My Own Mr. Darcy (27 page)

“I’m glad,” I said.

“I hope you’ve missed me.”

“Of course I have. I’ll be
glad when the bookstore is finished and you’re home for good.”

“Me too. I guess I should
let you go back to sleep. Sweet dreams.” Then Matt did something totally out of
character. He made a kissing sound into the phone. I laughed. “I know. Silly,
huh?” he said.

“Yes. Very silly. But
sweet.” I made a kissing sound back and we said goodbye.

I forced myself to remove
the plastic sheeting before I let myself gaze at the fireplace. Painting was
finished, carpentry was complete and all that was left after grouting the
fireplace was hanging rods and drapes, bringing in rugs and furniture and then the
finishing touches. The dirty work was nearly over.

When the sheeting was down,
I stood in the archway between the entry and the living room. Morning light
bounced off the tile. I could hardly breathe it was so beautiful. I took the
powdered grout and my pail into the kitchen and mixed up the grout at the sink.
When I walked back into the living room with the grout and the rubber float, I
stopped short. There on the floor was a sheet of lined notebook paper. Written
on the paper was a message:

“Wow! Just wow! I think I
can safely call you a brilliant designer. This is going to blow Mom and Dad’s
mind. I can’t stop looking at it. It’s amazing. You’re amazing.”

I read the note three
times before I folded it up and put it in my pocket. I took it out a couple of
times during the day and reread it. When I got home later that evening, I put
it in the drawer of my nightstand.

I DECIDED TO
take a
breather from the renovations on Sunday. Mom was excited when I showed up just
as she and Dad were leaving for church. I attended services with them and then
enjoyed grilled salmon and asparagus for dinner. When I told them about the
fireplace, Dad suggested we go take a look, so we drove to the Kellers’ house
and I gave my parents a tour of the job. Mom’s enthusiasm and Dad’s obvious
pride made me giddy.

I was sitting in bed,
thumbing through one of Janessa’s fashion magazines when the door slammed and
Janessa ran squealing down the hall like a greased pig being chased at the
fair. My bedroom door flew open and Janessa stood in the doorway, a grin on her
face and her left hand extended toward me.

“No. Are you serious?” I
asked.

“Yes,” she said, jumping
up and down.

I knelt up on the bed and
patted the mattress. Janessa jumped on the bed and we held hands, bouncing like
children on a trampoline. We screeched and jumped for at least a minute and probably
would have continued much longer if the grouchy man in the apartment beneath us
hadn’t pounded on his ceiling. At the sound of his displeasure, we collapsed
onto the bed, out of breath and holding hands.

“Tell me everything,” I
said between gasps.

“Oh Lizzie, it was
perfect. Ben said he wanted to go for a drive to the coast, so we drove out to
Haystack Rock.”

“Ooh, he knows you so well.”

“I know. I’d told him my
family went there all the time when I was growing up and I told him I loved it
there and he remembered.”

I squeezed Janessa’s hand.
“Keep going.”

“Okay, it was cold but we
decided to go for a walk anyway. We walked quite a ways and I kept wondering
how far we were going to go and then I saw Ben watching the rocks along the
cliff like he was looking for something and all of a sudden, he turned and
walked straight over to the rocks. There was this little place where big rocks
almost completely surrounded this quiet area of the beach and there was a
little fire pit with everything ready for a fire. Oh, and there was a picnic
basket with sparkling cider and everything for s’mores.”

“What did you say? Were
you surprised?”

“I was shocked. I asked
him when he came and set everything up but he didn’t tell me until we were on
our way home. He had his brother, Ethan, do it. Anyway, once the fire was
going, Ben made me a perfect s’more. I had chocolate and marshmallow all over
my mouth and he was laughing at me. I asked him if he had a napkin and he said,
‘I’ve got something better than a napkin.’ I thought maybe he had a baby wipe
or something, but no. That’s when he put his hand in his jacket pocket and
pulled out this!”

She flopped onto her back
and held her hand above her face, looking at the ring. I lay down beside her
and together we admired the sparkling diamond.

“I’m so happy for you,” I
said. “You know, just Friday night, I had the feeling he was going to propose
soon. I’m always right.”

“Oh brother.”

“Seriously, I thought
that.”

“I’m not doubting you did.
I’m groaning about you always being right.”

“Fine. I’m not always
right. But I was right about this.”

Janessa sighed happily.
“Ben is so great. He’s perfect for me.”

“Did you talk about a
date?”

“Yeah. Don’t think we’re
crazy.”

“Why would I?”

“’Cause we’re going to get
married at the end of April.”

“April? That’s only three
months.”

“I know, it’s crazy, isn’t
it? But Ben is starting his residency in May and we want to have time to get
settled in. My mom said, ‘If you have a year to prepare, you’ll take the whole
year. If you have a month to prepare, you’ll be ready in a month.”

“You know I’ll help you.”

“You’d better. You’re
going to be my maid of honor, right?”

“Of course.”

We stayed there and
planned Janessa’s wedding until the early morning hours. When I woke up the
next morning, my bedroom light was still on and Janessa was laying there on the
bed beside me, smiling in her sleep.

Three delivery trucks came
during the day. One brought a beautiful dining room table and chairs. Another
brought the rugs for the two rooms and tables for the living room. The last truck
brought the couch and three chairs—two to be positioned with the couch and an extra
wide chair to sit beside the fireplace. The big pieces ended up haphazardly in
the two rooms and smaller pieces were unloaded into the garage so I’d have room
to work.

It was evening by the time
I’d mounted the chrome rods on the wall and hung the drapes. I was back at my
apartment eating a grilled cheese sandwich when my phone buzzed with a text
from Chad.

Chad: I stopped by to
water the flowers but you were gone. When are you going to start arranging
furniture?

I felt a little
disappointed I hadn’t stayed longer.

Lizzie: Tomorrow.

Chad: Do you have help?

Lizzie: I think I can get
it.

Chad: no way. Find
something else to keep you busy until three. I’ll come right after school.

Lizzie: you don’t have to
do that.

Chad: I know. I’m a
grownup. I don’t have to do anything I don’t want to.

Lizzie: HaHa

Chad: Some of that looks
heavy. Promise you’ll wait for me.

Lizzie: if there’s some
left when you get there, you can help me.

Chad: not good enough.
I’ll take the day off and meet you first thing if you don’t promise you’ll wait
for me.

I smiled and shook my
head. It would be good to get some laundry caught up. I hadn’t washed a single
load since before I started on the remodel.

Lizzie: fine. I’ll see you
at three.

Chad: promise?

Lizzie: promise.

After a nice, relaxing
morning of laundry and reading, I drove to the Keller’s. I was so excited to
see the finished product that it had been hard to wait out the day. By the time
I headed home tonight, the job would probably be finished. I’d already called Delia
to let her know I’d be back at the bank on Thursday. Matt would probably be
happy to learn I’d saved two of my vacation days.

“You’d better not be
lifting any heavy furniture,” Chad said when he entered the house.

“I’m not. Don’t worry.”

“I hope you’re hungry. I
know it’s early for dinner, but I only had a sandwich at lunch, so I needed
some fuel.”

I’d eaten a late breakfast
and hadn’t even realized I was hungry until the tangy smell of sweet and sour
wafted toward me. “Mmm. What did you bring?” I asked. The bag was enormous.

“I wasn’t sure what we’d
want so I got several things.” I followed Chad into the kitchen where he
unloaded carton after carton of Chinese food.

“You must have been
starving,” I said.

“Maybe we’ll eat now and
then we’ll eat again when we’re finished.”

When we’d finished off two
of the cartons of food, we got to work. Most of the furniture was wrapped in
plastic foam and then shrink-wrapped or taped. Getting some of the pieces
unwrapped was nearly a surgical procedure. We listened to music and talked as
we unwrapped each piece. I put the legs on the side tables while Chad carried
in the dining room chairs. With some difficulty, we positioned the sisal rug
under the dining room table and the buffet against the wall.

With the buffet in place,
I stood on a stepstool and hung Mrs. Keller’s collection of plates on the wall,
meticulously planning out the random placement. I stepped back to take in the
wall and then moved a couple of the plates to other positions. I folded my arms
and eyed the wall again.