Page 59 of A Searing Acquaintance
Elizabeth jumped and turned around. He was standing behind her.When did he get here?
His offer was met with Jane’s protests and Elizabeth’s silent stare. “Really, I should get to my office,” he explained. “I hadn’t planned on a weekend away, and I’ve been out of town quite a bit lately.”
Mary craned her neck and looked up at him. “What’s going on?”
Jane glared at her and shook her head. Mary narrowed her eyes and thrust the dice into her sister’s hand. Jane smiled tensely before her expression lightened. “Oh, is it my turn?” she asked Ava sweetly.
Darcy leaned over and spoke in low tones. “I promised to take the children sailing in the morning, but we can leave right after that.”
Elizabeth knew he wouldn’t take no for an answer—not on this anyway.
“I understand you’re leaving us tomorrow.” Ted Bennet leveled a steady eye at his second daughter. Elizabeth looked up from the sand where she was watching Charles and Joe dig a pit for the clambake.
She nodded. “A girl’s gotta make a living.”
Ted closed his book and chuckled. “You didn’t bring your car, did you? I suppose you need one of us to stir from our sun-baked perches in paradise to drive you back to the city? Or will you be riding the Jiminy Cricket?”
“Jitney.” Elizabeth rolled her eyes. “No, your seat in the south-facing chaise is safe. I have a ride back.”
“Oh?”
She tried to sound nonchalant. “Mr. Darcy offered. He needs to get back to the city.”
Lydia snickered. “I hope you brought some earbuds. He’s so stodgy he probably only listens to opera. Good hair and a tight butt gone to waste. You know, we’re here at the beach and it’s hot, and he never even takes off his shirt!”
Elizabeth, appalled, glimpsed the subject of Lydia’s rant turn away and disappear into the kitchen.Please tell me you didn’t hear that.
Lydia scrunched up her nose. “Even Herb, whoshouldstay covered, shows off his man-boobs.”
Elizabeth opened her mouth to berate Lydia, but her stepmother, who hadn’t even seen Darcy, beat her to it.
“Someday you’ll find out that you can’t judge a man or a womanby what they’ve tattooed on their skin, parked in their garage, or put on or taken off their bodies.” Barbara, her sunglasses perched at the end of her nose, glared at her daughter. “Mr. Darcy might not beyourdream date, but he is an awfully gracious host to welcome us all here. And Charles is a lucky man to have his friendship.”
Barbara tore her eyes away from Lydia’s glare and looked at Elizabeth. Her sculpted eyebrows arched higher than usual. “And he’s leaving the beach just to drive you back to the city a day early? Very nice.”
Elizabeth shrugged, warmed by her stepmother’s defense of Darcy but wary of her suspicions. “He’s been out of town. He has business there.”
Lydia sniffed and put in her earbuds. “Whatever. I still like Florida better than the Hamptons. There were so many hot guysmy agethere.” She lifted her phone and loudly asked, “Lizzy, did you see the pictures from our trip?”
“Yes, multiple times. I’m going for a walk.” Elizabeth needed to clear her head, to think of anything but her life, her work, and people who made bad decisions. As she passed Lydia, she could hear pulsating rap music blasting from her earbuds.
Elizabeth thought back to the previous night and her conversation with Darcy about music.His mother had great taste.She must have been so interesting, so curious about the world. Why did she go to England?Elizabeth squirmed uncomfortably when she thought of the contrast with her own mother.Who runs away to Branson? Who leaves their family? What am I going to do about the book? Did Darcy hear Lydia’s attack on him?
Too many questions were swirling. Her head ached.
Darcy hated pity. He’d received it for most of his life, or at least since he was sixteen and left alone with his father and the gaping, never-spoken-about loss of his mother and sister. And the guilt. That was his and his alone. Only the family, the fractured family he was left with, knew the full story of the car accident. And as frustrating and domineering as his aunts and uncles could be, they never, not once, blamed him or made him feel responsible. Even if he was. That’s what family was for. It was certainly why he and Rich attended all of Annabella’s “performances” and suffered through dinners with her mother. Itwaswhy Rich put up with his moods and why Darcy made such an effort to actually like Rich’s girlfriends. They had to stick together.
In the past twenty-four hours, he’d had a front-row seat to how a difficult family could undermine a person’s self-esteem. Only Jane and the Gardiners appeared to appreciate Elizabeth’s career and academic choices, and it was best that only they knew what was happening to her book. Elizabeth had no reason to defend herself or make excuses, but her misfortunes would be a lark to the rest of her family. Darcy hadn’t even met her mother, but the FaceTime conversation he’d witnessed was enough of an experience. He’d wondered more than once whether Jane and Elizabeth had been adopted. Although their stepmother seemed pleasant enough, Ted and Sylvia were both distant, self-involved people. However their marriage had dissolved, it seemed to have left some deep wounds on Elizabeth. She hid them well, but he knew the signs.
By contrast, the Gardiners were gracious company and wonderfully intelligent conversationalists, and their children were smart and polite. Maddie was a trained horticulturist and had peppered him with questions—few he could answer—about Pemberley’s gardens and grounds. They obviously were close to their Bennet nieces and had quite a bit of influence on them. They were supportive of Elizabeth’s career path, and he was confident they would help her get through this adverse turn of events.None of which was her fault. It might not be any of his business, but he needed to ensuresheknew that she was blameless. Seeing her cry and feeling as though he needed permission to touch her, to console her, was achingly painful.
He headed out a side door, out of view of theKowalski-Bennets.Bennet-Kowalskis? Or whatever their name is.After overhearing that testy conversation with her father and stepsister, he suspected Elizabeth had gone out walking. Maddie saw him wandering outside the house and pointed him in the direction of the bluffs. “Elizabeth is drawn to your lavender fields. I gave her a pair of shears to cut some for the dinner table.”
It took but a minute to find her footprints in the sand. They led him to the field where he’d scattered Coco’s ashes two days earlier.
“Are you all right?” he asked quietly when he reached her.
“Please, I don’t want to talk about it,” she said quickly.
