“The rhyming was on point this time,” I say.
He chuckles. “She was showing her inner Elizabeth Barrett Browning.”
“I was thinking Dr. Seuss, but whatever you think.”
A laugh exploded from Alex as he opened the passenger door for me. “That is probably much more accurate. No offence to the good doctor.”
He closes the door, then moves around the car and gets in.
“So I’m thinking I can’t help with this one,” I say as I buckle my seatbelt.
“No. But I know where she’s talking about. We celebrated my parents’ twenty-fifth anniversary in Rye.”
“Where is Rye? How far is it?”
“It’s west of here. I’m not sure how far.”
He keys Rye into his maps app and finds that it’s an hour from here. Once again, we are on the precipice of evening, and need to decide whether to go and stay the night somewhere, or head back to London.
“Let’s do it.” I’m committed to all this.
“Are you sure? You don’t want to check with Val?”
“I’m sure, and I know exactly what she’ll say.”
I hear a text notification coming from my bag and pull out my phone. And what do you know? It’s Val.
Val: Look at this.
It's a photo of the front cover of a tabloid. It looks like Valtook it while standing in front of a magazine rack. The cover story features a photo of Alex and his ex-supposed girlfriend, Grey, walking hand in hand out of a restaurant. The headline reads, “Alexander Henry & Grey Blankenship back together? Our sources say, YES!”
I hold my phone out to Alex, and he takes a minute to look. “I’m not even gone a week and they’re posting old photos and lies.”
“To be fair, your whole relationship was a lie.”
Alex laughs. “That’s true. I just hope no one believes this. If photos of the two of us begin to circulate, people will think I’m a cheat.”
I take my phone back from Alex. “You really do live in a different world. Do you think photos of us will get out?”
“Honestly? I’m a little surprised they haven’t.”
I nod, because the only thing I can think about is that this is exactly what I needed to remind myself that this is only pretend—and pretend is for the best.
It’s dark and I’m so hungry by the time we make it to Rye. We’d stopped at a store, and each purchased new clothes and underwear for tomorrow. I’d laughed and laughed as Alex held his five-pack of underwear, because these were, without a doubt,the cheapest clothes he had ever owned. “Welcome to real life,” I said.
We walk into the historic inn where we’d reserved rooms for the night, and I can’t help but feel like a dusty, saddle-sore traveler, who has stumbled into this place after a day of riding. Maybe I’m running from someone in the neighboring kingdom, and I don’t speak the language of this one, but I know they will have a stew to warm my belly.
I have my back to Alex as he checks us in and orders room service. I’m mesmerized by the history in this small space. I look across the lobby to the restaurant, and if it weren’t for the clothing and electricity, I’d think we had time-traveled. It’s rustic and beautiful and part of me wishes we were eating down here, instead of in one of our rooms. But my head is starting to hurt, so I know we made the right call to stay away from the noise of the restaurant.
Our rooms are on opposite ends of a long hall upstairs. We go to relax in mine, and as we wait for the food, I decide to shower. He’s already seen my flamingo pajamas, so what does it matter?
“They said thirty minutes, so you’ve got plenty of time,” Alex says as he sits in the uncomfortable-looking chair by the window. “Enjoy.”
I step into the bathroom and gasp. “There’s a clawfoot tub!” I stick my head out the door and smile at Alex. “It’s my dreamto have a clawfoot tub!”
“A worthy dream, I suppose. I’m more of a shower guy, myself.”
“This is just what I needed.” I’ll relax my headache away.
