Page 66 of A Colourful Country Escape
‘Ouch! He’s actually not boring at all, if you scratch the paintwork.’
Grace raised her eyebrows and jabbed Lexie in the ribs. ‘And have you?’
‘No!’
‘Which blatantly means yes! I wish you’d tell me about London.’
‘It was all polymers and pigments. I’ll show you my notes.’
‘I saw the official version on social media,’ said Grace. ‘But I’m determined to find out what happened off screen.’ She made smoochy face impressions which Lexie did not care for.
‘We decided Ben needs to work harder with his mum’s matchmaking, is what happened.’
‘And you resolved to busy yourself with random paint-mixing projects to distract you from what’s really going on in your head.’
Lexie fiddled with her knee patches as she tried to withstand the heat of her friend’s stare. ‘Anyway, they can sort their own silly matchmaking. But whether or not Ben and Cynthia would be a good match, I can’t help thinking the two businesses could work together. Is that too wild?’ She lifted her gaze.
‘Interiors and paints? It makes sense to me. Although you’d need to jazz things up.’ Grace waved an arm over the uninviting shades. ‘With a nice exotic range, and maybe a research field trip.’ She winked. ‘Want me to speak to Mrs F?’
‘Hmm. I did meet her once.’
Lexie recalled the day she and Ben had visited to take photos of Mrs Fortescue’s downstairs toilet – the only room she’d deemed fit to coat in a shade of slightly dull Carrington Paint. Could Lexie persuade Mrs F that the new paint range, which the Carringtons hadn’t even sanctioned yet, would be exciting enough for her to endorse? Maybe Lexie could even kill two birds with one stone and convince Cynthia that Ben was not boring beige either. Hell, she’d even have Mrs Carrington-Noble on side at this rate. Then perhaps the old fox would stop hounding her.
Lexie drummed her fingers against her leg, to the beat of Muse’s ‘Time is Running Out’.
‘So you’ll be brave enough to call Mrs Fortescue,’ Grace said. ‘She’s great. Just like me.’
Lexie couldn’t help smiling at the cheeky twinkle in her friend’s eye.
And then, as though the bell was trying to save her, a ringtone made them both jump. Lexie quickly arranged the screen of her laptop to take the video call from her sister. It was about time she got the latest on the Billy-Bob debacle, if only to take the spotlight off her own sorry love mess.
Chapter 33
‘Sky!’ Lexie and Grace waved frantically at the laptop screen.
‘You managed to sneak out from the commune with your contraband phone?’ Lexie was still narked that Sky had returned to the brainwashing fold, but she was trying not to be all Carrington-Noble control freak about it.
Sky screwed her face up at the screen. ‘I think it’s just a Samsung. Ooh, but look at you with the paints out. Aunt Jasmine would have loved that. You’re like a chip off the old goat.’
Lexie laughed, although she had no idea what the goat was about. ‘She would. Anyway, how are you?’
‘Amazing! Honestly, things are so great here since I got back. Billy-Bob has been extra nice.’
Even Grace tried not to baulk at that one.
‘Really?’ asked Lexie.
‘Life is perfect,’ her sister confirmed. ‘Well, you know.’ She lowered her voice. ‘I could kill for a sausage roll. I love being vegan or whatever, but I wish they ate more meat. Vegan sausage rolls arenotthe same.’
‘And you’d prefer it if phones weren’t banned?’
‘God, yes, and wi-fi I have to walk for ages to sneakily check Facebook. And it’s a bit boring having to listen to ukulele music all the time, and those scratchy hessian dresses … But apart from that.’
‘Completely perfect!’ Lexie concluded, through tight teeth.
‘But what’s wrong with you?’ Sky squinted. ‘Like, why have you dyed your hair even bluer and started listening to miserable rock tunes? Are you having man troubles? Because I remember when Archie Geldof dumped you and you got into Led Zeppelin and piercings.’
‘I did not!’
