My Own Mr. Darcy (29 page)

Matt was smiling
mischievously when he got in the car. He reached over and squeezed my hand
before he pulled away from the curb.

“What are you so happy
about?” I asked.

“A lot of things.”

“Would you care to share?”

“Well, first of all, I’m
smiling because I have my favorite girl all to myself for the entire evening. And
secondly, it looks like we’re going to be able to open Seattle on schedule.

“Congratulations,” I said.

“And I’m starving and
we’re going to a delicious restaurant—great choice, by the way.”

“Is it? I’ve never eaten
there, but after I read about their signature halibut dish, I couldn’t stop
thinking about it.”

“You can have the halibut,
but I’m looking forward to the mushroom risotto. I’ve had that a couple of
times and it might be the best vegetarian dish I’ve ever had. I’m glad you
chose The Heathman.”

“Good. Then I am too.”

“And . . .” Matt smiled
and looked at me sideways. “I have a surprise for you.”

“What kind of surprise?”

Matt laced his fingers
through mine. “A good kind. And I think you’re going to like it.”

“Can you give me a hint?”

“I could. But I’m not going
to. I’ll tell you at dinner.”

Matt was in great spirits.
Any anger he’d felt about finding Chad and me working together the day before
seemed to be gone. His face was relaxed and he smiled easily. His affection felt
natural and unforced. I sighed happily and settled back into the heated,
leather seat. The evening promised to be pleasant.

“Do you want to tell me
what the surprise is?” I asked when we were seated at our table and dinner was
ordered.

“All right. But first I
have to tell you what happened today at the bookstore. Do you know who Bradley
Oakmont is?”

I thought for a moment. “I
don’t think so.”

“I didn’t either when he
called, but after I talked to him, I looked him up. He’s the author of a series
of children’s books called Super Nerds. He’s written about ten books where
these nerdy kids with secret superpowers save the world. His books are
best-sellers. He’s sold the rights to Disney so they can do a series based on
his books.”

“Wow.”

“Anyway, his agent called
me today and they’re lining up a spring book tour and they want to include a
stop at The Pink Salamander.”

“That’s great. How does he
know about The Pink Salamander?”

“He said he prefers to
stop at independent bookstores instead of the big chains. He googled Portland
bookstores and thought ours was the best option.”

“Matt, that’s fantastic.”

“This is where you and
your surprise come in.” Matt’s enthusiasm was obvious. He shifted in his seat
and leaned across the table toward me. “You’ve seen the Children’s Room at the
bookstore, right?”

“Yes. It’s by the Women’s
Fiction room upstairs.”

“Right. But it’s too
small. Way too small. I want to move it. Right now we use the big sun porch in
back for storage. It’s really a waste of a beautiful room.”

“I’ve never even seen it.”

Matt grinned. “You’re going
to. I hope.” Matt looked hopefully into my eyes and I couldn’t help but smile.
“It’s got windows on three sides but I want you to take a look at it and see if
we can figure out a way to get enough shelf space. And I want it to be really
cheerful and fun and child-friendly. The room upstairs doesn’t have enough
space for any seating or for a gathering larger than a few kids. It hardly has
enough room for the books. The new room will be much better. Oh, and I want you
to be the designer.”

Matt leaned back in his
chair, a satisfied expression on his face.

“Really? All by myself?”

“Yes. Well, with me.”

“Of course. I’d love to.”

“I’ll pay you, just like I
would a real designer.” He suddenly looked chagrined. “Sorry. You know what I
mean.”

“And I don’t have to
shadow another designer?” I was teasing him but he didn’t realize it.

“No. I saw last night that
I made a big mistake not using your talents on the Seattle store. I’m humbly
repentant.” His attempt at a humble face made me laugh. If there was anything Matt
wasn’t good at presenting, it was a humble countenance. But he was trying and
that stirred my heart.

Was this move more like
Mr. Darcy inviting Elizabeth and her aunt and uncle fishing and to dinner? Or
was this more like him saving Lydia from social ruin? Hmm. I’d have to think
about that.

“Elizabeth?”

I think I’d missed some of
what Matt had said. “Yes?”

“Will you forgive me and
take on this job?”

“I’d love to.”

“I figured we could work
Saturdays and evenings since you’ve used your vacation.” I looked closely but
couldn’t see any trace of sarcasm or bitterness about my vacation. “It’ll be
fun to work together.”

“My mind is already going
crazy trying to come up with ideas,” I said.

Matt raised his glass.
“There will be time for that. Right now, let’s just enjoy dinner. Here’s to
working together to make the best Children’s Room Mr. Oakmont has ever seen.” I
raised my glass and we shared a toast.

It was one of the most
pleasant evenings I’d ever spent with Matt. My halibut was delicious with its
candied lemon and salty picholine olive confit. It was difficult not to lick
the plate. Matt was extra cheerful and sweet.

The snow had become more
energetic while we were eating. The roads were black and shiny but snow was
collecting on everything else. Matt paused just outside the door and wrapped my
scarf around my neck before he took my hand to walk to the car.

“Do you want to see the
sun porch?” he asked when we reached the car.

“Right now?”

“Sure. Unless you’re too
tired.”

“No. Yes. Let’s go see
it.”

The Pink Salamander was
dimly lit by a few outdoor lights. From somewhere inside, probably the parlor,
a dim light glowed. Matt unlocked the door and quickly punched a code into a
pad behind the counter to disarm the alarm. Then he turned on a few more
lights. At the back of the store, just beyond the parlor, was a set of French
doors. I’d never paid any attention to them before because they were always
closed and covered with curtains.

Matt walked ahead of me
and turned on another light. It was hard to see the details of the room. It was
big but cluttered. A television and a treadmill were set up on one side. Boxes
were stacked randomly around the room. Two bicycles leaned against one wall.
There were two Christmas trees, one still decorated and a car tire.

“What’s that doing in
here?” I asked, pointing at the tire.

“I don’t even know. It’s
going to be a lot of work just getting this cleared out.”

It looked like the sun
porch had been added onto the house. One wall was clapboard siding that had
once been the exterior. The other three sides of the room were drywall up to
about my waist and then windows up to the ceiling.

“Do you know the
dimensions?” I asked.

“I think it’s about thirty-four
feet long by sixteen feet. Maybe that’s not exact, but it’s close.”

“This will be a big room.
You might have to stock more children’s books.”

“I’m already planning on
it. This will be good. I’ll expand the women’s fiction section into both of the
upstairs rooms.”

“Ooh, I can’t wait to get
started,” I said. “I’ll probably be up half the night drawing out ideas.” Matt
smiled and pulled me into his arms.

“It looks like I’m hiring
the right girl.”

“It’s about time you
realized that,” I said.

Matt kissed me—long and
slow—until my knees were weak and my mind wasn’t anywhere close to thinking
about bookstores and places for children to read. “It’s good to be home,” Matt
said as he took my hand and led me out of the bookstore.

It wasn’t easy going back
to work at the bank. I tried to keep my mind on my work but all I wanted to do
was draw up plans for the children’s room. The only bright spot was when Matt
came through my line.

“I started cleaning out
the sun porch this morning,” he said as I counted out his cash.

“I’ll help you during
lunch,” I said.

“Are you sure?”

“Definitely. Just get me a
sandwich I can eat while we work.”

“Great. Thanks.”

“With meat,” I said, and
Matt smiled.

“With meat.”

We cleared and sorted and
cleaned through our lunch hours, after work each evening, and on Saturday
morning. We would have worked all day, but Matt had to quit about noon—he was
meeting with some people over the weekend—but by the time we quit, the room was
cleared out. It was a bright, cheerful room. We took the final measurements and
Matt kissed me goodbye. Secretly, I was glad he had a meeting. I couldn’t wait
to get home and start designing.

I’d just ended a call with
Sam Vaseedo. He’d been an art major and I’d had a couple of classes with him.
While I was trying to train my artistic eye, Sam was the real deal—an artist
who could do just about anything. I had an idea for a mural and I knew Sam was
the perfect artist to pull it off. I circled the number several times as I
thought about how to present the idea to Matt. The mural wouldn’t be cheap but if
I could help Matt see my vision, I hoped he’d want to go ahead with the idea.

When my phone rang, I
thought it might be Sam again. I was surprised to see Chad’s name.

“Hi Chad.”

“Lizzie, how are you?”

“I’m really good. Thanks.”

“You sound good.”

“You’re partly to blame
for my good mood. Because of the job you helped me arrange with your parents,
Matt is hiring me to design the children’s room at his bookstore.”

“Smart move on his part,”
Chad said. “Hey, I talked to Mom this morning. They’re flying home tomorrow.”

“Oh wow. I’m so excited
for them to see the rooms.”

“That’s what I’m calling
about. Mom wants you to be there when they see them. In fact, she told me if
you weren’t there, they’d just have to stay at my house tomorrow night.”

“Ooh, threats.”

“Exactly. I don’t want to
have to make up the bed in the guestroom, so I’m hoping you can come tomorrow.”
I thought of what Matt would think and I must have stayed quiet a little too
long because Chad continued. “I’m picking them up at the airport at three. I
could come and pick you up before that if you want and we could go over
together.”

I wished I was imagining
the hopeful sound in Chad’s voice. The thought of spending time with him
sounded way too good. If it were up to me and me alone, I’d say yes. But I
needed to stop being selfish. I needed to think about Chad.

And Matt.

But this was a job and I
was just going over to meet with the clients. Right? I berated myself for my
pathetic attempts to rationalize.

“Thanks anyway, Chad. I
think it would be better if I just drove myself over and met you.”