“And miss a chance like that? Bloody unlikely.”
She laughs and knocks her shoulder into my arm. “I like your Englishness.”
This makes me grin, falafel all but forgotten. “Do you?”
“Mmm hmm.” She’s acting coy, and it makes mewant to toss the food and press her back to the grass behind us.
“Well, as it happens, I quite fancy you and all your Ivyness.”
A little color touches her freckled cheeks, but she laughs softly. “Eat your food, pretend boyfriend.”
With her words, I notice a trend. I think each time she starts to feel something more, or something that surprises her, she calls me “pretend boyfriend.” And yes, we did say we would remind each other of that, but I imagined it more randomly—not as much as a tool to try to shut down feelings.
I obey and take a bite of the falafel. I’m sure it was fine, but I didn’t really taste it.
“I thought it was really good how you spoke to those girls.” She wipes her fingers on her napkin. “You weren’t mean, but you were clear that their actions were not what they should have been.”
“I normally just take the pictures and move on, but I couldn’t stand how they treated you. Acting like you don’t matter.”
I can tell she doesn’t know what to say. If I told her howmuchshe is starting to matter to me, would she try to push me away? I’m betting she would. Her hand is resting beside her, on top of the wall. I place my hand on hers.
“Thank you for letting them know that I matter,” she says.
“Well, what kind of gentleman would I be if I didn’t?” I joke, in order to keep myself from telling her how verymuchshe matters to me.
28
Ivy
Alexkeepslookingatme 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 HenryII
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. IreckonI’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.
