My Own Mr. Darcy (13 page)

On Thursday I sat in one
of Delia’s boring training meetings. It had been going on all day. I hadn’t seen
Matt when he came in for cash that morning because temporary tellers were
filling in for us. When lunch arrived, Delia handed us waxed-paper-wrapped
sandwiches and I realized we were eating lunch catered by The Eighth Natural
Wonder. Was everyone conspiring against me?

I felt my phone vibrate in
my pocket. It was Chad. He didn’t leave a message. I felt immensely relieved
and a little bit sad.

The evening was cold and
wet—perfect weather for my brown corduroy dress, pea-green tights, and ankle
boots. My hair was a little wild tonight so I held it back with a floral
headband.

“You look so cute,”
Janessa said.

“Thanks.” I shook out my
hands. “I don’t know why I feel so nervous tonight. We eat lunch together almost
every day.”

“Don’t be nervous. Just
have fun. You look fabulous.”

Matt looked me over from
head to toe when I opened the door. A little smirk appeared and then
disappeared. I wasn’t sure what it meant but suddenly I felt self-conscious.

When we pulled out of the
parking lot, Matt reached over and took my hand. “I thought we’d go to Sage.”
I’d never eaten at Sage but I’d heard rumors they didn’t put prices on the
menu. If you had to worry about the price, you couldn’t afford to eat at Sage.
I was glad I’d worn a dress.

Matt was extra attentive,
opening doors, putting my arm through his, and pulling out my chair. I opened
the black leather menu. My mouth watered just reading about the dishes offered.
The rumor was true. There were no prices.

“What is your vegetarian
offering tonight?” Matt asked.

He’d better not be
ordering for me
. With the food
described here, there was no way I was ordering vegetarian.

“We have a sea palm and
root vegetable strudel. It’s quite delicious,” the waiter said. His British accent
sounded a little overdone. He was probably an acting student from Medford.

“Give us a few more
minutes?” Matt said.

“Certainly.”

“I’m not sure that sounds
very good,” Matt said.

I took this opportunity to
ensure I wouldn’t be forced to eat vegetarian. “This pecan-encrusted salmon
sounds good to me. I think I’ll have that,” I said.

“Salmon is certainly
better than red meat. Maybe I’ll order that, too. But I don’t know about the
pecans. A lot of extra fat there.” When the waiter came back, Matt ordered two
of the salmon, one with pecans and one without.

“Is the bank doing
anything for Christmas?” Matt asked.

“They’re having a
Christmas party next week. They reserved a room at the Marriott for dinner and
dancing. Have you ever heard of a work party that included dancing?”

“I didn’t think there were
enough employees at your bank to hold a dance,” Matt said.

I laughed. “That would be
super awkward. It isn’t just our branch. Bank employees from all over western
Oregon will be there.”

“Are you going?”

“I wasn’t planning to.”

“You should go. I’ll come
with you.”

“Really?” What was going
on with all this sudden attention?

“Unless you don’t want
to,” Matt said.

“No. I mean yes. Let’s do
it,” I said.

Matt’s smile disappeared
and his face turned serious. “Elizabeth, may I ask you a question?”

“Of course.”

“What would you call us?”

I was confused. “I’m not
sure what you mean.”

“Do you consider me a
friend? A boyfriend? Are we ‘dating?’”

My mind muddled through
possible answers and then I realized this was easy. It wasn’t my job to define
the relationship. “I’m not sure what I’d call us. What would you call us?”

“I’d like to think we’re
sort of a couple. But if we were a couple, you wouldn’t be dating the swim
coach.”

I took a long, slow drink
to give myself time to respond. This was wonderful, right? Exactly what I
wanted. So why did it make me bristle? And then Mom’s words came to me.

“That swim coach is my
friend. And until you give me a reason not to go out with him when he calls,
I’m not doing anything wrong.”

Matt looked at me closely
and then smiled. “So all you need is a reason?” I nodded. “Then here’s a
reason. I like you. More than I ever intended to. And I think we may have a
future together. But I don’t want to be worried about what’s happening with
other men. I think we should date exclusively. Is that a good enough reason?”

I nodded but a pain seized
at my heart.

“Good. Now tell me how we
dress for this dinner dance.”       

“It’s semi-formal,” I
said.

Matt reached for my hand
and held it between both of his. “I have a good feeling about us, Elizabeth.”
He smiled and it was warm and sincere. I smiled back. Matt let go of my hand
when the food arrived.

The ride home was quiet.
Matt seemed very satisfied with the way the evening had gone. At the door, Matt
pulled me into his arms and we shared our first kiss goodnight. It was nice. It
really was. He didn’t rush and his arms felt warm and gentle. I wanted to be
swept away, to have all thoughts disappear in the heat of the moment. But the
heat wasn’t hot enough to burn away the memory of another kiss just a few days
earlier. I refused to think about what that might mean.

“You’re an amazing girl,”
Matt said as he held me close.

In a matter of days, two
men had told me I was amazing. So why did I feel so un-amazing?

“The dating challenge is
off,” I said in the doorway to Janessa’s dark bedroom. She sat up in bed and
turned on her lamp.

“What did you say?” She
stretched and shook away the grogginess.

“I said the dating
challenge is off.”

“Really? Why?” She watched
me with suspicion.

“Because Matt just said he
wants us to be exclusive.”

“Are you serious? Lizzie.
Sit,” she said as she scooted over and patted the mattress. “Tell me about it.”

“We ate at Sage.”

“Ooh, Sage. Was it as nice
as I’ve heard?”

“It was super nice and
super expensive. At least I think it was. I never saw any prices and I didn’t
see the bill.”

“What did it look like
inside?”

“The tablecloths were spun
out of real gold and the salt and pepper shakers were encrusted with diamonds,”
I said. Janessa snorted and slapped my arm. “It was pretty simple inside. Black
leather menus, white tablecloths. There was modern art on the walls that wasn’t
any better than the finger painting Jonah did on Thanksgiving.”

“Maybe Jonah’s a protégé.”

“He’s my nephew, so I’m
sure he is,” I said.

“Okay, what did he say?
Word for word.”

“He said, and I quote,
‘I’d like to think we’re sort of a couple, but if that’s the case, you wouldn’t
be dating the swim coach.’”

“He did not.”

“Yes, he did.”

“How did he know about
Chad?”

“I’ve told him about Mt.
Hood’s swim meets.”

“So what did you say?”

“I told him I needed a
reason not to date the swim coach and he told me he wanted us to date
exclusively to see where things go.”

“Oh, Lizzie. I’m so happy
for you.” Janessa threw her arms around me. “I know this is what you’ve always
wanted and I’m glad you’re finally getting it. I’m sorry I bullied you into
dating Chad. I just didn’t want you to end up sad and lonely.”

“Don’t be sorry,” I said,
startling Janessa with my fervor. I dialed back my tone. “Chad’s a really nice
guy. Some girl is going to be lucky to have him.”

“But you. You’ve got your
Mr. Darcy. I have to admit I didn’t think it would happen.”

“I know. I’d about given
up myself.”

“What about the whole vegetarian
thing? Do you think you can handle that?”

“He told me he ate turkey
on Thanksgiving and tonight he ordered salmon because the seaweed and root
strudel didn’t sound good to him.” Janessa scrunched up her nose and we laughed.
“He said he eats meat a few times a year. Hopefully I can convince him to make
his vegetarian days a few days a year.”

“You’ll have him so
wrapped around your finger he’ll be willing to start butchering his own meat if
you ask him to.”

I rolled my eyes. “I guess
I’m going to the Oregon National Bank Christmas dinner and dance.”

“You said you wouldn’t be
caught dead at that.”

“That was before Mr. Darcy
said he’d like to go with me,” I said. Janessa squeezed my hand.

“I’m exhausted,” I said. “I’m
heading to bed.”

“Congratulations, Lizzie,”
Janessa said as I walked out of her room. “Who says dreams don’t come true?”

I had planned to attend
Mt. Hood High’s swim meet on Saturday morning, but now I couldn’t, so I texted
Chad.

LIZZIE: I CAN’T MAKE IT
TO THE MEET THIS MORNING. SORRY. COULD YOU STOP BY MY HOUSE AFTER IT’S OVER?

I couldn’t eat any
breakfast and my stomach felt like it was gnawing on itself. I tried to watch a
documentary about vacationing through Europe, but the happy tourists did
nothing to lift my mood, so I turned it off. I folded a load of clothes and
then sat down to wait.

Even though I was
expecting him to come, I jumped when he knocked on the door.

“Are you sick?” Chad asked
as soon as I opened the door.

“I’m okay. How did the
team do?”

“There were four teams and
we came in second by only a point.”

“Oh darn.”

“I told you you were our
good luck charm.” I couldn’t look at Chad so I looked at the floor. “Lizzie, is
something wrong?” Chad leaned down to look at my face. A tear rolled down my
cheek and I brushed it away. “Hey, what is it?”

I took Chad’s hand and led
him to the couch. I rested my elbows on my knees, clasping my hands in front of
me.

“Lizzie? What’s wrong?”