Look at her hair! She is so pretty! When do I get to meet her?? *big smile emoji*
A large crowd shows up in the garden, so I think it’s best if we move along. I pocket my phone. “Would you like to walk to the lake?”
She looks up at me, her freckles standing out against her pale skin in the sunshine. “I’d love to.”
We step out of the garden, then take a selfie of the two of us in front of the main building—which I instantly send to Mr. Crawley. I take Ivy’s hand as we walk through the beautiful grounds.
“Something about this place makes me want to take a picnic,” Ivy says as the lake comes into view.
“We’ll take a lakeside picnic one day. Although, I’m not sure fish and chips will be as good packed up and taken all the way to a lake.”
Ivy laughs softly. “You wanna know a secret?”
“Of course, I do.” I’ve never wanted to know a secret more.
“I think I’ve finally had enough of fish and chips. I mean, I’ll want them again someday, but I think I’ve overdone it.”
This makes me burst out laughing, startling a bird out of a nearby tree.
“It’s notthatfunny.” She smiles up at me, and I put my arm around her.
“Does this mean thatI’myour favorite British thing now?” We come to a stop by the lake, and Ivy doesn’t answer right away. We stand quietly, watching the ripples on the water, until she turns and slides her hands along my neck and into my hair, then tugs me downwards.
“That depends.”
“I’m not going to want to say goodbye to you tonight,” I say, setting down my tea. We’re eating at the restaurant on-site. A young couple came to the table asking for a photo right after we sat down, but otherwise we’ve been left alone to enjoy our meal.
“Me neither, but I think it’s time for me to be with my family. All our stuff is booked. There isn’t space for another.”
“I could take care of all that; you know I could.”
“I … yes, I know.” Ivy sets down her fork.
“If it’s that you want to spend the time with just your family, you can say that. I would understand. You’ve been off with me for much longer than expected.” It would be discouraging, butunderstandable.
“It’s not that. I mean, it’s a bit about that. I want to make sure I’m considering their feelings.”
“Of course. Why don’t you spend the evening with them, and see how things are seeming? They may really just want to spend time with you, and I can certainly understand them wanting to have you to themselves.”
She snorts a laugh, and I grin. I love it when she does that.
“I could see it going either way. Val is a hopeless romantic, you know.”
“I do love that about her.”
38
Ivy
Afterlunch,wewanderinto the Sissinghurst Plant Shop & Secondhand Bookshop near where we parked our car. I obviously can’t take home a plant, but I could, perhaps, find a good book for the train ride tomorrow. Alex and I separate for the first time today when I head toward the fiction section.
I’m debating between two books when I look up to find Alex perusing the history section, a book about World War II in his hand. I set my books down and walk over. “Do you like reading about history?”
“Not usually, no. But I think being back here, surrounded by history, has me thinking more about the past. And going to all these places to get my grandfather’s stuff has me wanting to know about the world when he was my age.” He held upthe book. “He actually served in World War II. He was barely eighteen.”
“Wow. Really? Did he talk about it much?”
“No. And I was always curious about it. Well, once I became old enough to know about the war. I loved my grandfather, but he wasn’t much of a talker. I think there was trauma there that wasn’t dealt with.”
