Chapter 25 Alexander
Alexander
I thought all morning about ways to make the most of this little trip. Ways to make it really count in my quest to sway her to make this real. But here we sit in silence. It’s like something crawled under my skin the moment I picked her up and swallowed up all my good ideas.
“The traffic’s heavier than I remember, but it’s been a while since I’ve driven out to Canterbury.” Traffic. Traffic is the best I’ve got. We’ve got over an hour left in the car.
She only hums agreement, and I glance over at her for what must be the hundredth time in the last half hour.
She is so cute over there snuggled in with all her “travel accoutrements” as she called them.
She has a blanket, a small pillow, a huge water bottle, and a bag filled with snacks.
So many that I think she must have been afraid I’d let her starve to death on our short trip.
I hear her digging around through said bag, then she speaks. “Would you like a Mars bar or a Crunchie?”
Honestly, I shouldn’t have either, given that for my next role I need to look like a professional rugby player, and I’m already pushing it on the age, but I’m not going to decline. “You don’t have a preference?”
“I’ve never had either. I just chose two candies. Your candy here is weird.”
I laugh and let that slide. “I think you should try the Crunchie. Our Mars Bar is the same as your Milky Way, so you can have that anytime.”
“Alright.” Ivy smiles over at me, opening then passing me the Mars Bar. “Enjoy road trip snack number one!”
“What else is there?”
“You’ll just have to wait and see.” She bites into her Crunchie and groans as she finishes her bite. “That is incredible. Can I take candy home in my luggage?”
“I would assume so.”
“Yeah. I did bring a whole big bag of pistachios over here with me. It should work both ways. I’ll just have to give away some of my clothes to make space. And actually eat the pistachios.”
“We could ship a box home to you. Oh! You could sell them in your restaurant, like a little ode to your trip.”
“It would cost a fortune to ship as many as I’d want. But I can easily stick some in my luggage and ration them.”
“I’m shipping you some.”
“Alex …”
“I’m doing it.”
She sighs. “Fine.”
“You’re telling me you weren’t actually in a desert for that scene? You shot the entire thing in a studio?” The candy, or maybe more specifically the sugar, got us talking, and we’ve been going strong for the past half hour.
“That is, indeed, what I’m telling you.”
“It looked so real.”
“I know. They did a really nice job with it. It just wasn’t worth the effort of taking all the people and all the things to an actual desert. Not for two short scenes.”
“That makes sense. I’m gonna have to watch it again and see if I can tell.” Ivy pointed out some rather large cows grazing in a field to our right. “Are there any other secrets like that that would surprise me?”
“Hmm … in Activate the—”
“I haven’t seen that one.”
“Really? It’s one of my most popular, I think.”
“I’m not a fangirl, remember?”
This makes me laugh. “Oh, I remember. We’ve talked enough about me anyway. Tell me about your restaurant. What will be the same? What are you changing?”
“Okay, I’ll tell you all about it, but first … road-trip snack two.” She pulls her bag up from the floorboard. “Chips! Or crisps, rather.” Sher says rather with an English accent that made me chuckle.
“I appreciate your effort at accuracy.”
“I do what I can.” She laughs. “Which would you like? Ready salted or cheese and onion?”
“I’ll take whichever is least intriguing to you.”
“Ready salted.” Like with the candy bar, she thoughtfully opens the bag for me. She’s a good co-pilot. She opens her bag and tastes one of her cheese and onion crisps. “Reminds me a bit of sour cream and onion chips. I like it.”
“I’m glad. These are just like plain salted chips in the US,” I say before popping one in my mouth.
“I made the right choice then.” She pops another chip in her mouth and finishes it before she speaks again.
“The restaurant. So, it's a historic building on Main Street, so it's got exposed bricks on the walls. And the ceiling. Man, it was my absolute favorite. It’s these huge white embossed tiles. They made the place look impressive. They were able to be cleaned and saved, thankfully.”
“The people who owned the restaurant years before me had modernized things and it looked okay. I didn't hate it, but I think I want to embrace some of the classic look it might have had when it was built. I think I’m going for an understated classic design. I’m hoping the ceiling and the food will be the stars. ”
“I love that you’re embracing what was. Growing up here, I was surrounded by history, obviously, and since being back I’ve realized how I miss it.
I’m not sure if it’s seeing things through your eyes a bit, or maybe my aunt’s diabolical plan is working, but I’ve realized how infrequently I see anything actually historical anymore. ”
“The US is fairly young.”
“It is, but there is still history around, and I love that you’re trying to preserve and honor your piece of it.”
I see her smiling at me in my periphery and it makes my heart pick up the pace. If only I could make her smile like that all the time.