This Time Next Year(22)
‘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, plunging both 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.
He wanted to see the sunrise tomorrow, and he was working out where the best place from which to view it would be. He’d get up early and say he was going for a run. He liked to be alone for the first sunrise of the year.
A waiter approached from the hotel. He was short and dressed in an impeccable white shirt, black trousers and a purple waistcoat imprinted with the hotel’s insignia. He placed a basket of naan bread wrapped in linen and a delicate pot of yoghurt dip onto the table, then he presented Quinn with a wine list. Jaya asked the man if he would take a photo of them together. The waiter nodded politely and took the phone from Jaya’s hand. He took one photo and made to hand it back. Quinn quickly shook his head, trying to warn the man, but he just grinned at Quinn and soon Jaya was lecturing him about composition and lighting positions. She wouldn’t let him leave until she had checked the photos and then directed him to try again at a higher, more flattering angle.
‘Too short,’ Jaya whispered to Quinn once she’d finally dismissed the poor man. ‘You never get a good photo when you ask a short person. Maybe the wine waiter will be taller?’
Quinn wondered how many hours of his life he’d have to spend posing for photographs if he and Jaya stayed together.
‘So, will I finally get to meet your mother when we get back to England?’ Jaya asked, stroking one of her hands with the other, drawing attention to her new manicure. ‘Mothers love me, you know, I’m great with moms.’
‘Oh, I don’t know, I doubt there’ll be time, especially if you want to go shopping on Oxford Street – the sales will be on, remember,’ Quinn said.
Jaya paused, her eyes drifting off into space. He’d thrown her by mentioning the sales, but she gave her head a brisk shake, exorcising the distraction.
‘Isn’t she curious about me?’ she asked, tilting her head and smoothing a hand through her hair. ‘I’d want to meet the girl monopolising my son’s time and attention.’ When Quinn didn’t respond, Jaya pouted, ‘Don’t you want her to meet me? All those times you scurry up to London at a moment’s notice, and you never take me with you.’
Quinn hadn’t mentioned Jaya to his mother. He’d told her he was going to India with a group of friends. Quinn buried his head in the wine list and the wine waiter appeared at just the right moment.
‘Oh, much better,’ said Jaya, raising her eyebrows at Quinn and looking the waiter up and down to convey how happy she was with his height. She leant in and touched Quinn’s wrist. ‘You will give them plenty of notice, won’t you?’ He looked up to see she was staring intently at him. ‘If there is any particular moment we’d like him to come back and capture. It’s just too perfect a setting not to have it recorded.’