Epilogue:
"Anneke!" Marie turned, Jason's pace quickening almost imperceptibly as he peeled away from her in the concourse outside the marketplace, trying to avoid contact.
"So, this is your boyfriend!" Her Canadian friend with the tattoo trotted up, breathless. Jason glanced back, reluctantly stopped as the two women embraced, kissing each other's cheeks.
The Canadian smiled, turned to Jason. She held out her hand. "I'm Susan."
Jason shook the proffered hand, nodded with a tense smile.
"Susan, this is Jaksa."
It was a rare treat to see her friend's boyfriend in person. Anneke said he was painfully shy, joked that she'd had to make all the moves. He sure acted that way, looking down and away, not meeting her eye once he dropped her hand. "I'm so happy to meet you! What do you think of Anneke's tattoos?"
Marie's smile slipped a notch. Jason smiled blankly and nodded, feigning incomprehension. They both noticed at the same time that Susan held a disposable camera in her hand.
"Hey, let me get a picture of you! I'm leaving Thursday. Back to the real world…"
Jason stepped back, smiling an embarrassed smile, waving his hands and demurring in Serbian. Susan laughed, cajoled, herded them together, trying to get a good shot. Marie could see that his annoyance was mounting. "Hey, Susan, could you take a couple of pictures of us? We'll buy the camera off you… My parents have been wanting to see photographic evidence that I found a decent guy."
"Well, sure. I mean, why not? I haven't taken any pictures with it yet. I can always go get another one."
Marie led Jason over to the low wall skirting the harbor and stepped up onto it behind him. She gave him a pinch on the bum to get him to lighten up, put her arms around his neck, leaned into him and smiled at the camera. "Take a couple," she called to Susan.
"Say paneer!" Susan twittered. She pressed the shutter twice in succession. Boy, was this guy retiring, or what? He wouldn't even look at the camera. At least he was smiling—if you could call that a smile.
Marie went to get the camera from Susan while Jason turned and contemplated the harbor. She dropped the camera into her bag, gave the Canadian a hug and some money, and said, "When are you leaving?" Jason was already 15 meters down the walkway. She shrugged in a Can't live with him, can't live without him, kind of way for Susan's benefit, and took off after him.
"Wait!" Susan called. "Now I won't have your picture!"
Jason actually let her develop the pictures and prop one up on the ledge in their cottage. Who was going to see it? They had reached an agreement about friends and acquaintances: stick to your simple story, see them in town, don't ask Jason to meet them. She stuck the other one in a book while he watched. "You look good with a blonde on your arm," she commented.
He reached his arms around her, gathered up all her hair in his two hands. "I dunno," he said, looking at her with a critical eye between kisses. "I think I like your hair a little more… Messy."
"I don't think I understand what you mean," she murmured.
"I could show you…"
A few days later, while he was out running, she removed the photo from the book and looked at it. Down at the bus station, she saw the heavily laden Susan struggling toward her bus.
"Hey, Susan!"
"Anneke! How sweet of you to come to see me off!" Marie took two of Susan's bags and fell in step with her.
"Of course I wanted to see you off," Marie grinned, offhand in every way imaginable. Eye contact. Tone. Body language.
They were in the boarding line now. "Hey, would you do me a favor? Remember I told you about Kalipatnam? The priest we volunteered with for awhile? The kids there would be so thrilled to get mail from North America. They collect the stamps. Would you post this for me when you get home to Winnipeg?" She held out an envelope, its contents sandwiched between two sheets of cardstock. "I put my return address on it, in Rotterdam, so they can see who it's from. Father John is kind of funny about that… Security." Marie rolled her eyes, raised her shoulders and let them drop.
"Of course I will!" Susan was about to climb the steps now. She tucked the envelope into her passport case. "It'll be safe in here."
Marie clasped her friend in a hug, tears stinging her eyes. "Thank you. Bye, Susan."
Susan quickly returned the hug, took her bags back, and boarded the bus to Mumbai. She was a little surprised that Anneke would cry at her departure. They had only talked a handful of times, really. She must be lonely, thought the Canadian, zipping up her passport case. That guy of hers is so shy. I mean, you can see why she's with him; he's gorgeous, but antisocial. And that haircut! Almost military… She shook her head and settled in for the longest bus ride of her life. No telling why two people stay together, she thought, as the bus lurched into motion.