Page 47 of Love ad Lib
‘So where are you and India going to live now?’
‘India’s staying with her parents until her shoot in Morocco. I’ll find somewhere else soon.’
‘So, you’re homeless, most of your belongings have been trashed and Serafina is no more?’
She nodded again.
His left knee was bobbing up and down. He splayed his fingers and pressed his hand onto his thigh to stop the movement.
‘Would you like a coffee?’ he asked.
She reached for her bag and he brought his hand towards hers, stopping abruptly before he touched her.
‘Libby. As per our agreement, all expenses for this trip are to be carried by me.’
‘Are you sure?’ Her voice sounded weak and uncertain.
‘Absolutely. I take this contract extremely seriously. My word is my bond.’
She glanced at him. He looked so earnest and serious she wasn’t sure whether she wanted to cry at his sweetness or laugh.
‘Henry.’
The worry lines in his forehead deepened. ‘Yes?’
She wiggled her eyebrows. ‘Just now, you nearly touched me. I don’t have my regulation ruler to hand... but that was definitely less than eight inches.’
He shifted his whole body closer to the driver door. ‘I’m so sorry, Libby. It won’t happen again.’
She reached across to squeeze his hand and smiled.
He stared at it.
‘Henry, I was joking. It’s all good. I promise. Now, let’s go and get some caffeine.’
An hour and a half later,they’d left the motorway behind and were whizzing along the A303 through Salisbury Plain. The undulating fields stretched away on either side of the road, the golden heads of sun-ripened wheat swirling as the breeze brushed past them in waves. Libby couldn’t help but stare. After a life spent in cities with the view shortened by buildings, here her gaze could travel to the horizon.
‘It’s so beautiful,’ she murmured. ‘I haven’t spent much time in the countryside.’
‘Where was the last rural place you visited?’ Henry asked.
She thought. ‘Does a walk around Cobham in Surrey with India count?’
‘Did you encounter any mud? Any dung?’
‘No.’
He grinned. ‘Not really the countryside, then.’
Libby shuddered. She knew she liked theideaof the countryside. However, this was always through the lens of whichever Austen adaptation she was watching at the time. It was easy to indulge a bucolic fantasy when snuggled up under a blanket with a takeaway pizza and bottle of wine from the off-licence around the corner.
‘You look worried,’ Henry said.
‘I’m not sure if the countryside and I will really get along.’
‘It’s only for a few days and you don’t have to leave the Manor if you don’t feel like it.’
She stared past him out of the window. ‘Oh my god, is that Stonehenge?’
