‘Like what?’ Alice asked, her mouth engaging before her brain had time to wade in.
‘Well, let’s see,’ Jamal began, putting down his cutlery so he could tick things off on his fingers.
‘There’s ulceration, purpura, bone fractures, infection …’
‘But those are all treatable, right?’ she asked.
‘They are easily treated, if they’re caught early enough,’ Jamal assured her. ‘But ulceration can have devastating effects if it’s left to fester, and infection can be very dangerous. Being so close to a blast will have affected Max’s immune system, too. An injury as bad as his always has a catastrophic effect. When it comes to blast injuries, what you can’t see – the stuff happening on the inside – that’s often far worse than the physical ailments.’
‘How dangerous can it be?’ Alice prompted, her need to know all the facts outweighing the small internal voice that was urging her to shut the hell up and stop making it obvious just how invested she was in Max’s well-being.
‘Well, the worst-case scenario would be sepsis,’ he said matter-of-factly. ‘The infection spreads into the blood and the internal organs begin to shut down.’
It was a sobering thought, and Maureen put her third cocktail firmly down on the table.
‘Well, this is cheery talk we’re having,’ she drawled. ‘Honestly, with the elephant trying to take my head off and now you lot talking about death, it really does feel like a special birthday.’
Jamal let out a low rumble of laughter.
‘She has got a point,’ he said. ‘OK, let’s change the subject. Maur, what would you like to talk about, as it’s your birthday? At least, I think someone mentioned that once or twice,’ he added, laughing again at her outraged expression.
‘I dunno.’ Maur took another sip through her straw. ‘What does it matter now, anyway? We only have, oh, five minutes until midnight.’
‘Is it that time already?’ Alice gaped at her phone, noticing as she did so that a message had come through – from Richard.
Trepidation crept through her like a stealthy cat. Would this be another reprimand about her spending time with Max and Jamal? A snarky remark about Maureen’s latest Instagram story? Maybe he had delved far enough to see the ‘like’ she had left on Max’s hospital photo – the one she had never meant to leave? She felt her hands go clammy as she picked up the handset, and it took her two attempts to enter the passcode correctly.
‘Who’s that?’ Steph enquired from beside her, seemingly tuned in, as ever, to any changes in Alice’s mood.
Alice didn’t reply; she merely closed her eyes for a second before pressing to open the message that Richard had sent.
Happy (early) Birthday, she read. I bet you can’t guess what this is! He had added a winking emoji face and two kisses, but it was the attached image that made Alice’s breath catch in her throat.
It was a photo of a small jewellery box, exactly the right size for a ring.
36
Alice waited until the following morning to reply to Richard’s message. Having agonised over what response would be the most suitable, she opted in the end for a simple, Oooh! and a smiley face. Rich had never been too great at the big romantic gestures, which had never bothered Alice in the slightest, so she was not surprised that he had chosen to send her a teasing photo of what she guessed must be an engagement ring. They had been together for so many years now, perhaps he felt that rose petals on a bed or a diamond ring buried in the middle of a chocolate fondant pudding would be a waste of time. They had already discussed that marriage was the next step, and they had both been in agreement about the fact. Well, they had until Alice had come to Sri Lanka. Now, the prospect of saying her vows made her feel decidedly uneasy, and she was very glad that she had insisted to Rich that they wait until after the holiday to break the news of their plans to her family.
She headed down to breakfast later than the others, struggling to fit everything into her backpack and swearing with uncharacteristic fervour when the straps failed to meet around the middle. Steph had given her a card with a picture of a polar bear on the front, its paw over its eyes and a message that read, ‘You are HOW OLD?’, while Maureen’s featured several half-naked men standing over some felled trees, and a joke about big axes. They had clubbed together and got her a spa day voucher as a gift.
Alice had also got an oddly perfunctory text from her mum, wishing her all the best and telling her she could have her present when she got home, which Marianne made it clear she was looking forward to. Alice wasn’t expecting anyone else to mark the occasion, so she was very surprised when she pushed open the door to the hotel breakfast room and found it empty save for Max, a mischievous-looking smirk on his face.
‘Morning,’ she said suspiciously.
‘Happy birthday!’ Max stood up to greet her, his stubble brushing against her cheek along with his lips.
‘Where is everyone?’ Alice asked, her face tingling with pleasure as she lowered her bag from her back and sat down.
‘On their way to Tangalle,’ Max informed her cheerily, sitting back down beside her, and Alice almost dropped the teacup she was about to fill.
‘What? Why?’
Max smiled easily, his eyes crinkling with amusement.
‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘I told them to go. I have a birthday surprise for you, but it’s strictly for two people only.’
‘A surprise? For me?’ Alice grabbed his lower arm impulsively. ‘What is it?’
‘If I told you,’ Max said, ‘it wouldn’t be a surprise, now would it?’
Alice’s mind raced through several possibilities. A tea plantation tour, perhaps? A trek up another mountain? Whatever it was, she was sure she would love it – being singled out by Max felt like a gift in itself.
‘Are you really serious?’ she checked. ‘You’re not just winding me up?’
‘I’m really not,’ he assured her, picking up a piece of buttered toast and biting into it. ‘Now eat up – you’re going to need your strength.’
Feeling utterly perturbed but unquestionably happy, Alice did as she was told.
There was a taxi waiting outside the hotel, and it was a nice one, too, with air-conditioning and leather seats.
‘Where are we going?’ Alice asked Max, for at least the seventh time, as they settled into their seats. He waggled a finger at her.
‘I told you – no clues. You only have to wait an hour or so to find out.’
He seemed back to his old self today, full of infectious energy and a determination to wind her up. If his leg was still causing him a problem, then he didn’t show it, and she hoped that a good night’s sleep had done the trick. Jamal’s horror stories about blood poisoning and multiple surgeries had given her nightmares. The thought of something bad happening to Max caused her genuine physical pain, which mildly surprised her. Richard was far too careful to ever cause himself an injury, but the one time a few years ago he had got hurt – by an impatient driver who failed to brake in time when Rich was waiting to pull out at a roundabout – she had felt quite relaxed about the whole thing. Rich had called her from the A&E department of the local hospital, saying he had suspected whiplash, and she could distinctly remember finishing her cup of tea before driving over to sit with him. She wasn’t sure whether it was because Max seemed more vulnerable than her boyfriend, or that she felt more protective of him than she did of Rich, but the question was troubling enough for Alice to push it to the back of her mind almost as soon as she considered it.
The driver nipped in and out of the Tissamaharama traffic like he was a skier on a slalom slope, and in no time at all they were clear of the town and heading south on a narrow highway. The usual cacophony of tuk-tuk engines, barking dogs and blaring horns was muted behind the taxi’s closed windows. Alice stared out at the long shadows stretching across the green mosaic of the landscape, turning patches of undergrowth from emerald to pine, and the gold of the rocks and tree branches to a rich burnt amber.
‘It’s so beautiful here,’ she murmured, turning to find that Max was looking at her rather than the view. He cleared his throat before replying.
‘You’re right about that.’
‘I can’t believe I’ll be back in Suffolk this time next week,’ she said. ‘I wish I could have stayed for a month. Six months, even.’
‘I’m not looking forward to going home much, either,’ Max admitted, turning his navy cap over in his hands. His white T-shirt was pulled taut across his chest, and Alice let her eyes linger there for a hungry few beats before glancing away and looking out through the front windscreen.
‘Back to the grind.’
Alice nodded, picturing her little desk in the council office, with its straggly old spider plant and hole punch with stuck-on boggly eyes.
‘At least we’ll be taking back some good memories,’ she said, trying her best to sound enthusiastic.
Max chuckled. ‘Yep, that’s right. I will particularly treasure the memory of an angry elephant charging at us.’
Alice swivelled her head around to face him.
‘That was so bad. We could have been killed, for God’s sake! But I get what you mean – it was certainly unforgettable.’
‘There are plenty of moments in this trip that have been unforgettable,’ he said softly, and this time Alice could only nod.
‘You never told me what it is you do for a job,’ she said, manoeuvring the conversation back on to safer ground. ‘You said you work for your dad?’
‘That’s right,’ Max confirmed, his hand sneaking to the top of his socket as it so often seemed to do. ‘He owns a construction company, and I work in the office, raising orders, dealing with invoices – that sort of thing.’
‘Oh, right,’ Alice said brightly, casting around for something more intelligent to say.
Max pulled a face. ‘You don’t have to pretend,’ he stated. ‘It really is as boring as it sounds. It would be fine if I was out on site, actually getting my hands dirty and helping with the building work, but my dad won’t hear of it. I think just doing admin tasks is causing my brain to shrink.’
‘I know exactly how you feel,’ Alice agreed, her voice going up an octave. ‘There are only so many times you can explain the process of setting up a direct debit for council tax payments before you start to go completely bananas. I don’t even know why I’ve stayed there so long, to be honest.’
Max eyed her. ‘Why have you?’
She picked at a flap of loose skin beneath her thumbnail. ‘I guess, because I know it. It’s close to home, the pay isn’t too bad. I’ve been saving to buy a house for what feels like forever, so it’s not like I can just up and quit.’
Max considered this for a moment. ‘You can do whatever you want,’ he told her. ‘But then I’m a good one to talk. I can’t stand my job, but I feel like I can’t leave either, not when my dad basically created the role just for me. I think he likes keeping me close by, you know – both him and my mum like to know where I am. It’s their hangover from what happened. If I left, I’d feel like I was throwing it all in their faces – everything they’ve done and all the things they’ve had to sacrifice since I got myself blown up.’
‘It makes sense,’ Alice said sagely. ‘I know exactly what it’s like to have overprotective parents, too, trust me. But you can’t live your life for someone else.’
‘No,’ Max said, his tone quieter now, and more solemn. ‘You can’t, can you?’
Alice flushed as she realised she’d just parroted his own advice back at him. The two of them were their own worst enemies when it came to doing what was expected versus doing what they wanted. Unwilling to admit as much to Max, however, she diverted the conversation on to less uncomfortable turf.
‘What would be your dream job?’ she asked him, before lurching over and almost landing on top of him as the taxi overtook an overcrowded bus.
‘I would love to do something more creative,’ he said, looking almost wistful as he met her eyes. ‘And I’d like to do more to help people in my position, you know? Lads that are struggling to cope with what they’ve been through. Finding an outlet for all that trauma is so important.’
‘That sounds amazing,’ Alice told him honestly. ‘I say go for it.’
‘Maybe I will.’ He smiled at her.
‘Maybe it’s about time we both went after what we want.’
37
Alice’s first thought when they turned off the road and drove past a sign that read Ratu Hadavata Skydive Centre, was that the driver must be lost.
She turned to Max, a mixture of panic and elation filling up her chest when she saw his expression.
‘You haven’t?’ she gasped, and he grinned triumphantly.
‘I have.’
‘But … But …’ Alice sat bolt upright in her seat, her fingers on the window. ‘You can’t be serious?’ she managed at last, turning back to Max as the car bounced clumsily over potholes and came to a standstill beside a small, shed-like building.
‘I am very serious,’ Max assured her. ‘You, Alice Brockley, are going to jump out of a plane.’
She wanted to say that she couldn’t, it was too dangerous, the parachute might not open, Richard and her mum would go spare when they found out. But no words came. Instead, she found herself clambering out of the taxi as fast as she could and bouncing up and down on the spot with excitement.
Max took a few seconds longer than Alice to get himself into the right position to lever himself out of the taxi, but now he laughed as he spotted her.
‘Come on, you bloody monkey,’ he said, strolling towards the door of the little building. Alice ran after him, her heart pounding. Now that they were out of the car, she could see an aircraft hangar on the far side of a wide open field, and beyond it, the distant shapes of mountains. There were trees clustered together by the entrance to the hangar, and every branch seemed to twitch with life.
‘Why a skydive?’ she asked as they walked. ‘It’s such a random choice.’
Max paused and glanced at her in surprise.
‘Not random at all,’ he said. ‘I already knew you were into diving, remember? And diving doesn’t get much more extreme than this.’
That did make sense, she allowed – but there was a big difference between slipping off the edge of a boat into the water and flying up multiple thousands of feet in a plane.
‘Look,’ Max said then, pointing upwards, and Alice squinted through her sunglasses just in time to see a parachute emerge through the clouds, two people in red jumpsuits riding tandem at the end of its ropes. There was a whooshing sound and a strong gust of air, and before Alice knew what was happening, the skydivers had landed neatly on the open field just beyond the shed, the chute fluttering down after them like a dropped tissue.
‘They came in so fast,’ she said to Max, her eyes wide, and he laughed.
‘You think that’s fast,’ he said. ‘Just you wait for the freefall.’
Alice said nothing to that, but she was immediately aware of a large balloon of nervous anticipation expanding right up to bursting point inside her chest.
After heading into reception, they were weighed, and each signed a form to say that they understood all the risks of what they were about to do, then a young Sri Lankan who introduced himself as Pamu led them along a pathway at the edge of the field towards the hangar. Once there, they were ushered into a room with a pull-down screen fixed to one wall, and shown a video of what to expect from the skydive, and which film and photography packages were available.
Max turned to Alice. ‘Do you want one? I’m happy to treat you.’
She shook her head, almost laughing at the thought of what her mum and Richard would say if she casually played them a film of herself risking death after one of their Sunday roasts. Because that was what she was about to do – she was about to hand her life over to a stranger, and trust that fate was on her side. She should be terrified, but instead all she could feel was a humming buzz of anti
cipation. Max, who admitted he had skydived multiple times before, seemed totally relaxed, but Alice could tell he was thrilled that she was enjoying herself so much.
‘I can’t believe this is happening,’ she said, not for the first time, wriggling her way into the flight suit she had been handed by another, wiry Sri Lankan. Max had booked them a jump from a height of 12,000 feet, which meant a full forty-five seconds of freefall. Whenever Alice looked up into the clouds high above them and tried to imagine hurtling through them at speed, she started laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of it all. There was no way, no possible way on earth, that she ever would have got herself to this point. To Alice, diving off the high board at the swimming pool back home had felt like a risk, but here she was, suited and goggled and about to dive out of a plane. It was mind-boggling.
‘Are you sure you’re OK?’ Max asked, pulling a white leather skullcap down over his hair and snapping the clasp shut. ‘You can still wimp out, you know. I won’t tell the others.’
‘No way!’ Alice shook her head firmly from side to side as a smiley dark-haired man strapped her harness into place around her legs and back. ‘Wild elephants wouldn’t stop me.’
Max grinned wryly. ‘Be careful what you wish for,’ he said.
There wasn’t much more time to dwell on what they were about to do, and after a quick and reassuring chat with her tandem master, Diyon, who checked and rechecked her harness, Alice found herself walking on unsteady legs towards where a small plane was waiting, the side door pulled open. Max strode next to her, a grin on his face, and they each turned to look at the other at the same moment.
‘Thank you,’ she whispered through her smile, and he picked up her hand and squeezed it.
They had got lucky in that they were the only two booked to jump in their timeslot, and once they had both slithered backwards along the parallel benches on their bottoms and were being clipped on to their tandem masters from behind, Max reached across and held Alice’s hand once again. He was warm and solid to the touch, just as he had been when he pulled her into his arms at the top of Adam’s Peak, and even though she was about to throw herself out of a plane, thousands of feet from the ground, Alice felt safe beside him.
One Thousand Stars and You Page 21