Mr. Darcy Forever (6 page)

But something awful happens every time I do, she thought to herself, thinking back to the week she'd spent with Mia in Devon. If only she'd stayed at home that week or had booked them into a house somewhere else -
anywhere
else. Then it wouldn't have happened, would it? Why had she been so insistent that they went to Devon? It had seemed like the perfect idea at the time but it had ruined everything.

She closed her eyes, wishing that she could turn back time but then got angry with herself because that was just irrational. Not that she wasn't an irrational person - she knew that many of the symptoms of her OCD were completely irrational like the counting every time she went up and down stairs and steps or whenever she did up her buttons.

She looked at her watch and wished that she was safely in her hotel room in Bath with the distractions of the city before her instead of stuck on a train with only her thoughts for company. No, that wasn't quite right. She had Jane Austen for company, didn't she? And, opening her handbag, she took out her copy of
Northanger Abbey
, a smile instantly lighting her face at the thought of wiling away the time with Catherine Morland and Henry Tilney.

It seemed very special that Jane Austen had chosen Bath as the setting for her first novel,
Northanger Abbey
. It was also the setting for her last completed work,
Persuasion
and Sarah often thought of how the two heroines, Catherine Morland and Anne Elliot, had opposing views about Bath – the young Catherine revelled in its bustle whereas Anne had no affection for it. Sarah’s own feelings about Bath always swung somewhere between the two
heroine’s. She adored the beautiful architecture and the enormous fun of seeing everybody looking so resplendent in their Regency costumes but she would often feel panicky at just being in a city and having to cope with the scary situations she would find herself in. But she was determined that her time in Bath was going to be fabulous and, without further ado, she opened her book, turning to Chapter 3 and the wonderful scene in which Catherine meets Henry Tilney for the first time. Sarah loved that scene. It was so warm and funny and she loved Tilney’s gentle teasing of the young heroine. It was also a wonderful celebration of Bath and how one can ‘step out of doors and get a thing in five minutes’ which reminded Sarah that she could treat herself to a little bit of shopping whilst in town.

How the time slipped by wondrously fast when reading a favourite book. After just a few chapters, Sarah realised that they were about to arrive at Bath and put her book away for later because she didn't want to miss the approach.

Whether one arrived by train or car, one of the first things that struck you about Bath was how steep the roads were. They were as steep as any child would draw them, set amongst gentle hills, green fields and verdant woods. It really was one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Sarah loved the innumerable church spires which shot up into the air and the neat square lines of the buildings. Georgian architecture really was very comforting, she thought.

As the train pulled into the station, Sarah planned the next few hours. She would go to her hotel and take a long, hot shower. Public transport always made her feel so grubby. Then, she would have a bit of late lunch - there was a little bistro she knew that was clean and quiet with chairs that didn’t wobble and cutlery that wasn’t bent. If there was one thing that turned Sarah’s stomach, it was a bent prong on a fork. Then, she’d explore Bath. It seemed so long since she’d last been there and she couldn’t wait to lose herself amongst its streets. But first, she had to endure the horrors of the train station where other people might bump into her at any moment. She took a deep breath and, like Catherine Morland at the Upper Rooms, did her best to negotiate the crowds.

‘
This is your room,’ Shelley said, opening the door into a tiny room. ‘Dad’s been banging on at me to rent it out but I think I’ve got enough to cope with having Pie living here.’

Mia placed her suitcase by the bed and sat down. The room was at the back of the house and there was a view out across allotments. It certainly beat the view of the dusty, dirty road that Mia had from her bedsit in London.

‘
So, tell me what's been happening! I haven't heard from you for weeks. You never ring me, you naughty girl.’

‘
My mobile is always out of credit and I hate using the payphone in the flats. The landlord is always hovering around, eavesdropping.’

‘
So, what have you been up to?’

‘
Just the usual,’ Mia said, anxious that Shelley might unearth all her secrets within five minutes.

‘
That isn't anywhere
near
good enough,’ Shelley said, flopping down on the bed beside her.

‘
But my life is so boring,’ Mia said. ‘I go to work, I go to auditions, I write the occasional song, and I never have enough money to do anything remotely interesting.’

Shelley puffed out her cheeks. ‘Goodness,’ she said. ‘That does sound bleak.’

Mia nodded. ‘I often wonder how I got here. This isn't the life I envisaged when we were at drama school. Remember how full of hope we were? How everything was going to be so brilliant?’

Shelley grinned. ‘You were going to conquer the West End and I was going to dazzle Hollywood or, at least, marry into Hollywood royalty.’

‘
So, what happened?’

‘
Life, my dear. That’s what usually happens. It's the great gulf between fantasy and reality - it'll get you every time.’ She placed an arm around her friend’s shoulder. ‘But it can't all be doom and gloom, can it? You must have
something
juicy to tell me. What about men?’

‘
What about them?’

‘
Are you seeing any?’

‘
Not seriously,’ Mia said in a little voice. ‘I’m just not ready.’

‘
But, sweetheart, it’s been over three years now, hasn’t it? Do you really mean to tell me you’ve not seen anyone else in all that time?’

‘
It’s – it’s not easy,’ she said. ‘Do you mind if we don't talk about it? Bath is my special place and I don't want to spoil it by talking about the past.’

Shelley sighed and Mia knew she’d upset her. ‘But it’s not the past, is it? It’s still hurting you right now – in the
present!
’

Mia shook her head. ‘Not this week,’ she said. ‘This is Jane Austen week and I’m not going to think about anything else!’

That first perfect morning of a holiday was always rather magical. It was a time when everything was new and an adventure might be waiting around the very next corner.

Mia drew back the curtains and gazed out across the sloping lawn down towards the estuary. It really was the most perfect view and a far more pleasing sight first thing on a morning than the noisy road that greeted her from behind the net curtain of her grotty London bedsit.

It was so lovely to wake up without the aid of an alarm clock. She and Sarah hadn’t gone to bed much before one o'clock in the morning because they'd been up talking half the night and enjoying a few glasses of wine. Well, that's what holidays were all about, weren't they?

Taking a quick shower and getting dressed in her tracksuit bottoms and her ‘I Love Mr Darcy’ T-shirt, she walked down the stairs, smiling as she saw the very spot where Emma Thompson had sat in the film version of
Sense and Sensibility
. She could just imagine her sitting there right now, her cup of tea balancing on her knees as she listened to the painful sobs of her two sisters and her mother.

She knew that Sarah was up already because she was never one to have a lie in even on holiday. Besides, she'd heard her polishing door knobs at an obscenely early hour. But she didn't find her in the kitchen as she'd expected to - she was in one of the front rooms and Mia instantly knew what she was doing.

‘
You’re not going to spray Barton Cottage?’ she said as she entered the room and saw her sister with a tiny glass bottle in her hand.

‘
Good morning!’ Sarah said with a bright smile.

‘
Sarah! What are you doing?’ Mia said, watching as her sister continued to spray her way around the two reception rooms.

‘
Other people have been here before us and you can’t be too careful,’ Sarah said as she squirted a blast of lavender into the air. ‘Mrs Dashwood would have approved, I'm sure of it, and Betsy and Thomas too.’

‘
I suppose,’ Mia said, trying to imagine the Dashwood’s servants administering Sarah’s lavender spray. ‘But don’t go mad or the whole house will smell like a big lavender bag.’

‘
Where are you going?’ Sarah asked as Mia bent down to put on her pair of trainers she’d left by the front door.

‘
I thought I’d go for a jog.’

‘
Before breakfast?’

‘
Best time,’ Mia said.

‘
Well, don’t be long, will you? I’m going to make you a proper breakfast and you look like you need it.’

Mia rolled her eyes but she secretly liked being looked after by her big sister.

Leaving the house, she did a few warm-up stretches in the front garden before jogging across the lawn to the little wooden gate,which was almost completely hidden in a froth of white cow parsley, and on down to the private lane which skirted the estuary. Mia felt that she had entered the world of
Sense and Sensibility
for the lane had been used in the film. She remembered how both Colonel Brandon and Mr Willoughby had ridden their horses along the lane and she could almost see Marianne Dashwood amongst the pale rushes by the water's edge.

Opening another gate, she began her run, following the path along the estuary. The morning May sunshine was bright and dazzled her eyes when she looked at the water. Bright pink campions lined the path and the air was sweet and warm. It was such a pleasure to run in such surroundings. Mia’s usual route was through a scruffy park near her flat, full of litter, broken glass and dangerous dogs but there was nothing threatening about this place and she couldn't help smiling as she ran.

The path skirted a perfect blue pond before climbing towards a wood. She knew that it would eventually lead to the sea but was anxious to be back in time for Sarah's breakfast.

Mia’s breathing deepened as she continued. She loved the steady rhythm she built up as she ran – the gentle thud-thud of her trainers hitting the earth and the light perspiration beading her skin, the wind in her hair and the heat of her face as she warmed up. There was nothing like it for forgetting your troubles because the only thing you thought about was putting one foot in front of the other. Also, that morning, she was thinking about Marianne Dashwood. She liked to try and imagine Jane Austen’s characters if they were around today. What would their modern counterparts be like? It had long been a running joke between her and Sarah that they were the modern incarnations of Elinor and Marianne Dashwood because Sarah was so sensible and in control and Mia was so energetic and headstrong.

She could imagine Marianne would like jogging. She practically ran everywhere in
Sense and Sensibility
, didn’t she? Whether she caught sight of her beloved Willoughby or a patch of blue sky, she had to run towards it. Yes, she could imagine Marianne Dashwood sporting the latest pair of trainers and racing through the countryside.

As she reached a fork in the path, she slowed down. She had a feeling that, if she took the one to the left, she would soon reach the sea. How tempting that was but Sarah would probably be banging the bottom of a pan with a wooden spoon by now in an attempt to call her home and so, reluctantly, Mia retraced her steps and made her way back to Barton Cottage, running once more through the cool of the beech woods and back past the pond and alongside the estuary.