Page 36 of A Colourful Country Escape
‘Yes, apologies. You’re right. This finding-a-match nonsense really isn’t your problem. And I didn’t believe I cared much about it myself until … ’ His voice trailed off. ‘Recently.’
‘Right.’
‘I was just willing to let Mother get on with it. But imagine if there’s more to it than that.’
‘I know. Imagine.’ Lexie discreetly rolled her eyes.
‘I mean, it’s interesting to be … challenged. To be faced with a different outlook, a fresh perspective.’ They stared on in their opposite directions. ‘Like that funny little pattern on your top.’
He couldn’t see her top from there, could he? It was a tatty old thing from her travelling days, and the pattern was so small. It was Yin and Yang. The circle with the ‘S’ in the middle. Two opposing energies, two opposite colour schemes, coming together as a complimentary whole. Or perhaps like a kissing seat. But it was just coincidence. She was running out of clean washing.
Lexie pulled her mac around herself, even though she was starting to feel uncomfortably hot. ‘It’s just something I picked up from a market stall in Beijing.’
‘Beijing,’ Ben repeated, like it was the most exotic word. ‘Impressive.’
‘Oh, you should go one day; it’s something else. The colours, the smells. It’s a real attack on your senses. A whole different world.’
He was quiet for a while, and Lexie contemplated his situation. She’d always assumed that money opened up a person’s world to everything, and yet here was Ben seeming as though his had been so much more sheltered than hers. Maybe the contents of your wallet didn’t dictate as much as she’d thought; but what did she know.
‘And can I ask what delights you ate in Beijing? Fortune cookies?’
Lexie laughed. ‘I think the fortune cookies are a Western thing, but the street food over there is amazing. Deep-fried scorpions are good.’
She sensed his face crumpling into a grimace. ‘Only joking. I didn’t try them. There’s plenty of other stuff. Oily bean curd, rolling donkey – which is not what you might expect … ’
‘I think I’d pass.’
Lexie was enjoying this gentle tease. She really couldn’t picture Ben that far out of his comfort zone.
‘Is that how a person gets more colourful – by going to these places? I fear my current CV of squash and deadlifts is as uninspiring as Nutgrass Hall’s paintwork. Maybe I’ve been stuck on life’s treadmill.’
The last time Lexie had been on one of those evil things, she’d got her footing wrong and had been ejected off the back. He was one up on her.
‘I’m sure a few brushes with far-off lands would add a bit of colour to your palette. Maybe it would inspire you to perk up the shades in Carrington Paints’ catalogue too. I keep thinking something is lacking.’
She turned to face him, feeling a tickle of excitement. Apparently drawn by her sudden energy, he moved to face her too.
‘I see you slinking through spice-laden souks, ambling through Amsterdam, hitting the carnival in Cape Town … ’ She gave a little shimmy, ignoring his surprised chuckle.
‘You make it sound so easy.’
‘But it is! You just grab a backpack and a few essentials, and get on a plane. Or, you know. Get the butler to fill your Mulberry cases.’
He tutted at her. Of course she knew he’d never had a butler. He didn’t even like Mrs Moon doing things for him, although he also didn’t like to deprive her of her sense of purpose. It was actually quite sweet.
‘Is it as easy, as say, going through your paperwork and making sure your homelife is up to date?’
She crossed her arms. ‘Maybe we all have our comfort zones.’
‘And if we try and cower inside them, sometimes life has a funny way of throwing us out,’ he said, as though the thought had only just dawned. ‘Like a woman who ignores her out-of-date documents, causing her home to be crushed, so she’s forced to move into her own worst nightmare.’
Lexie grimaced. Maybe he had a point, even if she did want to whack him around the head for reminding her about poor Penny. ‘Hey, you could whisk some of your compatible dates away to foreign destinations.’
He seemed to consider it. ‘I’d be more at ease on home territory.’
‘But off-balance Ben is so much funnier!’
‘I’m glad my incompetence amuses you. Perhaps you’d like to tag along with your notebook and take notes for some excruciating blog post?’
