Page 28 of A Colourful Country Escape
In a daze, Lexie felt herself being shepherded through the grand gates towards the house. The neat rows of white narcissi bowed delicately at her passing, not a single head out of place. Tom was on his hands and knees tending to them, and he tipped his cap at Lexie when he saw her.
‘Lovely job, Tom,’ Ben said, pointing at the flowers.
‘They always pop out to say ’ello in spring. New beginnings, ya see.’
And with that, Lexie let go of the tidal wave of tears that had been building in her chest, and Ben ushered her across the driveway and into the house.
Ten minutes later and Lexie was huddled in a huge beige armchair in the exceedingly beige living room at Nutgrass Hall. She had three of Mrs Moon’s hand-knitted blankets around her and the log fire was on in defiance of Mrs Carrington-Noble’s regulations, but she still felt cold to her bones. That dreadful woman had arranged for her home to be towed away and crushed, presumably by flaunting her money for favours judging by the speed it had all happened. Lexie and Ben had only been out for the day.
Poor Penny was now a sorry cube of steel probably destined for a future as a batch of baked-bean cans. And exactly what Lexie’s future would be was suddenly under hot dispute. Mrs Moon was plying her with raspberry ripple sponge, Cory was full of his usual easy surf-dude smiles and even Ben was trying his best to be affable. It seemed they had a common goal in mind, and Lexie was running out of fight to resist it.
‘Just move in, Lex. There’s plenty of room,’ said Cory.
Ben cleared his throat. ‘Yes, it does seem like the best suggestion. It’s the least we can do, under the circumstances.’
‘Mrs Carrington-Noble will hit the roof,’ said Lexie.
A wicked smile crossed Cory’s lips. ‘Exactly! And it would serve the old fox right.’
‘I told her if you weren’t living on the driveway you’d be in the house. She had fair warning and she’s brought it on herself.’
Ben was right, of course. But Lexie didn’t feel any joy at the thought of living even further inside that woman’s unwelcoming womb.
‘She’d kick me out as soon as look at me.’
‘I can assure you, once I’ve had firm words with her she absolutely won’t.’ Ben’s jaw was quite possibly the squarest Lexie had ever seen it.
‘If you go, we all go,’ said Mrs Moon, handing Lexie another slice of cake. ‘And I’ll tell her that myself.’
To Lexie’s surprise, Cory, and even Ben, were nodding.
‘I know she seems like a mean old huntress at times,’ Mrs Moon continued. ‘But she just worries about losing things.’ She looked across to Ben with a small sadness. ‘Again.’
‘She clings on too tightly,’ said Cory.
She strangles things, thought Lexie. She remembered Sky accusing her of the very same. Perhaps she could almost relate, as much as it irked her. Sky should give Mrs Carrington-Noble the lecture about letting love grow like a rose bush, or whatever it was.
The others were having a conversation about which part of the house would be best for Lexie.
‘Hey, I haven’t even agreed to live here. I’m just not sure I’d feel … comfortable.’ She looked around at the grandiose room with its high ceilings and cold marble floor. It was beautiful, but just so intimidating. Those enormous gleaming chandeliers were a far cry from the paper lampshades in the three-bed council house she’d grown up in; she and Sky sharing a bunkbed while Aunt Jasmine nabbed the spare room when it was too chilly to sleep in Penny the camper. Lexie swallowed a threatening sob.
‘You could share Mrs Moon’s cottage,’ Cory suggested.
‘But what about Mr Moon?’ the housekeeper replied.
Lexie still couldn’t work out why they looked at Mrs M so strangely whenever he was mentioned. Perhaps they really disliked him.
‘You could take our old quarters here in the house,’ said Mrs Moon.
‘Or I can pay for you to stay in a hotel in town, if you prefer,’ said Ben. ‘But it won’t be practical to take all these boxes with you.’ He pointed to her various piles of life. ‘If your stuff is going to be here, you may as well inhabit a room with it.’
She did want to keep an eye on her papers, that was for sure. She couldn’t have people digging into her past. And she didn’t want Ben paying hotel fees for her. Forking out for hotel rooms herself wasn’t an option either, especially with these new fines and crushing fees on her back.
‘Maybe we can even sort some of these papers out,’ said Ben.
‘It’s all in perfect order!’ said Lexie.
Ben looked out of the window at the hunk of metal that used to be Penny.
