Chapter 28 Ivy
Ivy
Alex keeps looking at me like I hung the sun, moon, and stars, and I need it to stop. He is sucking me into his vortex, and I need some way to fight the current. I don’t know if reminders are going to be enough.
We finish our snack in companionable silence, then start walking to our boat tour. As soon as we do, Alex’s phone pings with our, I mean his, next riddle. He reads it, then hands his phone to me.
The alabaster sights
Might cause some a fright
But Henry II
Loved it, I reckon
“People here say reckon?” I ask, surprised to see a word I hear back home, mostly from older, heavily southern-accented people.
“They do. I believe it’s a British English word.”
“Huh. I love it. I reckon I’ll try to use it more often.”
“You should,” Alex encourages.
“Do you have any ideas about this one?” I ask, reaching my hand toward a bush just off the path to touch a delicate pink blossom.
“Actually, I do. I’m pretty sure she’s talking about the White Cliffs of Dover. I believe Henry II built a castle there, but we should double-check before we rush off.”
“Is it near here? It’s going to be late and dark when we finish our float.”
“I think it's half an hour or so from here. Further away from London.”
I nod, processing this. Of course, it would make sense for us to take care of this while we are relatively nearby, but we’d really need to stay the night. Do I want to do that? Would my family care? Something tells me Val would all but force me to stay.
“I’d need to call Val, but let’s do it. I’d love to see more of England.”
His face lights up like it’s Christmas. “Really? Are you sure?”
“Yes, but let me call Val.”
Val was, as I suspected, more than eager for me to stay. If I didn’t know better, I would think I’d been ruining their vacation with my presence.
I give Alex the good news as he holds his hand out to help me into the gondola we will have to ourselves. He grins and keeps my hand as we follow the gondolier’s instructions to our seats. I sit first, followed by Alex, who rocks the long, narrow boat with his size.
“Easy now, I don’t want to end up in the water,” I tease.
“I’ve seen what an excellent swimmer you are.” He gives me a meaningful look, and it makes me think he is remembering the night at his house when he almost kissed me. Or I thought he almost kissed me. A kiss may never have been the plan, if there was one.
Just the thought of it has my heart picking up speed.
“This is beautiful, isn’t it? I love when there’s orange in the sky,” I say, if only to distract myself. I close my eyes for a moment, enjoying the feel of the air moving around me as we begin to pick up speed.
“It really is.”
Wisps of clouds fill the sky, streaked with corals and pinks. I’m studying it carefully when I sense Alex’s eyes on me and turn to him.
“I can see all the colors of your hair in this light. It’s like it was made for the sunset.”
I begin to make a flippant comment, but the look in his eyes is so earnest that I can’t toss his compliment out of the window.
“Thank you,” I whisper. Then drop my hand to trail in the water, then quickly remove it.
It’s very cold. “It’s honestly really nice to get compliments on my hair.
I’ve struggled with it my whole life. My mom certainly didn’t teach me how to take care of curls.
It’s only been in the past year or so that I’ve found the right products and routine to make it look nice like this.
Of course, depending on the weather it can still go wild on me at times. ”
“Tell me about your parents.”
“I don’t want to ruin this boat ride.”
Alex only nods, looking mildly concerned.
“I’ll tell you during our ride to Dover. Okay?”
“Only if you don’t mind sharing. It’s not my business; I just want to know you a bit better.
” He shrugs, and once again the earnestness in his eyes almost has me telling him my entire life story.
But I keep my mouth closed for the time being because those words shouldn’t be spoken in the presence of such a sunset.
“This is the Old Weavers House,” our gondolier points out, pulling us out of our conversation. “As you can see, the sign says it was built in 1500, but there is evidence it could be even older than that.”
“Wow,” I whisper to myself as I look at the creamy building with dark wood accents. It reminds me of the buildings in Shrek.
I look toward Alex and find him studying the building and take a minute to study him.
He said the light was enhancing my hair, but it’s making him glow.
I’m glad he’s distracted. His black hair has slight blue undertones in this light, and his eyes are an even more striking blue.
It’s like they had been designed to match. Gosh, he’s a beautiful man.
“Like something you see?” He smiles as he turns his eyes to me.
“There was a spider on your face,” I answer in all seriousness.
“Why didn’t you knock it off?” His eyebrows raise, playing along.
“I’m very strong. I could have hurt you. And let’s face it, that’s your money-maker. I wouldn’t have wanted to leave you without a way to make your way in this world. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if you became destitute because I marred your face beyond recognition.”
“Marred beyond recognition? Wow, you really are strong. But it sounds like a pretty good plan. I’ll just move and live with you.”
I snort a laugh, and I’ve never realized how often I do that until I got around this Englishman who grew up in a fancy family. I did it multiple times when we had dinner at his house and boy did it feel out of place.
“You’ll be welcome with me should you ever become destitute.”
“Thank you.” Alex places a hand over his heart and nods solemnly.
We relax into silence as we continue to take in the scenery and ever-changing sunset. Alex’s hand covers mine as we go through a low-clearance tunnel.
“This is really cool,” he whispers, I assume to keep his voice from echoing off the stone.
“It really is,” I reply, and he squeezes my hand.
We come out the other side to find a duck swimming beside us.
I look to Alex to make sure he sees it but find his eyes already on me.
His breathing is accelerated, and as if he’s moving in slow motion, he leans in as he raises his other hand to cup my cheek.
“Ivy. You’re … I’ve never felt …” He rests his forehead on mine, and I feel his breath as it mingles with mine. I feel like I’m being sucked into a tornado. Totally helpless. That is until I feel the ghost of his lips on mine, and I jerk back.
“I’m so sorry,” he says before I can sort through my feelings. Do I want to kiss him? Yes, of course I do. But is it going to be good for me, for him, long-term? No. It will just make things harder.
“Alex, you’re not acting like this is pretend. It’s like you forgot what we talked about.” I glance up at the gondolier, thankful for the long boat and the fact that he has kept his back to us for most of the float.
“I didn’t. Believe me, I didn’t. I’m sorry. I got carried away with how right it felt to …” He sighs. “At the risk of sounding corny, I think I got caught up in the romance. I mean, you have to admit, this is perfect for a kiss. For a real couple, I suppose.”
Did his accent just get stronger? It’s like he’s in a frenzy and any accent he may have lost while living in the States came back full force.
“You’re not wrong. And I understand. I got caught up in it too. But, Alex, it would make it so much harder when we go our separate ways. You know it would.”
“It’s gonna be hard for me either way.” His voice is nearly a whisper, but I hear it loud and clear.
I take his hand. “We don’t have to keep doing this if it’s too hard.”
“No. I want to keep doing this. I want any time with you that I can get.”
“Even if it’s pretend?”
He runs his thumb along the back of my hand. “Yes.”
“Okay, then.” And then, I don’t know what comes over me, or if it’s a good thing or not, but I lean over and kiss him slowly on the cheek.