Page 15 of Best Laid Plans
There was a long bench sitting proudly on the apex of the clearing, shaded by a fig tree, its branches heavy with fruit, and on that bench, stretched out with her head on her rucksack, was Indigo.
Julien came to a sudden halt and stared at her, his pulse rattling through his veins.
She looked exhausted, her face pink and the exposed part of her neck and upper chest glistening with perspiration in the heat.
His heart gave a jolt at the sight.
He really should keep walking and leave her alone to rest; she hadn’t seen him standing there yet, so now would be a good time to turn around and keep on going. He could take a break another half mile or so on.
But he didn’t move. Something was stopping him. Some misplaced sense of responsibility.
Sighing, he made his way over to her, resigned to checking that she was okay, thereby clearing his conscience.
She sat up quickly when she noticed him approaching, pulling her rucksack onto her knees and looping her arms around it, as if using it for protection against him.
Did she really have everything she needed for the whole week in that small bag? he wondered fleetingly. His own luggage was about three times the size of hers – hence getting it transported by courier from place to place as he progressed along the walk.
‘Hi, Indigo,’ he said as he came to a halt in front of her.
Her shoulders stiffened and she gave him a curt nod. ‘Julien.’
‘How are you today?’
‘Fine, thanks. You?’ From the tone of her voice, she was clearly struggling to be polite.
‘Hungover,’ he admitted, giving her a rueful smile.
She didn’t smile back.
Tense silence crackled between them and Indigo’s stomach took the opportunity to rumble loudly.
‘Have you eaten enough today?’ he asked, aiming for an airy, upbeat tone but not quite pulling it off.
She tightened her arms around her bag and gave him a level stare. ‘That depends on what you mean by enough.’
‘Did you eat lunch?’
There was a pause, where she seemed to be arguing with herself about whether to answer him truthfully. ‘No,’ she said finally.
‘Why not?’
‘I wasn’t hungry.’
There was an edge to her voice that told him she wasn’t in the mood to be questioned any more about her choices.
‘You mean you didn’t manage to procure any extra food from the breakfast buffet?’ he joked.
Her chin lifted fractionally and her shoulders tensed. ‘That’s right,’ she said with a sarcastic bite to her voice.
It was the dismissive way she deliberately looked away from him into the distance that finally tipped him over the edge. ‘You’re crazy, you know that? You can’t go walking for hours in this heat without eating enough.’
The look she gave him could have frozen water.
Sighing hard, he rummaged in the small rucksack he was carrying his provisions for the walk in and located his emergency energy bar. Striding over to the bench, he held it out towards her.
‘Here, take this.’
She looked at the bar with some disdain. ‘No, thanks, I don’t need anything from you.’
