Page 3 of A Colourful Country Escape
Lexie took a step backwards, the words physically winding her. ‘Jeez, Drew,what? Your bloody cleaner?’ She fought with her voice, which was wobbling high and low. ‘Eighteen months and you’re still pretending I just hang around to dust?Urgh.’
Lexie turned to leave and Drew pulled away from the pack, taking hold of her arm and steering her to the side of the room.
He lowered his voice. ‘Look, you know it was so much more than that. I loved the way you looked after me, with all your fussing. But there comes a time when a guy has to grow up and think of his future.Financially.Can’t we talk about this another time?’ His eyes flicked to his toe-tapping fiancée and his mother. ‘My tongue’s tied here.’
‘Well, untie it,’ Lexie replied. As much as her wet pumps wanted to squeak their way out of there, she was keen never to see these faces again. At least if Drew said his piece, she could slink away for good. She shrugged his hand off her.
Tabby and Mrs Chadwick pushed their way back into the fray.
‘Just talk, Drew.’ Lexie hoped she wouldn’t regret it.
He mouthed a ‘sorry’ at her before clearing his throat. ‘Well … Tabby’s right. It’s not as though I was going to, you know …marryyou. You must know we’re not the same.’
Wow. So he was giving her the no-frills version in front of his wing-women. Lexie was regretting it already. She looked at Drew, in a suit she’d never seen before. She’d known his parents were loaded, of course. And she’d never felt at home in his penthouse apartment with all those pointless gadgets, but he usually wore faded band T-shirts and hung around in her crummy flat. She’d thought he wanted to be the same. They were both so creative. They had fun. Didn’t they? But all along, she was the odd one out.
‘Not the same,’ she repeated, crossing her arms over her smarting chest and trying to ignore the others. ‘Go on.’
‘I don’t think this is the place.’ Drew lowered his voice again as the shop owner approached – another impolite man in a suit.
Lexie looked back to the window like a desperate duck out of water. Her homeless friend gave her a double thumbs up, her enthusiasm almost vibrating through the glass. Yes. She could do this.
‘There won’t be any other places, Drew, so you may as well tell me here. What was this?’ Lexie waved her arms between the two of them. ‘Were you just sleeping with the common people until someone worthy came along?’
‘No, of course not! It’s not just the money thing.’ He shot a nervous glance at his mother. Clearly that was some of it. ‘It’s the other stuff as well. You know.You.’
‘Me?’ What did that mean?
The shop owner had joined the crowd, along with his meerkat of a shop assistant. Everyone was hooked.
‘What’s wrong with me?’ Lexie could hear the deflation in her own voice. Why had she even asked?
Drew reached for Lexie’s hand, but Tabby slapped it away.
‘Are you feeling sorry for her now? I’ll tell her if you don’t,’ said Tabby, her face scrunched up like an angry plum.
‘So is she the cleaner, or not?’ Drew’s haughty mother still looked befuddled.
Tabby put her hands on her hips and eyeballed her supposed fiancé. ‘Do you still fancy her? Shall I cancel the venue?’
The venue? Could this get any worse?
‘No, Tabby, darling … ’
Lexie shook her head. Who was this strange man? No wonder he’d kept her away from his ‘other life’. Money really did make him ugly.
‘I’ll tell her, Tabby, of course I will.’
What. The. Hell.
‘Look, Lexie, my point is, you’re not exactly …suitable. You’re a fun girl, but as a wife? It would never work. You’re too impractical, sweetheart. Look at you – out in the rain with no coat … ’ He tried to lighten his words with a jokey laugh.
‘And your clothes don’t match,’ Tabby added.
‘They’re thrift shop.’ Lexie tried to defend herself. ‘It’s a look.’
‘You’ve never got any money,’ Drew continued. ‘And when you do, you donate it to the turtles or donkeys or whatever your latest world worry is. Did I just see you give a purseful of notes to that homeless person? Because I thought you couldn’t afford your rent again. And no doubt you still haven’t sorted the MOT for that camper van.’
‘I … ’ Lexie floundered. ‘I do work for a living. I’ve never asked you for a penny.’ In fact, she was the one always feeding him. She was glad his stupid wontons were ruined. ‘You never seemed to mind when you were the useless cause I was fussing over.’
