Page 71 of Tiger's Voyage

At the appointed time, I waited for Mr. Kadam by the Jeep and dully watching the dockworkers lower the ramp so we could drive off the boat.

Ren is infuriating. What is he thinking? Does he really believe he can justshove Kishan and me together, and that everything will be fine? Get a manfor Kelsey. Any man and she’ll be happy. Phet said I’d make a choice. Thisisn’t a choice; this is a setup. Well, I don’t need to be set up. I know it’s noteasy having a girlfriend you can’t touch, but I was willing to put up with that.That particular problem goes both ways. It affects me as much as it does him.

Kishan told Ren that the CPR thing wasn’t his fault. I’m okay. No harmdone. How does he expect me to put up with his 180-degree mood swings?Seriously! I should keep a daisy around so I can pluck off the petals to figureout if he loves me or loves me not. If he doesn’t want to be with me, then fine,but he can’t make me love Kishan or anyone else. Why does my life have tobe so complicated?

I stood there gnawing my lip and thinking while I waited for Mr. Kadam. He finally showed up, apologizing for being late. Apparently, he’d had a problem locating Ren too.

Fine. Let him play hide-and-seek. I have other things to do.

Mr. Kadam and I spent the afternoon in town purchasing a bag full of items related to the ocean or water. We ate lunch at a little café while he talked of mundane things. He didn’t have any advice to give except to try to be happy. He didn’t have any ideas about how Icouldbe happy but said he felt confident that I could do it.

As soon as we got back to the boat, I pulled out my cell phone tracker. Now that we had broken up, all bets were off, and I turned on the small screen with a vengeance. Ren’s blip showed that he’d moved down to the guest quarters a deck below us, but he never stayed put for long. I followed his blip on my GPS for a while that afternoon. I let him stay out of sight while keeping an eye on his whereabouts, but I started to feel like a stalker-girlfriend—the kind that circles parking lots looking for her ex-boyfriend’s car. So I closed my phone and stopped looking for him.

That evening, I pulled out the bag of purchases and placed all the items in a backpack. We’d bought sunglasses, flip-flops, shells, starfish, a small sealed copper pot of Ganges river water, sunscreen, a live goldfish, coral, a package of dried seaweed, a bottle of drinking water, a CD of ocean sounds, and I added the feather of an ocean bird I’d found on the beach.

I’d taken a nap when we got back and was reading a book in the lounge area when Nilima came in.

“Hi, Miss Kelsey. How are you?”

“As good as can be expected, I suppose. And you?”

“Very well. I hope you don’t mind, but I wanted to do something for you.”

“What’s that?”

She handed me a piece of beautiful silk cloth. “Will you take this with you tonight and offer it to Durga as well?”

“Okay, but why?”

“At the temple you are visiting, maidens participate in a fast called Mangala Parvati Vrata, or the fast of the Durga Mangalore Temple. Women go without food every Tuesday in the summer for many weeks and then offer silk to the goddess.”

“Why do they do that?”

“Because they believe the goddess Durga will find them a charming and handsome groom who will be good to them.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Yes. When I heard that Grandfather wanted to come to this temple, I began to fast, not for myself, but for you.”

“So you fasted yesterday? On Tuesday?”

She tossed her beautiful black hair over her shoulder. “No. I have been fasting much longer than that. You may recall I have not been at dinner or breakfast much since we got on the boat.”

I leaned forward and took Nilima’s hand. “Do you mean you haven’t eaten for more than two weeks?”

“I have had water and milk, but I have not eaten solid food for that time. I have hoped that even though I have not fasted every Tuesday that my many days of fasting will show my dedication. My wish is that Durga will help you find happiness.”

“Nilima, I don’t know what to say.” I hugged her. “No one’s ever done anything like this for me before. I would be happy to accept the silk, and I’ll give it to Durga tonight.”

She smiled and squeezed my hand. “Just in case, I’ll wait until you return to break my fast. Good luck to you tonight, Miss Kelsey.”

“Thank you for being such a good friend. I never had a sister, but I can’t imagine a better one than you.”

“And you are my good friend and sister as well. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

Nilima went off to bed, and I returned to my chair. I fingered the beautiful cloth she’d brought and thought about her offering until Mr. Kadam came to retrieve me. I picked up the backpack, slung it over my shoulders, and slid Fanindra onto my arm. We went down to the garage and met Kishan, who had a bag with the Golden Fruit, the Scarf, and the weapons, just in case.