The Seven Steps to Closure (19 page)

‘How many jackets do you want Tara?’ he asked me a few minutes later.

‘Ummm. I’m not sure, how much do they cost?’ I asked.

He lowered his voice and said to me, ‘the more we buy the cheaper they’ll get.’ In the end I got three short jackets; cream and red for myself and olive green for Lil, and a chocolate brown three quarter length jacket with a belt for myself. I helped Matt pick out a jacket for his sister – whose name I found out was Gina – and we got a chocolate brown and a cream one for him. They measured us up and promised they would be ready for delivery the next afternoon.

From there we wandered through the antique area; tiny shops crammed with brass pots, wooden statues and copper ornaments and streets lined with refuse and inhabited by goats. After browsing for a while, I picked out a couple a brass elephants and Matt bought an enamelled brass vase for his Aunt.

After that, we hailed another cab and headed back to the water area.

‘There’s a great restaurant down here that I want to take you to, but I don’t want you to pay for me as it’s an expensive one,’ he said. ‘But the food is fantastic – you’ve got to try it.’

‘A deal is a deal,’ I said. ‘You can take me out when we get back to Sydney.’

God, it came out of my mouth without me even thinking it through. I had relaxed so much with him – he was excellent company – and now I had this cringe fully embarrassing sentence just out there in the air somewhere between us doing God knows what sort of damage to the fragile relationship that had been building. I had practically asked him out on a date. No worse, I had told him he had to take me out when we got back. I resisted the urge to put my face in my hands and groan. He was probably already sick and tired of me and looking forward to never ever having to see me again. I opened my mouth to retract the sentence but couldn’t think of a graceful way to do it.

‘I’d enjoy that,’ he said thoughtfully and smiled at me. ‘Here we are,’ he paid the cab driver and leapt out, leaving me sitting there with a stunned look on my face. A slow smile started to replace my stunned look.
He’d enjoy that hey? Well there you go
.

He stuck his head back in the cab, ‘Tara?’ he said questioningly. I realised that the cab driver had pivoted around and was also staring at me, looking slightly annoyed that I was still in his vehicle.

‘Yep sorry,’ I said, unable to wipe the grin off my face, ‘just checking I had everything.’

‘You don’t want to leave anything in a cab in India,’ Matt agreed.

The food at Trishna – the restaurant Matt had suggested – was out of this world.

I groaned as I lay back in my chair and undid the top button of my pants. ‘The heart is strong but my stomach’s too small. It seems such a shame to leave any of it.’

‘I know,’ he said, as he also leaned back groaning, ‘just wait about ten minutes and we’ll be able to keep going.’

I laughed. ‘I don’t think I’ll need any dinner.’

‘I always think that in India, but come dinner time I’ll be ready to go again. You just don’t get proper Indian food anywhere but India. So when I’m here I tend to gorge myself.’

I looked at my watch. It was 3pm. Jessie had said he’d be home at 6pm and we’d head out at 8.30pm. Matt’s mobile phone burbled and he glanced at the screen, laughed and then rapidly fired back a text.

‘Old friend of mine,’ he explained. ‘I emailed him a couple of weeks ago to let him know I was coming to town and he gets back to me now to see if I can meet up with him tonight for a drink.’ He shook his head. ‘Typical. What are you up to tonight?’

Was that a what-are-you-up-to-tonight-maybe-we-could-meet-up question I wondered, or just a question that had absolutely no underlying meaning at all?

‘I’m going out with my friend to meet some of their friends.’

Nodding his head, he reached out for more food. ‘I think I can do it,’ he told me smiling. ‘I never can resist a challenge.’

Later – while I got ready to go out, I found myself analysing every part of our conversation from that day. Every look, every glance, every laugh was taken out and given the once over before being packed carefully away in my mental archive. We had agreed we would meet up for dinner in Sydney, but I wasn’t sure under what capacity we were meeting up; as friends who helped each other shop or as two people with potentially something between them?

Only time will tell
, I told myself firmly. It wasn’t worth not enjoying the rest of my holiday because I was wishing I was already back in Sydney. That wasn’t fair on Jessie or myself, so I pushed Matthew King to the back of my mind and decided to enjoy the rest of my holiday.

* * *

We were in the cab on the way to a nightclub at Juhu Beach called Vie Lounge, which Jessie assured me, was THE place to be. I had met Tahlia earlier on in the evening, and in response to her English rosebud gorgeousness had ended up back in the bathroom – with my rubber thongs, applying more makeup. I think I had achieved an exotic look; my eyes darkened up with some kohl powder I had bought that day, and a lick of mascara and voila – gorgeous, sexy, smudged. Unfortunately, on my first attempt, I had poked myself in the eye with the kohl applicator stick and ended up red, watery, smudged, which – let me tell you – does not have the same affect. A packet of ice and a glass of wine later Tahlia showed me how to do it properly. She also loaned me a skirt, and I was feeling a little more feminine than I had in my cargo pants.

It was 8pm when we reached Vie Lounge. There was a warm breeze coming off the ocean and I luxuriated in the feel of it rustling my hair and stroking my skin. I relaxed on a lounge, sipping my cocktail and listening to the pleasant chatter and joking of Jessie’s friends. The sound of the waves crashing onto the beach was soothing and I could feel myself starting to unwind.

Jessie’s phone blipped indicating the arrival of a text. He looked at it and then laughed. ‘The bastard’s turned up,’ he said, as he beckoned to me.

I stretched lazily before climbing off the lounge. ‘What’s up?’ I asked him.

‘I need your help getting another friend in.’

‘No probs.’

In Mumbai men can’t gain access to clubs unless they are accompanied by a female. Jessie had used me to ferry in a few friends already. The bouncers seemed to be either turning a blind eye to me having several boyfriends or just very unobservant. I followed him and Tahlia out to the street where I noticed a dog with a large ulcer on its paw looking for food.

‘I wouldn’t,’ said Tahlia, as I started to move towards it. ‘It could have rabies.’

‘Ohh,’ I replied, snatching my outstretched hand back to my side.

‘Mate,’ I heard Jessie exclaim, as I watched the dog snuffle through an empty plastic bag.

‘It’s been far too long,’ said a voice so familiar I gasped in surprise as I swung around.

‘Matt, this is Tara,’ said Jessie.

I felt my face split into a wide grin. ‘Hello Matt. Nice to meet you,’ I said, extending my hand.

‘Lara,’ said Matt, shaking my hand formally.

‘No, no Tara,’ I corrected him emphasising the T.

‘Let’s go in,’ said Jessie, ‘all the old gang are here.’

Matt and I followed Tahlia and Jessie back to the entrance where I reached out and took his hand. ‘For the bouncers,’ I advised him.

‘Your friend?’ Matt asked, nodding towards Tahlia.

‘No. Jessie,’ I corrected.

‘You and he?’ He looked between the two of us.

‘Oh no,’ I exclaimed, ‘no, he’s with Tahlia.’

As soon as we entered the club all of Jessie’s friends closed in on Matt, so it was a while before we were able to converse again. I tried to concentrate on the conversation I was having with Tahlia and her friends but I found myself watching Matt out of the corner of my eye. Just when I thought I wasn’t going to get to speak to him at all that night there was a surge in the crowd and we were pressed close together next to Jessie and Tahlia.

‘So how do you two know each other?’ Matt asked Jessie.

‘Oh,’ said Jessie, ‘you wouldn’t believe it, but this is Jake’s ex-wife.’

Matt shot me a startled look. ‘Tara is Jake’s ex-wife?’ he asked Jessie, looking at me with a strange expression on his face.

I should have realised he might have known Jake, but I had thought his and Jessie’s relationship was purely work orientated.

‘Yep. This gorgeous girl used to be married to my brother.’ Jessie reached out and threw an arm around my shoulders. ‘She’s over here to escape the circus of a wedding Jake’s organised with Tara’s cousin Tash. It’s all very messy, awful and boring, so she thought she’d pay Uncle Jessie a visit.’

Matt looked at me with what could only be described as profound disgust. ‘Excuse me,’ he said, brushing past and storming off to the bar.

‘What was that about?’ I asked Tahlia and Jessie.

Jessie looked thoughtful, but before he could answer his mobile rang. Immediately, the phones of all of the other journalists started to ring as well. I could hear pagers going and different ring tones everywhere. There was a split second during which they all froze staring amongst themselves. Something profound had obviously happened. Then that second passed and they were all action; mobiles jammed up against ears, the murmur of their voices urgent.

‘What, you’re kidding!’ I heard Jessie exclaim.

‘When, when did it start?’ barked Tahlia down her phone.

‘Just now?’ I heard Tom, another of Jessie’s friends say.

And I could hear the urgency in my voice, ‘Jessie, Tahlia, what’s going on?’

Jessie grabbed me by the arm and dragged me towards the door. I saw Matt sprinting in our direction as he talked into his mobile.

‘Leopold Café’s been bombed,’ Tahlia informed me as she rapidly punched numbers into her phone.

Leopold Café bombed? God, Matt and I had walked past it that afternoon.

‘They’ve stormed the Taj Palace.’

‘There are shooters and bombers.’

‘They’ve taken the Chatrapati Shiraji Termanus.’

‘And the Oberoi Trident.’

‘They’ve killed some tourists at Leopold’s.’

‘There are hostages at the Taj.’

They talked on their phones and shouted information to each other, while we searched for our drivers. It was mayhem with pushing and shoving as the rest of the crowd started to react to the news they were overhearing.

‘Quick get in,’ Jessie said, pushing me into the car and firing off some rapid instructions to Raj, the driver.

Tahlia jumped in behind me, still talking.

‘Get down,’ Jessie barked at me between mouthfuls of phone conversation. I noticed that Tahlia had already slid down in the seat so she was barely visible from the street and suddenly I realised what was happening. All right, so I was a little slow. But one minute I’m enjoying myself at a club by the beach, and the next I’m caught up in the blow by blow details of a widely spread terrorist attack across Mumbai. I stifled a gasp and slid down in the seat as far as I could. Jessie nodded approvingly at me as he flipped a notebook out of his back pocket and continued talking.

The drive back to Jessie’s was tense as the two of them made notes, and I sat terrified – waiting for a gunshot or a bomb to be directed at us. By the time we got to Jessie’s I had worked myself into a state of near hysteria. It wasn’t until we were safe, locked inside his apartment, and I had drunk the measure of whisky that he had pressed into my hands, that I could feel myself starting to relax.

‘Are you all right?’ asked Tahlia in a concerned voice.

God, I was such a weener. It wasn’t like we had driven through the area under attack, but I had felt my insides wind tighter and tighter as I stared out the window with panicked eyes. My hands were tired from being scrunched into little balls of fear.

I nodded my head, ‘I’m fine.’

‘Here.’ Jessie topped up my glass and handed another one to Tahlia.

‘Not for me,’ she said hopping up and heading to his bedroom. ‘I’ve got to get down there.’

‘You’re going down there?’ I exclaimed. ‘Are you crazy?’

Smiling at me she said, ‘No Tara, I’m a journalist.’

She re-emerged shortly dressed in long black pants and a black t-shirt. Her hair was pulled back in a bun and she had a cap on.

‘You look like Lara Croft,’ I informed her.

‘I wish I had her weapons,’ she said as she crossed to Jessie and dropped a deep kiss on his lips. ‘And her boobs,’ she added with a grin. ‘Don’t wait up,’ she said, disappearing through the front door.

‘She’s really going?’ I asked him aghast. ‘Aren’t you going to stop her?’

‘Tara. I couldn’t stop her if I wanted to, and she wouldn’t thank me for trying.’

‘How’s she going to get there?’

‘Raj is waiting to take her in.’

‘What about you? Do you have to go?’ I asked, suddenly terrified that I would be left alone. What if they took over the city and searched the buildings room by room?

‘No. I write commerce articles for the
London Financial Times
. No doubt I’ll be busy over the next few days writing bit articles on this, and I’m sure there’ll be a profound effect on the Indian stock market, but there is no need for me to go in. Guess it makes me look like a bit of a jerk letting Tahlia go when I’m not…but my paper wouldn’t thank me for getting myself killed over this. They have other writers, much more experienced at this sort of thing – like Tahlia. I guess Matt will be in there as well. Probably get some scoop and win another award.’

He flicked on the TV and started roaming through the channels until he found one covering the attack. There was a night scene, with what I identified as the Taj Mahal Palace in the background, and a tousled looking journalist talking in a hushed voice.

‘The attacks seemed to be co-ordinated,’ he whispered in an English accent.

‘No shit Sherlock,’ Jessie muttered.

‘They started at the Leopold Café at 9.30pm, where locals and tourists were having dinner. We haven’t yet confirmed the mortalities, but we know that at least one tourist and four locals were killed in the attack – many others have been injured. What you can see behind me is the Taj Mahal Palace. Gunmen reportedly stormed the hotel shortly after 9.30pm.’