Page 86 of A Colourful Country Escape
Thud,thud, thud. Thud, thud, thud.
Usually, there was something quite relaxing about being cocooned in a camper van, the rain thumping down on the hard metal roof. But, at that moment, Lexie just felt like the world was crying on her head. For once, she probably needed its pity.
‘Cup of tea?’ Sky asked, as she clattered around in the kitchen.
Lexie buried her face under the duvet. ‘We don’t have any,’ came her muffled reply. ‘We don’t have anything.’
It was the morning after the sisters’ great escape from Nutgrass Hall, and already the walls seemed to be closing in on them. They’d only managed to drive about ten miles north of Tewkesbury before Lexie’s eyelids had given up the battle, and they’d been forced to find a quiet field to camp in. Lexie had had the worst few hours’ sleep. Cold, uncomfortable and plagued by melancholy thoughts.
‘You’re right. The cupboards are empty,’ said Sky.
Lexie groaned. Did her sister honestly think Mrs Carrington-Noble had left them with a Waitrose shop? Not that they even had electricity. They needed to find a proper campsite and hook up. After they’d sourced some teabags.
Lexie could hear her sister rooting around in bags and boxes.
‘Soooo … We have the sum total of half a Greggs steak bake – a little bit stale – a handful of M&Ms – no peanuts – and a whole bottle of Oasis, because it was buy one, get one free. Sorry, I would have bought the flavour you like if I’d known you were coming back early.’
‘Breakfast is served,’ Lexie muttered, crawling out of her duvet nest only to feel the morning chill and yank the covers back up to her neck. And this was meant to be summer.
They divided up their pathetic bounty like children on a very sad picnic, and ate in silence, each huddled under a corner of the bedcovers. What on earth had made Lexie think it wouldn’t be so bad? She’d thought the van would feel more spacious now she’d got rid of a few boxes of old paperwork. But now there were two of them, and her sister took up a lot of room for someone who’d supposedly handed over her earthly possessions to the fake commune. She must have hidden a lot of clandestine stuff under her four-in-a-bed mattress.
‘Why didn’t you go back to Mum and Dad’s?’ Lexie heard herself asking.
Sky chucked the communal Oasis down on the bed between them. ‘So now you want to get rid of me?’
‘No! I just … wondered, I guess.’ The van was cramped with her sister’s crap, but maybe it was better than being alone with her thoughts. The ones about Ben were getting especially heavy.
‘Are you going back there?’ Sky asked. Although it was definitely more of a challenge.
‘No,’ Lexie admitted.
‘You’re embarrassed by them, aren’t you?’
‘Don’t be such a bitch, Sky!’ Lexie launched an M&M at her, then wished she hadn’t. Now she was down to just three. Which, as she’d come to realise, was still one too many. She shoved one into her mouth and bit hard.
‘Ooh, you didn’t even say no. You are embarrassed.’
Was she? ‘No!’ It felt like the truth, more or less. ‘Maybe I was a bit, when I was younger and money was hard. And for some pathetic reason I started feeling cringey about it again recently. Probably the whole Drew and Tabby thing. But then, Ben … ’ She had to stop and blink a few times as an unexpected pain hit the back of her eyes. ‘Ben made me see things differently.’
‘Yeah, he was good for you.’ Sky nodded as she bit into her bonus chocolate.
‘Jesus, sis! You’re meant to be helping. How is a guy who dumps me in favour of a shitload of cashgood for me?’
‘You don’t actually know that. Have you spoken to him?’
‘Using what, telepathy? He’s in Morocco and I don’t even have a SIM card.’
Sky pulled out her phone from the pouch of her hoodie.
‘And I don’t want to,’ Lexie added. ‘I threw my only copy of his mobile number in the bin for a reason.’
‘Oh. Because you think communication sucks?’
‘Whatever,’ said Lexie, filling her mouth with her final morsel of steak bake so she didn’t have to come up with any more excuses.
The rain hammered down hard on the van and, with Sky still in her zebra onesie, Lexie couldn’t help remembering her Noah’s Ark analogy. Maybe she should move the camper van soon before they really did get stranded in a flood. If only her limbs could be bothered.
‘Anyway, I thought you were over that silly rich-girl paranoia? You love Grace, don’t you?’
