Jump to new as of January 28, 2003

Posted on Thursday, 2 January 2003

When she was young, maybe eight, she found out about the distinctiveness that humans use to set themselves apart from the other species of the world; The 'singular' ability to mate for life and a higher concept of love. But that that really isn't so, penguins have much more luck than we do, or have they come to conclusions that we have yet to grasp? Is anyone really exempt from ever wanting to break someone down with words when they believed that they have been wronged or that blind passion that teeters so delicately on the other side that it hurts to love someone....

Instead she had spoken horrible words, with all of the venom of concentrated anger. It made him walk away and turn his back to her with such finality that she sucked in her breath waiting for the moment of release. But it never came and she has been stuck there ever since. She is the one who must hold the hours and minutes of her own life up to the light of inspection and it is what to do with the rest of those minutes that scares her the most. How does one move on when they are trapped in a moment?

"Damn!"

Elizabeth jammed a hand to her ear as the clock radio came crashing to the floor, surely causing a chip of plastic to come flying near to her retina and waking the man downstairs. She couldn't know this when her eyes were closed and ears covered, but that was beyond importance. Elizabeth shook sleepiness off like an old robe and place two feet on the worn wooden floor. She imagined that she could just about feel the heat radiating from downstairs. In such an instance she would not have woken up Mr. Beebe. Soon he would be upstairs (sitting in her sun-worn velvet chair with a coffee and scone in hand) listening to Ella reinterpret music, the sun gliding toward the western sky. She smiled at the thought and rubbed the sleepiness out of her eyes.

He was a small and gracious, just as an older man ought to be. He smiled quietly to his own private joke, or so she assumed, and made Elizabeth eat a little something because she was "getting a little sallow in the face" as he put it. Phillip Beebe gave clarity to confusion and entering grad-school at Fairfax University, Elizabeth thought, could have been so much more stressful if not for...

"Good morning Mr. Beebe"

"Miss Bennet"

But there would be more moments to come...

Jane waited with bated breath for him to come. She was far too near to happiness to see its outcome, that shapely form so like a flower that people often miss it on their way to wherever they are going. But then he came and she was sure that she could see the petals play shadows on the ground in the morning light.

"Hi, I hope you're ready to brave the interrogation."

"For you darling," and he put a hand over his heart staggering to the ground, "I would face an entire platoon." Jane just smiled brightly and pulled him to his feet. "Let's just hope it doesn't come to that, your theatrical skills could get you killed."

"Yes but my acting is not why you love me, it's certainly not why I love you."

Jane stopped walking, breathing really, altogether. Not again she thought, and tried to snap herself out of it. "Love me?"

He smiled, "Love you."

"Hmm," she murmured stepping closer, "that's the best news I've heard all day."

"Well get ready because I have more." Jane looked around and noticing that they were in the middle of the sidewalk pulled him closer to the grassy side. "Yes?"

He searched her face, wondering if this was the moment and loosing his nerve, spoke rapidly. "Not here, I want to meet you father."

Jane's "oh" was barely audible but she recovered and asked, "You mean the platoon leader?" He again smiled and she was again reassured, if only for a brief time.

"So, are you coming?"

"Where?"

"The party."

"What party?"

Jane rolled her eyes, "the one we discussed yesterday."

"Yesterday?"

"Yes, the day before today, honestly Elizabeth."

Elizabeth popped her head out of the bathroom and gave her cheekiest grin, "now you just sound like mom, 'honestly Elizabeth', down to the use of my full name and everything."

"It could be worse."

"How?" The head popped back in.

"I could sound like Aunt Linda."

"God forbid. Raspy voice and all?"

"The very one, makes you think twice about the 'coolness' of the Marlboro Man. Though when he's riding that horse in tight jeans..."

"Eww"

Jane shrugged and moved down the hall into the living room. The space was remarkable for a one-bed room apartment, what was more amazing was its affordability considering that the renter was a cash strapped university student. Though she couldn't blame Lizzy for looking so hard for a place of her own, after the disastrous years she spent living with other people. She stared at the Modigliani print on the wall and tilted her head in response, Elizabeth could progress down hill again, and that was one landslide she didn't wish to see. Jane stood in that manner for a while until the subject of her concentration came down the hall fully dressed.

"Party?"

"Yes dear," Jane was not about to let her off of the hook, "at my job."

"Sweet, a reason to wear my new dress and a reason to buy accessories." Jane smile and said, "Good, Mr. Beebe said that needed to get out and he would force you out of the door if he had too."

Lizzy laughed, "the man is 5'3" and while I'm only four inches taller it would be like Joe Pesci trying to move John Travolta."

"Lethal Weapon Pesci or Goodfellas Pesci?"

"Lethal Weapon all the way, if it were Goodfellas I would be bound and gagged and on my way to the party before you could say cannoli."

Jane closed her eyes for effect, "Italian food."

"Yeah?"

"Yup, let's go. We can talk more over lunch."

They walked briskly to Fiona's restaurant, attempting to stay warm in the face of icy wind. If there weren't a week to Christmas, Elizabeth never would have known. The streets were bare of snow and the only cheer to be found outside were the twinkling light from store windows. For a time that used to be her favorite season, she was somewhat devoid of holiday spirit. But that didn't mean she had lost her mirth and laced her arm through her sisters to steer her toward the opposite street. "I'm expecting to have a lot of fun Jane, for both you and I. Dancing, men, wine, air hockey-the works."

"Air hockey?"

"Yes," she replied seriously, "Air hockey, the epitome of fun. Oh. I've been meaning to tell you, Charlotte got a call back. We may be seeing her on stage yet."

Jane looked genuinely pleased and as she stepped into the restaurant, "good, another reason to celebrate and another person to pull into this party."

"You mean your web."

"Party, web," Jane sighed. "Doesn't matter you responded yes, and quite quickly I might add."

"Well..."

The self-satisfied smile on Jane's face nearly sent Elizabeth into a laughing fit, "that's what I thought."

Two day later found the three women removing themselves from the day as they stepped into the Fireside Inn that was to house the Christmas party of Wellington and Jones, the image-consulting firm that Jane worked at. Elizabeth felt a pounding inside that seemed to radiate from more than just her heart, her skin was on fire from the sudden warmth of the room and a resolution sang out in her head. They has spoke in the car about the night ahead in the same excited voices they used when discussing their futures. But those pieces were in place, and each had a plan that mapped out the goals they wanted to reach and yet each has something missing. I had been a while for Jane when the form of happiness was almost fully realized, but even longer for Lizzy and Charlotte. There were moments when the weight of Elizabeth's past crushed her from the inside out. She was now open to the possibility of a sure thing, but there was nothing like a sure thing and that made her all the more closed off. So they made a promise to clear themselves of their preconceived notions about tonight and for the rest of the year.

"I don't know Jane."

The taller woman patted her hand and smiled. Buck up Elizabeth, she seemed to say in a reversal of the two's characters, this is going to be interesting.

Chapter 2

Working in image consulting had brought it share of debates between Jane and Elizabeth. Jane like her job immensely and often could not see why Elizabeth though it questionable, though it had little to do with the corporate executives and PR departments that she dealt with on a daily basis. Wellington and Jones however was a larger organization that mainly handled business management while image consulting was only part of the broader package. That is where Jane found herself, fresh out of her MBA program with majors in both sociology and economics, something with which she had put more time and money than she had ever hoped to get back. It had meant a lot to her to be the good girl when she was young and it had dogged her throughout her life, this need to be in control. There were no slackers in the Bennet household. Thus it often raked Jane when Elizabeth made questioning remarks about whom she was dealing with and how their scandal, great or small, had been viewed recently. Jane had been working toward the move from image consultation to business management for some time, there was no question of skill but experience was often that great catch-22 of any job leap. There was the over arching sense that this moment would help to decide her fate at Wellington and Jones.

Elizabeth however had different thoughts on her mind. There was little rhyme or reason to the strange sensations that shot through her legs and arms, ending in the empty space of her stomach. Excitement, like an old friend, had paid a long overdue visit. It had been too long since she had felt anticipation for much of anything. Charlotte twisted her long neck to whisper to Elizabeth, "Should we divide the men by hair color or height?"

Elizabeth repeated the question to Jane who replied with full sincerity, "I get the blondes."

Charlotte only smiled and moved forward into the inn's main ballroom. "There's enough soft lighting in here to please even Robert Redford."

"Look," Jane turned their attention toward a man in a well cut tuxedo in the far left of the room, "that darlings is my boss."

Elizabeth gave a low whistle, "if he were my professor, maybe my papers would be written on time." Charlotte, the more subtle of the two gave Jane a slight push in his direction and being enlightened to her situation spoke, "you know you have this."

Jane nodded absentmindedly and made her way over to Derek Jennings leaving the other two women in the middle of the room surrounded by people they didn't know, save for one. Eric was Jane's assistant of a year now, and often being the master of her time was intimately aquatinted with the women who would often call to schedule some. Standing next to the perfunctory Christmas tree he looked a little unsettle at the gathering. That was of course if the constant shuffling of his feet and defensive stance were any indication.

Charlotte noted her distracted glances in his direction, "you should go say hi, I'm fine." Elizabeth however had other plans. Smiling thoughtfully at the other woman she placed a firm hand on her elbow and dragged Charlotte behind her. Sauntering over as casually as possible Elizabeth attempted to quell Charlotte's tugs to get away.

She was only successful when she slowed enough to pay attention to the sharply whispered questioning remarks, "why are you dragging me?"

"You'll see."

And see she did, Eric who appeared to have witnessed their somewhat silent fight on the way over, straightened up in seeming anticipation.

He reached out his hand in greeting to Elizabeth. "Ah, so you come to give a little bit of your time, how are you?" Shaking her hand and quickly turning to Charlotte, he regarded her warmly. Her auburn hair was set of by the lowly lit room and Elizabeth wondered at how someone so beautiful could miss it so entirely. "And you must be?"

"I'm sorry Eric," turning to the woman in question she gave her an encouraging wink. "Charlotte this is Eric Woods, Eric this is Charlotte Lucas."

He took her hand and gently shook it immediately with the most reassuring smile that Charlotte had ever seen and she felt herself reply in kind. "It is a pleasure Mr. Woods." Eric's brow furrowed and a piece of his darkly colored hair fell near his eye. Pushing the strand away, he spoke earnestly to Charlotte, "please call me Eric." She blushed prettily and turned to give Elizabeth the brightest of grins when she noticed that her friend had since left her there to the shy charms of Eric Woods. However no complaint could be found in her mind.

Elizabeth, prudently deciding to leave her newly matched couple to their own devices, set of in the direction in which she had last seen her sister. The fully crowded ballroom made it difficult for her to see too far away so she headed in the general direction she had started in, hoping to be found instead before the sea of eager employees took her under. The twinkling lights above formed a partial canopy that covered the dance floor and left the room in a warm glow. Her ear turned to the music and put her almost in the middle of summer nights years ago, when her parents had lawn parties late into the evening hours listening to records of nothing made before the 50's and when the fireflies created an aura of their own; their floating lights dying in the waning night. It was too easy to be there again and instead of holding up the flow of bodies as she reminisced, Elizabeth began walking a little more purposely. There was no sense in dwelling, even if it had been a lovely time. Those years when her parents had been happy.

She caught a quick glance of a blond head heading toward the balcony and reckoning it to be Jane, moved faster toward her. The double doors leading outside stood open allowing a decidedly cold breeze to waft in and gave reason for Elizabeth to shiver, pulling her arms about herself as she advanced.

"Jane?"

The balcony extended farther than the door, traveling around the Inn, allowing access from other entranceways. "Jane?"

The few seconds of hesitation were enough to put Elizabeth on her guard.

"I'm right here," eyes adjusting to the darkness quickly, Elizabeth neared her sister and entreated kindly, "is anything wrong?"

"This is going to sound so stupid, I mean you are really going to laugh. Mr. Jennings is going to try me out under his supervision with a new client. No don't give me that look, I haven't gotten to the funny part yet, you see his new client is Charles Bingley."

Elizabeth felt Jane's distress acutely, but had no words to give and although she wanted to give her comfort, she felt she needed it herself as one words popped into her head.

She spoke intently. "It has been some time Jane, maybe it won't be so bad once the initial meeting is over." But the words sounded flat, even to her own ears.

"I doesn't matter, this is my chance and I can't let this situation get in the way." She put a comforting hand on Elizabeth's arm, the warmth reminded her that they were out in the cold. "Charles has not come alone."

"I felt as much, it would make this even more perfect." For a moment her anger gave way to rueful mirth.

"They have started a joint company, him and Darcy."

Darcy

Elizabeth only nodded and took Jane's hand, bringing them both inside. She could see Charlotte for the briefest of moments though a small part in the crowd. She looked happy.

Turning to Jane, she searched for any sign that she was all right, "should we go now? We could have an emergency late night session, ice cream, movies and all. If you go find Charlotte ask her if she doesn't mind leaving now, if not we can leave the car here and take a cab to my apartment." Each word was like a slight push to Jane who was happy to have even something so miniscule occupy her mind and so she went in search of Charlotte in the direction Elizabeth had pointed her in.

Elizabeth watched her leave. She remembered the day Jane had introduced the family to Charles who beamed at her every movement. She could only think then that 'this must be love', but if it was it hadn't lasted and a month later she was left with a sister who could only smile with former brightness and laugh with former ease. It was only recently that it had gotten better, and now he was back. More acutely she could remember the night she had met William Darcy. She remembered everything about him. The line of his broad shoulder as she pressed her head against his chest and the silent movement of his heart. She knew why he had left, her friendship with his cousin had fixed that. But she would never tell Jane that the one so close to her heart could be so easily persuaded, the question that had run so often through her mind was if it was more his fault or William's? She had gone into her relationship with William eyes half shut. There were so many deterrents, questions to be answered and half truths that any sane person would have taken a step back. Yet she could not call herself a sane person when he was around and sound judgment had been replaced by something more powerful. She couldn't name it, not yet, but it made it possible to move forward past every road block that came their way. From his initial manner to Wickham and her reluctance to be swept off her feet. When she had received that last letter, only letter, from him she was taken over by the strongest feelings of grief that she had ever encountered. And now Elizabeth, bravest of the brave, was as scared as anyone could be and did not know how to act upon this information that he was back. Maybe if she retraced the steps it took to get here, maybe she could make her way back to William Darcy.

Chapter 3

"You're not going to wear that."

"What's wrong with it?" Jane turned around with the rose coloured sweater tucked under her chin. An annoyed look shot across her face as she regarded the soft fabric against her skin, but a moment later she let it slip from her grasp and sighed, "I don't know what to do."

Elizabeth rose from the bed and touched her sister's face, brushing away the tear that had formed there with her thumb. It left a smudge of water and mascara on her skin. "You'll do what you always do."

Jane grinned at Elizabeth and attempted to lighten the moment by making a face and flopping on the bed in mock despair. "I think that we need to go out tonight, what do you say?" Jane rolled onto her side to answer Elizabeth who was once again sitting on the bed. "Where?"

"Anywhere, we'll go to Mexicalli Rosa's they have great margaritas. We'll take your mind off of tomorrow."

"Hmmm" was all that Jane could mutter,

It could have been because tomorrow was the day in which she had her initial meeting with Bingley and Darcy. The past two days had been spent in conference with Mr. Jennings, or Derek as he insisted that Jane call him, and the nervousness that she felt could be picked off of her like lint. "He likes my ideas for the new company, he wants me to do the initial proposal and then he'll revise it from there," but even that did not allay her fears. She was not indifferent to what her sister was suffering, and yet she felt that there was a choice that Elizabeth had, something that Elizabeth was unwilling to accept, a chance that Jane did not. There was rhyme and reason to why Elizabeth and William were no more, she only wished that she knew that answer for her own situation. Maybe then she could move on.

"....Then maybe you can manage the next project by yourself. Jane?"

She looked at Elizabeth, "I'm sorry, I was dazing."

"That's fine, I was only commenting on what your boss said. But obviously if my powers of conversation are not enough to keep you occupied then we really need to get out of this place." She punctuated her comment with a smile to show that she understood, something that was not just a gesture for Jane's sake. Truly she had thought of little else since the party and wondered if it were possible to scream and laugh at the same time.

Jane wanted to put away all of the insecurities she had acquired since Charles, the moments of self doubt. "All right," she spoke with a strange resoluteness, "let's go."

About a year earlier...

"Let's go."

The rush of people departing the bus practically carried Elizabeth out of the vehicle without any effort on her part. The student, whose impatient remark was heard by all, was as annoying as most people are when there seemed to be complete lack of bus etiquette (there was an amusing article in the student paper that was the answer to all of Elizabeth's musings about that wonderful form of public transportation), however nothing could dispel her perfect mood. The wind whipped her hair into her face, causing a moment of disorientation and in that moment she crashed hard. Whether it was the people pushing behind, or the stalled crowd in front, Elizabeth came tumbling into the grasp of a stranger who looked less than enthused about her performance. she wondered to herself if she had ever seen anyone more bothered.

"I am so-," she attempted to push herself from his grasp, brushing off the dirt that had attached itself to her knees as they skimmed the pavement. That immediate reaction led her eyes to the ground, wet and dirty with old snow, where a large portion of the papers he seemed to have been carrying had fallen.

It took a little courage to look into his eyes, knowing that they would convey all of the unpleasantness that such an event usually brought. Elizabeth was less aware of the rush about her than the warmth that crept into her face as she began to collect the mess that littered the ground. "I really am sorry," she began again and taking his silence for anger began to feel a similar emotion arise in herself. The justification, she thought, came from the rudeness that seemed to radiate off of him while she was attempting to rectify the situation. "Is there anything I can do?"

"Uh, no." He picked up the last of the soggy papers and attempted to shake off as much slush as possible while Elizabeth glanced at the disgusted looked that marred his face. A very handsome face it was, the well formed shape of his jaw looked neither too constructed nor too soft and was perfectly in line with the shape of his broad shoulders under the navy coloured, wool pea coat. Interesting

Looking at his watch in haste the stranger began to walk away. "Wait! Is there anyway I can do for ruining your papers?" Elizabeth rushed out the sentence as if it were a long word, but all of her effort was only met with a curt, "no thank you" and a rapidly retreating figure. She felt another wash of anger at his abruptness, but instead brushed the incident off of her like the dirt on her knees and ran to meet her friend Grant before lecture began. Sneaking into the back of advanced studies on environment and development she took out her notebook and began to relay the horrors of the bus and the people who ride it when the guest speaker came into the room.

Professor Boyd was a small woman of an undeterminable age who at once had the buoyancy of a small child and the serious intellect of a scholar. Her excitement at the corporate executive who was coming to talk about his company could hardly be contained. The course was delving slightly into corporate responsibility in environmental practices abroad. It was an annotative version of a semester course that was also taught by Boyd and she wanted to introduce it to this class.

Yet the fact that anyone would come to discuss the issue was above what most students expected. Elizabeth was not surprised in that sense, the medium sized university in the city of -ville was much respected. What interested her was that any CEO, as the speaker happened to be, would want to enter the lion's den that was the school. The left-wing slant of the university led its students to be known as being on the outer fringes of radical, something that did not bode well for a speaker who would undoubtedly be as conservative as they come. Yet there stood Fitzwilliam Darcy, there stood her stranger, another circumstance that did not surprise Elizabeth at all.

Turning to Grant, "that's him."

"Really," he raised an eyebrow at her, "no wonder your frazzled."

She could only hiss a quick 'be quiet' before Mr. Darcy's eyes were on her and she felt the warm rush of blood that had only retreated minutes ago, once again creep back to her cheeks. She studied his face as he turned and began to address the entire class. He was young, how young was not completely apparent and Elizabeth wondered how someone could reach such a level of responsibility at an early age.

It took more than a few attempts for her mind to turn to what he was saying rather than the speculation that had begun in her mind. His haughtiness not withstanding, she wanted to know more about him. Fitzwilliam Darcy intrigued her; his manner of address was easy and there was obviously no lack of intelligence. But what was most alluring to her was the determined edge that shaped his every word and she could see it in his stance and as he strode across the room.

"You are all well versed in the horrors of some of the actions of transnational corporations in developing countries. Yet I hope that I have shed some light on this issue to help you all distinguish between companies that purport to have good practices and those who actually do. While my company is not alone, we have a mandatory policy to streamline all environmental standards no matter where we do business."

There were a few snorts as Darcy said this, but he continued on, either unaware or unconcerned with their disbelief. "The issue of eco-efficiency is a difficult one because so many companies believe that they can police themselves, and so many others disagree. In truth what we need is to hold corporations more accountable for their practices, but that starts with those willing to show their dissent and present global standards. The environmental department of the Darcy Corporation sees this and believes that it will take outside influence for other corporations to follow suit, that is why I came to speak here and I hope you have taken something away from this experience as I have."

Elizabeth was unsure of what to make of his lecture, she was never a big fan of the business elite, especially those who run the show. If he were completely truthful then her astonishment would know no bounds, and for some reason she wanted to believe, whatever that reason might be.

Grant turned to her quickly. "I think Boyd is trying to get your attention." And indeed she was, Elizabeth could see the woman waving in her direction in silent request of her presence at Mr. Darcy's side. "Great, Mr. Sunshine CEO." Grant laughed and patted her on the back in a sarcastic show of pity before rushing off with the rest of the class.

Making her way against the flow of students to the podium below, Elizabeth made mental reassurances to herself before reaching Boyd.

"Elizabeth, thank you for staying behind I wanted you to meet William Darcy." Elizabeth extended her hand past Monica Boyd's to grasp that of Mr. Darcy's and met his eye. She wasn't quite prepared for his hair to look so thick and his eyes to be so attractive, but they were and it wasn't until she saw the sour look on his face that she remembered how unpleasant he seemed.

"I was under the impression that you first name was Fitzwilliam."

He took his hand away sharply and couldn't tell if she was joking or not, the small smile that played on her lips gave little clue. "It is, but Fitzwilliam is not the best of names. Call me William if you like, Professor Boyd has told me much about you."

Elizabeth glanced from him to her professor, the top of the woman's head barely coming to his shoulder. He fell back into silence but continued to look at her as Monica Boyd chattered on about how she had come to know Darcy. The talk was vaguely interesting, but did not receive Elizabeth's full interest until the subject of another class was brought up.

"Elizabeth TA's for my corporate accountability class this winter, so I might have you work with her since she also handles a lot of the research for the department." The smile on Boyd's face showed what a good idea that she believed this to be, but Elizabeth had other ideas and was quite certain that Darcy did as well.

"Monica, I really haven't worked out what my plans are going to be," he brushed away a lock of hair and rubbed his temple for a moment, "I haven't even agreed to do this yet." Except there was no question of what he was going to do.

"William, you have some time off, use it here. You know that you want to." There was a small instant of silence before Boyd spoke again, this time to Elizabeth. "I want you to help William while he's here and set him up with some space in the department office, tell Mary what I said. I'll have more information the next time I see you."

The tone of her voice left no room for argument and Elizabeth only nodded politely and left the lecture hall.

The afternoon had turned sour as her unsinkable mood went down like Captain Ahab. The wind that had whipped her hair earlier, was now beating at her back and an overcast day had blocked out the sun. Winter never felt so desolate and while Elizabeth could not deny that the next semester would definitely be interesting, she wasn't sure that it wouldn't be better if it wasn't.

Pushing through the door of her house, Elizabeth made her way directly into her room. The four others who lived with her were still at class, and it was a great relief to be at home by herself. Ambling into the kitchen she put a kettle of water on and went to retrieve the phone.

"Jane? Hi! I got you e-mail, what's this great news."

"I'm so glad you called, I've wanted to talk to you. I've met someone, this man, this fantastic guy." Elizabeth tried to interrupt what could become a long account to pinpoint details, but Jane didn't give her room to speak. "His name is Charles Bingley, but don't tell anyone. I want to wait before I introduce him at home."

Elizabeth snorted, "I really can't blame you."

"Lizzy, it's not that. I just want..."

"I know Jane," and she did. While her father could be counted on for decorum, her mother lacked most social graces. Mr. Bennet had known that having a daughter going to the same school at which he taught would test his levels of detachment, but Elizabeth knew enough to not bring any boyfriends to where he may be on campus without a proper introduction. Mr. Bennet also knew enough not to ask too many questions. "Well I hope that I can meet him sometime soon."

"So do I. Anyway, let me tell you everything."

Elizabeth listened while making her tea, pleased to know that her sister had found some happiness.

Present Day

Mexicalli Rosa's was situated on a small street of little traffic, a feature which made it popular with those regulars and some of the university crowd who wanted a more quiet venue. The interior was lined with tall-backed booths and Elizabeth hoping to take advantage of an empty one, had quickly ushered her sister inside the restaurant. It was not long after their first strawberry margarita that Jane began to loosen up.

"I'm not going to even think about what this means now that he's back. I've asked myself, 'why Meryton' too many times now, I just want to get this over with."

"But you hate unanswered questions," Elizabeth leaned forward in her seat, "almost as much as I do. Sooner or later you'll have a real conversation with him, and then what?"

"I'm trying not to dwell on that." She turned her head to the window looking out onto the street, "tomorrow is going to be hell." Looking at Elizabeth she raised her glass to her lips before speaking again, "do you remember this time last year? You were so angry the day that Darcy started in the department office, why did they stick him there?"

Elizabeth shrugged and sat back again. "It seems so long ago, I don't know, it was Professor Boyd's idea. He was doing independent research for his company and the university. But it was long ago, wasn't it?"

It was Jane's turn to shrug and she and Elizabeth continued to talk while waiting for their food and the next day to begin.