Chapter 32 Ivy
Ivy
What did I just do? I close the door to my room behind Alex and press my back against it.
I’m not a seductress. I know Alex wants more with me, and I’m the one pushing against it. And then I go and do that. It wasn’t fair to him. And it’s screwing me up too.
“Ahh!” I push off the door and step to where my things sit on the chair by the window.
He held me and massaged me, kissed me, and called me darling for what felt like hours last night, and I woke up as content as I’ve ever felt.
Lying there in his arms had felt so secure and wonderful.
And, instead of panicking, I swung the entire other direction and told him I never wanted to leave, then seduced him.
Kind of seduced him. But still. I need to apologize. And make sure to remind him it’s pretend. It’s getting more and more difficult for even me to remember.
Why is it I can’t give in?
Different worlds, and all that entails. Someone would compromise and be sad about it. I don’t want that for myself, and I don’t want it for him either.
There. I’m reminded. For now.
I ready myself for the day, gather my things, and head down to meet Alex at the restaurant.
As I come down the stairs, I see Alex waiting for me by the door to the restaurant. I cannot believe how beautiful he is. It’s almost like he doesn’t belong to this world. Even in his cheap store clothing, he looks like a million bucks.
Meanwhile, my clothes look like I closed my eyes and chose them at random. There wasn’t a fitting room, so we each bought several items, hoping for the best. The blue-gray sundress I’m wearing is the best I ended up with, and it makes my boobs look weird.
Alex has his glasses off, cleaning them on his shirt, when I step up beside him and poke him in the ribs. He turns and smiles like I hadn’t just given him the most childish hello to ever exist.
“Good morning, darling.” He kisses my cheek. “Again.”
My apology over breakfast went as well as you would suppose. Ultimately, it ended with him saying he would let me know if ever I did anything that went too far. Do I trust that? Definitely not.
The breakfast was simple, but delicious. And it included baked beans. I can’t believe how long I’ve been in England and was just now having beans at breakfast. I have to say it was weird, but tasty nonetheless.
After we eat, we take our things to the car and proceed to walk around Rye to look for a great spot to take a photo. As it turns out, the place is only great spots for photos.
We take a selfie on Mermaid Street for the solicitor.
“This be a fair township,” Alex says with a grin.
“What are you doing?” I laugh.
“This is a beautiful town, well village really. I don’t know how to say town,” he says. “I learned a bit of Early Modern English while filming—”
“The Knight and the Darkness,” I say proudly.
“You honor me with thy knowledge.”
I laugh. He really is funny. “Hast thou dispatched the photo?” I try.
“There weren’t photos back then,” he corrects, laughing. “But yes. Right after we took it.”
I narrowly avoid tripping on a cobblestone.
“Would that we possessed a steed,” Alex says, after observing my near fall. He takes my hand.
“So that we might ride it together?”
“Nay. So I might flee far from thee and thine advances.”
I throw back my head and laugh. “How darest thou?”
A woman, old and bent, catches our eye. She’s carrying an overfull grocery bag and can’t get a door open. Alex releases my hand and hurries over to her.
“Excuse me, madam. May I help you?”
I approach to lend my femaleness in case she is worried about being approached by a male stranger, but she seems completely at ease.
Whether unafraid, or simply unconcerned about the possibility of meeting her maker, I don’t know.
Of course, he had used exquisite manners, so she was probably charmed.
“My door is stuck. I’ve unlocked it, but it won’t budge. It’s the humidity.”
She moves out of the way, and Alex opens her door with what looks like minimal effort. The doorway leads to a steep, narrow staircase, and I hope this isn’t a place the woman has to come often.
“Thank you,” she says, taking and squeezing Alex’s hand.
“You’re very welcome. Can I carry your bag up for you?”
I feel like he should carry her with her bag, but I refrain from offering that suggestion.
“Oh, no, thank you, dear. I do this every day. I go out for the morning shop and bring it up these very stairs. I’ve been doing it since William and I got married over sixty-five years ago.”
“Wow. You’ve been married for quite some time,” I say.
“When you’re as happy as we are, it doesn’t feel like a long time. But at the same time, I hardly remember life without him.”
Alex smiles, then looks at me, and it wouldn’t take a mind reader to know where his thoughts have gone.
Before either of us responds, she continues.
“I’ve got bread to bake, so I must be off.
But I thank you again, sir.” A woman on a mission.
She starts up the stairs, but before we get the door closed between us, she turns.
“You two are a lovely couple. I hope you hang on to each other and have seventy happy years.”
Alex thanks her, while I’m thinking about how we likely won’t be here in seventy years. At least I hope not. I don’t want to be one of those people on the internet celebrating a hundred-year birthday. Dentures falling out when I blow my candles.
The door firmly closed; Alex turns to me. “Well, we certainly can’t disappoint her.”
I shake my head as I step back to the cobblestone street.
Alex pulls his phone from his pocket. “Behold! He did send us a fresh riddle.”
“I think we’ve done enough of that.” I laugh. “What does it say?”
India and China collide
Where a king is no longer inside
Alexander Benjamin Henry
You stay away from the beach!
“What in the world?” I ask.
“There’s a nude beach in Brighton. She wants us to go to the Royal Pavilion.”
“But steer clear of the naked people on the beach.”
“I shouldn’t have told you. You’re gonna want to go, aren’t you?
“I might be confident, but I’m not that confident. But mostly, I prefer my eyes unburned.”
“What?”
“I imagine some of the things there would make me want to burn my eyes,” I say.
“Burn your eyes? Wow.”
“There would be no other option.”
Alex shrugs. “I’m pretty sure I’d only see one person on the beach.”
“You don’t think it would be busy?”
“I’m sure it would be.”
Oh.
Alex looks at his phone. “It’s an hour and twenty minutes from here. What do you think? I could take you back, if that’s what you wanted.”
“No. I called Val this morning and she told me I wasn’t welcome back.”
“Have I told you how much I like your sister?”
I shake my head. “Let’s do it.”
Green rolling hills slowly turn into neighborhoods and then to a cityscape as we drive into Brighton. It’s a beach town not unlike ones I might find back home. Apart from, you know, a two-hundred-and-something-year-old palace, and such.
Alex’s phone has been beeping at us for the last several miles. I want to ask him if I can just read the messages to him, but I don’t want to overstep.
We park somewhere that’s supposedly not terribly far from the Royal Pavilion and walk. It’s lunchtime and I find a street vendor while Alex goes off to find a restroom. I’m standing in the Mr. Taco truck line when a man steps in line behind me.
“Hello, beautiful,” he says, and I’m not certain who he is talking to, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone else near enough. I ignore him.
“I’d love to buy your tacos,” he says, stepping forward to stand by my side.
I’m not sure if this guy is friendly and interested in me, or a creep who likes to pick up women at food trucks. I’m leaning toward the latter. He’s sort of giving off those vibes. Not that it matters; the answer’s the same either way.
“No, thank you. I’m here with someone.”
He looks over my shoulder, as if searching for my mysterious someone. “You can be here with me,” he says as he runs a hand down my arm.
That hand was quickly knocked away before I could do it myself, and a large body forced itself between me and the stranger. Alex.
“You forget yourself, sir. Step away from my girlfriend.”
I’m sure the guy recognizes Alex, but he doesn’t say anything. He just walks away, probably to give another woman unwelcome attention.
Alex turns to me, and I watch his face transform from anger to concern. “Are you alright, darling?”
“I’m fine. He only touched me the once.”
“Only? He shouldn’t have touched you at all.”
“Well, of course. I’m just saying, you saw everything bad that happened.
I’m over it, truly.” What I’m not over is Alex stepping in and getting rid of the guy.
It was so hot. Was it necessary? Maybe not.
What was that guy going to do in this busy place?
I believe I could have sent him on his way.
It might have taken some zingers and some glaring, but he would have left me alone.
The way things turned out was better, though. So much better.
I smile as Alex slips an arm around my shoulders and kisses my temple. “Good.” We step forward in line. “What kind of tacos are we getting?”