Page 41 of Not So Very Sensible

“Either that or clamber over that barbed wire fence.”

“Neither hold much appeal right now.”

“Not a bushwalker, huh?”

“Can you believe it? But no.”

He chuckled. He liked her dry sense of humour. It matched his own. “So, want to head through the gardens and see what’s on the other side?”

“What time is your high tea booking?”

“Twelve.” He glanced at his phone. “So we’ve got plenty of time.”

“In that case, sure.”

They passed old drystone walls and an Italianate-style fountain, then passed the arches of the Hydro Grand’s former entrance. Once upon a time, there had been three separate buildings, which had been joined together by long passageways like Cat’s Alley. And while most of the accommodation was all down at the original hotel Belgravia section, there were a few rooms in other locations.

The cool breeze that had felt playful before had stirred to greater energy, so they didn’t linger. Instead, after taking a few requisite snaps, they went inside and looked at the café and provedore, which boasted several artefacts from various iterations of the hotel. Chairs from the 1930s and 1960s dangled from the ceiling, alongside ice skates, snowshoes, and skis that showed just how cold it could get around here. Nearby were further odd remnants of the hotel’s past as a hydrotherapy retreat, such as cupboard-like contraptions designed to pummel one with water. Or a collapsible sedan chair, designed to take guests to the outside solar bath.

He read the information cards, smiling at the funny things people would do.

Ellie chuckled. “Can you believe people used to have needle baths?”

“Sounds painful. But so does bowel kneading, whatever that is.”

She shivered. “That sounds gross. Ugh. See, this is why trying to be healthy is bad for you.”

He chuckled. “So, do you do anything for exercise?”

“Apart from exercising my hands when I paint or draw?”

“You paint?”

“Some landscapes. I like them, even if they’re not to everyone’s taste.”

“I’d like to see them one day.”

“Well, maybe you can. One day.”

He snickered and drew closer. “You’re fun.”

“So are you.”

His heart glowed. He wasn’t called “fun” too often. Most of the time people called him serious or too passionate about obscure causes, which was probably true. But he liked this too. Liked being regarded as someone who appealed to a pretty girl like Ellie, someone with more than looks about her, but who combined brains and faith and interesting facets and a sense of humour, which made him want to play.

They found some old photographs and imagined aloud what the lives of those people from one hundred years ago must’ve been like.

“Look at these women in their fancy skirts climbing mountains like this. Aren’t they awesome?”

“Intrepid ladies.”

“Mm, I like that. I’d like to think I could be intrepid.” She glanced at him. “I still feel like I’m floundering about what to do with my life. My two older sisters have their lives sorted, but me and Katie, well, it’d be nice if God pointed a big arrow from the sky and said, ‘This is the path; walk in it.’“

“That’d make life easier, for sure.” He asked about her sisters and soon learned about Liv and her amazing life in England, and the fact she was getting married at the end of the year to a titled gentleman who owned a fancy manor house that had been used as the setting for Pemberley in the 2015 production of Pride and Prejudice.

“My mom loved that movie.”

She nodded. “My mom does too, and we’ve probably watched it a dozen times. Now that Liv and Liam are engaged, Mum has become next to impossible. Everything is about Liv and Liam, so it’s nice to get away from that for a while. Don’t get me wrong, Liv is completely down to earth, and so is Liam, and we just enjoyed time with them in England a month or so ago. But Mum is getting a little stressed and tends to let us all know.”