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Elizabeth’s cellphone rang as she was walking into her house after work, and feeling hopeful, she glanced at the screen. Her heart sank a bit when she saw it was Jane, and she chided herself for being so pathetic.
“Hi, Sis.”
“Hi, Lizzy. How are you? How was work?”
Elizabeth groaned. “Ugh. Lots of stuff going on… Which is a good thing, I guess. I need the distraction.”
“Oh right, Will left for California today, didn't he? Charles mentioned he was flying out. Have you heard from him?”
“He texted me earlier to let me know he arrived safely and said he'd call me tonight. Speaking of Will, I have a bone to pick with you. You blabbed to Mom about him, didn’t you?”
“Oh. Yeah. Guilty as charged. I'm sorry, I didn't know she didn't know about him. I mentioned him in passing, and she caught on right away. Don't worry, I didn't say much.”
“Oh, you didn't? Because one of the first things she mentioned was that he was wealthy.”
“Well,Ididn’t tell her that. Oh, wait…I did tell her that Charles represented Will’s company, so maybe she just assumed.”
“Mm-hmm. She also knows howhandsomehe is, and that we’ve been dating a month.”
Jane chuckled. “Yup. Guilty.”
“Now she'll be bugging me constantly to meet him. I told her he was going away this week, and that we might visit when he’s back. I guess I have to face the inevitable.”
“Make it a quick visit and you'll be fine. Anyway, the reason I'm calling is because I was thinking of heading to the Cape on Wednesday and staying for a couple nights.”
“That's great! Do you want to stay here?”
“Um, I was actually going to bring Caroline along. We're going to stay at Charles's house.”
“Oh, okay. Well, we should still get together, right? Do you have any plans?”
“Not yet. We were thinking we'd go to the farmer’s market on Wednesday afternoon, then maybe grab a bite to eat somewhere.”
“If you don't mind going to the market later in the afternoon, I could go with you. Charlotte wants to bring George over to use the darkroom this week, so maybe I can work that in after softball tomorrow. Why don't I call you tomorrow night, we can firm things up?”
“Sounds good.” Jane paused. “Are you sure you don't mind hanging out with Caroline? It was actually her idea to visit.”
“It's fine. Maybe this will give me a chance to get to know her a little better.”
“Who knows, she might be my sister-in-law someday. Can you imagine?”
“More importantly, canyouimagine?”
Jane chuckled. “I guess so. She’s really not that bad. I only hope I’m getting to know therealCaroline. Oh, I’ve got to go. Charles will be here in a minute. Call me tomorrow night!”
They said goodbye, and Elizabeth thought about what Jane had said about getting to know the real Caroline. Jane had been spending more time with her, mostly at Caroline's behest, and admitted she was feeling more comfortable around her.
Will had mentioned that Caroline was the classic case of a leopard not changing its spots, but maybe that wasn’t true; maybe Caroline was making a genuine effort to get to know Jane and accept her. Elizabeth hoped so; Jane was a wonderful person, and the Bingleys would be lucky if she was a part of their family someday.
After a quick dinner, she texted Charlotte to arrange a time for her and George to come over the next night, and then plugged in her laptop and started to review some of the data she’d worked on during the day.
Before she knew it two hours had passed, and it was nearing eight o’clock.Five o’clock in California. She turned off her laptop, walked outside to the deck and sat down in a lounge chair. Her mind immediately traveled back to the previous morning, when Will had pulled her onto his lap. Just thinking about it launched the now-familiar fluttering in her stomach, and she sighed.Lust, pure and simple.
Only itwasn’tpure and simple. Other emotions were entwined with the lust—nerve-racking, scary, heady emotions. Right now, she didn’t have the energy to name them or determine how deeply they ran, but she wondered if she would always feel that nervous anticipation when he was near, or even when she thought of him.
She sighed.I have a feeling I will.
