, the reflecting pool and the utter perfection and beauty that I was lucky enoughto be in the presence of.
‘It’s so beautiful, Hunter. So utterly beautiful. It’s actually pink now! If you didn’t know differently, you’d think it was created from soft pink marble instead of brilliant white. Isn’t that just wonderful?’
He smiled and stood, holding out his hand to help me up. I took it and brushed a little at my backside. We walked in companionable silence over to theopposite side and leant against the wall, looking out at the Yamuna River. The banks were visible, and Hunter explained how the levels would have been higher back in the summer as the rains replenished it. The bend kissed the grounds of the Taj before curving away on either side.
‘It’s so tranquil here.’
‘It is.’
I looked over to the piece of land opposite the Taj, the other side ofthe river bend. ‘Do you think he really did intend to build a matching one in black marble over there? You know, before the whole son-locking-him-in-a-tower-thing happened?’
Hunter shrugged. ‘I’m not sure. He might have had it in his mind, but it would have been unbelievably costly. I mean, he was stinking rich, but even so, the cost of getting that much black marble here and then buildinganother incredible structure like this one? That might have been beyond even Shah Jahan’s means. Or it could all be a fabrication that’s just been passed down over the years and taken into people’s hearts because of the romance of it all. Who knows?’
I turned my back to the river and let my eyes drift over the Taj again, still glowing pink in the light from the setting sun.
‘He must haveloved her very much. It’s quite sad really.’
‘That he loved her enough to build her something like this?’
‘No,’ I said, turning back to face him. ‘That he had to build it in the first place, and then just sat there looking at it every day from his prison.’
‘Would it have been better for him not to have been able to see it at all?’
I thought about that one.
‘I’m not sure.’
‘No,’ Hunter said, ‘me neither. There are definitely arguments f or and against.’ I waited for him to say more but his face had taken on that distant look again and I couldn’t read him. He turned his gaze back to me. ‘Come on, let’s go and find the others. I want to get a few more shots before the sun disappears.’ He texted and immediately got a reply. ‘They’re over that way. Ready?’
Inodded and kept up with his long strides, mostly by taking at least one and a half each time, but I knew his rules about sticking together as a team. And I certainly wasn’t going to give any sort of hint that I was struggling to keep up and get another black mark against my name. He’d always walked fast and I’d always done my best to keep up but, back in what seemed like a different world now, he’dsuddenly remember and slow down a bit, even if I told him I was OK. Clearly, rules for colleagues and girlfriends differed. Or, at least, they differed for me. And that was fine. It was more than fine, actually. It was great. It showed he was treating me as a colleague. Which was exactly what I wanted. Of course it was.
‘You’re frowning. Is that internal monologue running in your head again?’
‘What internal monologue?’
‘Mia. You always have an internal monologue on the go. Looks like some things never change.’
‘I don’t know what you’re talking about, I was just thinking about… how to even start putting this experience into words.’
