Page 28 of Ardently Yours

Me: For saying you’re not my type…

Lizzie: What are you saying?

Me: Don’t make me type it.

Lizzie: You have to now.

Me: You are a great catch, Lizzie… I didn’t mean to offend you.

Lizzie: You’re laying it on pretty thick, but I forgive you, Darcy.

Me: What do I have to do to get you to call me Will?

Lizzie: I like your last name, though.

Me: You like it enough to make it yours?

Lizzie: …

Me: Joking! Too soon… anyway, just wanted you to know that I think you really are amazing and you deserve to be happy…that Wickham guy gives me bad vibes, but if you think he’s good for you, okay. Just be careful…

Lizzie: You care about me, huh?

Me: I wouldn’t be a member of the crew if I didn’t care about you.

Lizzie: Well, for the record, I’m glad you’re in the crew. And I think you’re a great catch too. Too bad there aren’t many options for you in Selah though.

Me: Don’t you have like four sisters? I’m sure you can hook me up with one.

Lizzie: ABSOLUTELY NOT!

Me: I was joking. I’d never cross that line. You’re the only Bennet girl I’d date. If was interested…

Lizzie: Which we have already established that you are not. Clearly.

Me: But I’m just saying…

Another text comes through, and it’s not from Lizzie; it’s from Mom.

Mom: Honey, your father hasn’t cut you out of his will. He told you he did, but he lied. Your credit cards, your bank accounts. He’s threatening to cut it all off and to take your aunt’s house too if you don’t come back home soon. I’m trying to hold him off and calm him down, but I need you to try. Come back. Make things right; I can’t support you if he cuts you off.

Me: Come back? Make things right? He was the one who made things worse. It’s his fault I left. And you are still defending him?

Mom: No, I just wanted to warn you because I love you. You have a decision to make. He wants to see you do the mature thing. You up and left everything behind. What do you have to keep you there? Your home is here. It’s all laid out for you: a job, a place to live, a nice girl to marry… we just want the best for you and the company. Come back home.

I sit back on the couch, thinking about what to do. But I don’t know what to do. So, I close my eyes…

I can’t deal with this right now. I can’t just go back home, but I won’t be able to afford to live here on my own on what I make working at the cafe.

Lizzie pays well, but I need to afford a place to live since I can’t stay at the inn forever. I may not have another option. I need money to survive here.

How can they cut me off? How can they take my inheritance away because I didn’t want to work in real estate anymore? I can’t believe I’ve been disowned because I had a different dream for my life.

I didn’t want an arranged marriage. I didn’t want to run the family company. I didn’t want to live that life, the one where my family controls every aspect of what I do and who I love.

That’s done and over with for me. But I have to make a move. I have to build something here to prove to them I made the right choice.

Another text comes through, this time from Lizzie.