***
“Bye, Will. Have a good day,” Liz called as Harper headed toward the door. He stopped and turned around slowly, trying to decide if he should say anything.
“What are your plans today, Liz?”
She stopped in the kitchen doorway and looked up in surprise. “Well, the dining table is being delivered, so I have to be here for that, and I’m going shopping with Jen for some curtains in the living room. I also plan on hitting the market and cooking dinner.” He looked surprised and a little interested. “You're welcome to it if you want. There hasn't really been time to cook, but now that I'm settled in and I have a couple of weeks before my summer classes start, I thought I might make something other than grilled cheese. Oh, that reminds me, I wanted to ask you if you want to have Jenny and Andrew over for dinner Saturday night.”
“Umm,” he answered slowly. “Don't we have a thing this weekend?”
“Friday night we have the donors' dinner for the supporters of the new homeless shelter.”
“Oh, right. Well, Saturday night sounds fine. Are we going out afterward?”
“I thought we could play games if it was cool with you. Jen will probably come early and cook with me. It's kind of our thing.”
“Oh, sure, whatever you want to do is fine. I'll see you tonight then. I should be back around seven.”
“See ya.” She went through to the kitchen and he turned back around and went out the door, kicking himself for not talking to her about the chipper goodbyes.
Is it really such a big deal? He asked himself. Have I become such a grouch that I can't stand for anyone to even wish me a good day?
He shook if off and went to work, forgetting all about it a few minutes later.
*
Just after seven that evening, Will pulled his tired body out of the elevator and unlocked the front door. He was immediately met with a wave of warm, homey smells. He set down his briefcase and looked around. The previously empty area to the right of the entry was now filled with a large, rustic style dining table surrounded by six chairs, but they were so far apart that it looked like it could almost accommodate twice that. The chandelier above the table was dimmed and there were two wine glasses and a bottle alongside two simple place settings.
“Liz?” he called.
She bustled into the dining room wearing an apron and carrying two bowls, one steaming and covered in a cloth, the other a wooden salad bowl filled with lush greens.
“Hi, Will! How was your day?”
He took a deep breath. “Fine. How was your day?”
“Great.”
Just then a timer went off in the kitchen. “Be right back.”
Will looked into the living room, wondering what had happened to his apartment. Liz had painted the living room a warm chocolate brown. At first, he thought it would make it feel dark and small, but the giant wall of windows prevented that from happening. She had added a chenille throw over his leather sofa and two soft-colored arm chairs across from it. His glass-topped coffee table had been replaced by a wooden one that looked like it had at one point or another been at least ten different colors. It was distressed and peeling and incredibly homey. There was a table behind the couch with lamps and an Mp3 speaker on it, and a warm, patterned rug on the dark floor. Was this his apartment? He had to admit, the whole effect was very inviting. He'd never felt so drawn to his own home before.
“You hungry?” Liz's voice interrupted his reverie.
“Uh, yes, very actually. I had to work through lunch today.”
“Oh, sorry. But it kind of works out for me. I got a little carried away. I thought we could christen the new table!”
He looked at the table and saw she had brought out three more dishes. “Wow! This looks great.” He quickly washed his hands and sat down. “So what is all this?” he asked, clearly delighted by what was in front of him.
“This is chicken tetrazzini,” she pointed to a creamy pasta dish in the middle, “this is tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella with fresh basil, homemade garlic bread, sautéed peppers and zucchini, and lemon salad.”
“Ah, the famed lemon salad. I'll try that first.” He eagerly filled his plate with vibrant green lettuce and took a bite. His eyes brightened for a moment. “You weren't kidding. This is really good.” He took a swig of wine and continued to eat, suddenly in a much better mood.
Liz watched him with a small smile and a bit of amusement. She had always liked cooking and there was something about someone enjoying what she had made with genuine appreciation; it always made her glad.
“Do you cook like this often?” he asked.
“Sometimes. Generally I make less food because I have less time, but this is my usual style, yes.”
“This is amazing. Really, Lizzy, you're very talented.”
She blushed a little despite herself. “Not really. All of this is pretty easy to make. I just hadn't cooked in a while and I missed it, that's all.”
Will was eating ravenously and had already piled his plate full of seconds when Liz was only halfway through her firsts.
“Oh, I should tell you: I saw Jamison today. He thinks we should register.”
“Register? Like for gifts? But we didn't have a wedding. Isn't that a little... rude?”
“Well, according to Evelyn, she's gotten several calls from people who'd like to send a gift and want to know where we're registered to do so. Jamison heard about it and he thinks we should have a reception. We can invite everyone that we would to a wedding, but it will just be a big party.”
“That could be fun. When should we have it?”
“Andrew thinks sooner rather than later and I agree. Let's get the wedding itself behind us and out of the public eye. I want people to start thinking of me as married, not as in-the-process.”
“That makes sense. We could probably do it in about three weeks if Evelyn would help with the invitations.”
“I'm glad you said that. I took the liberty of speaking to her about it already and if you are available, she can meet with you tomorrow to discuss details. Will there be enough time for your family to come up?”
“It's enough time, but I doubt they'll come. Summer is tourist season and my mom's shop is usually busy—I don’t think she'll be able to get away. Dad hates to travel and especially hates big cities, so even though it's technically a good time for him, I would be seriously surprised if he came. Tiffany is a counselor at a summer camp this year and Heather is doing an internship in Houston. I doubt she'll be able to take the time off to come. And we were never really that close, so she'll probably want to save whatever time she does get off for other things.”
“Really? Isn't that a little... odd?” Will asked as he was mentally trying to place Tiffany and Heather.
“Maybe. If it was my real wedding, I'm sure they'd all come, but since it's just a reception, I don't think they'd bother. I'll ask, of course, I'm just saying we shouldn't count on it. But Jenny will be there.”
“And Heather and Tiffany are your other sisters?” he asked.
“Yeah, Heather’s twenty and studying engineering and Tiffany will be a junior in high school.”
He smiled and looked thoughtful.
“What?” she asked.
“What, what?”
“You’re smiling,” she said with a nod toward his mouth. “Oh, it’s the names isn’t it? We get that a lot.”
He grinned ruefully. “Jennifer, Heather, and Tiffany. Elizabeth seems a bit out of place there.”
“In more ways than one,” she laughed. “There’s actually a funny story about that.”
“Oh?” he said as he swirled his garlic bread in the sauce on his plate.
“It’s like this. My parents couldn’t agree on what to name Jennifer when Mom was pregnant. Dad loves books and classical names and Mom prefers more, well, Barbie names.” He smiled and she continued. “She had a rough labor and by the end of it, Dad agreed to let her name the baby whatever she wanted. So that’s how Jennifer got named
. When she got pregnant with me, she was sure I was a boy. So the whole name thing started again. For a boy, Dad liked Michael and Mom wanted Corey.”
He made a face.
“I know,” she said. “Mom was so sure I was a boy that she agreed that Dad could name me if I turned out to be a girl, thinking he’d never get the chance. Well, obviously, Dad won the bet and named me Elizabeth.”
Will chuckled and added more tomatoes to his plate.
“But Mom got back at him.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah, shortly after I was born, she asked dad if she could pick the middle name. She wanted to name me after her aunt. Of course he agreed.”
“So what’s your middle name?”
“Mae.”
He looked confused. “What’s so bad about that?”
“Nothing, on its own. But Mom likes to shorten Elizabeth to Ellie, and often calls me Ellie Mae.”
His brow furrowed. “It’s a little…”
“Redneck,” she interrupted.
“I was going to say rural.” He smiled.
“Yes, that’s an excellent word for it.” She laughed and sipped her wine. “It really bugged my dad’s family, especially Grandpa Barrett. He would go on about the long tradition of Barretts in Virginia and how his mother’s family could be traced to the Mayflower.”
“Wow. That’s impressive.”
“Needless to say, he wasn’t too thrilled with my mother. Her parents had a pokey little house in town and my mother’s sister was a little wild. By the time my parents married, Aunt Jolene was living in a trailer park with some random guy and a baby. She’s on her fifth husband now.”
William winced slightly. “So your father’s family is more well-off?”
“Yes and no. More land-rich than anything else. Dad was offered a ton of money by a developer a few years ago, but he refused to sell. He says the land has always belonged to Barretts, and always will.”
“How much land is it?” he asked curiously.
“Almost two-thousand acres.”
William’s eyes widened. “Whoa!” he exclaimed, thinking for a moment that he sounded more like Andrew than himself. “Is it all part of the Christmas tree farm?”
“No, not all, but plenty of it. Part of it is leased to a neighboring farm that raises horses. They were outgrowing their land and offered to buy it, but he offered a lease instead. He’s pretty adamant about keeping it intact.”
“I can understand that. We haven’t split up the family place in England either.”
She nodded. “We’ve tried to find other ways to make money on the land so it’s not too reliant on farming. My mom has her gift shop, and she also sells things by local artisans. Every summer they host a large craft fair on the grounds and my mom is seriously thinking of turning her house into a B&B once my sisters move out. Heather and Tiffany started a pumpkin patch a few years ago and now every autumn they have all kinds of activities around that, so it stays busy. Mom’s trying to think of something for the spring so the money can be more spread out through the year.”
“Do they host other events?”
“We’ve talked about turning one of the barns into a proper event space, but it takes a lot of capital and Dad thought it was more important that he pay for us to go to school. Once his kids quit sucking up the money, he’ll probably invest more into the property,” she said with a smile.
Will nodded thoughtfully, his mind humming with business ideas. “My cousin turned their family home into a seasonal event space. When you meet her you can ask about it if you want.”
“Thanks, Will. That would be nice,” she said, somewhat surprised. “Do you think your family will come over for a reception?”
“Definitely. We should plan it before telling them about it or my aunt will try to take over.”
She laughed. “Then we should get started.”
13
Games & PLans
Mid-May, Tuesday
2.5 Weeks Married
“You’ve done it now, cuz.”
“I can only assume you are referring to my rather hasty marriage,” Will replied drolly as he leaned back in his chair and twisted the phone cord around his hand.
“Of course. What were you thinking? Vegas? Please tell me you got a prenup or a postnup or something,” asked Calvin. “And why haven’t you returned my calls? I’ve left a dozen messages.”
“It’s all taken care of, don’t worry. I’m not an idiot, you know.”
“Well, that’s what I thought until you ran off to Vegas and married some American girl no one’s ever heard of before.”
“Liz is great, you’ll like her. Quit worrying before you go gray.”
“Mother is fit to be tied. She can’t believe you didn’t let her plan a big society wedding. I told her that was probably why you eloped, but she never listens to me. Anyway, when are you bringing her over to meet the family?”
Will hesitated. “I’m in the middle of some big negotiations right now and Liz is starting summer classes soon; I don’t think we’ll be able to make it for a while.”
“How long is a while?” Calvin asked in that aristocratic way that managed to sound bored and demanding at the same time.
“A few months. But we’re having a reception in June. You should come then.”
“Oh, no! A party and Mother’s not involved? You do realize that she may never speak to you again, right?”
“We have an organizer. It’s not a backyard barbecue.”
“Send me the details and I’ll let you know. I can’t make any promises.”
“I understand. Cheers, Calvin.”
Will leaned back in his chair and squeezed the bridge of his nose just as there was a light tapping on his door.
“Come in, Evelyn.”
“It’s me,” Liz said as she popped her head in. “You look stressed. Everything okay?”
“Yeah, I just spoke to my cousin in London.”
“And?”
“He wants us to come over there so everyone can meet you. I told him no, of course. They’ll probably descend en masse on the reception.”
“Is that a bad thing?”
“Not really, but one or two can be a handful. I should probably apologize for them in advance.”
She smiled and sat in one of the chairs facing his desk. “What about your sister? Do you think she’ll come?”
“She is coming. She invited us to visit after I told her we were married, but of course I can’t leave the country right now, so I declined. She and her husband will come a few days before the reception. She wants to help you decorate the apartment.”
Liz looked surprised.
“I said she’d have to talk to you then pretended to get disconnected before I could give her your number.”
“William! You hung up on your own sister?”
“She knows she shouldn’t be nosing around my place. I told you I never let her stay there for exactly this reason. She came over once when I first bought it and was shopping an hour later. She has to be kept under control or the whole place will look like a Mediterranean palazzo.”
“Okay,” she said slowly. “Well, it would be weird if we didn’t have her over at all. I mean, she is your only sibling. How about I get the place done as much as possible before they get here so there’s nothing for her to do? Then maybe I can ask her to go shopping with me for something else.”
“Yeah, tell her you’re looking for some investment property, something you can fix up. That’ll keep her busy for days.”
Liz cut him a look. “I was thinking shoes.”
“Oh.” He looked around, clearly at a loss. “That could be fun, too. But wouldn’t that only take a few hours? Jacqueline is a bottomless pit of energy. If we don’t want to become her next project, we need to distract her.”
“I guess we could go looking for property. I don’t have to actually buy anything,” she said thoughtfully.
“Why not? If you see something you like for the right price, y
ou should build up your investment portfolio.”
Liz raised her brows and shook her head. “I’ll try to think of something. So Evelyn and I have been talking about the reception and she wants to know if we want to do all the traditional stuff like cutting the cake and the first dance and all that. I wasn’t sure what all you wanted to do, so I told her we’d talk about it.”
“Shouldn’t we do everything? It might look odd if we didn’t.”
“I agree. Any ideas for our song?”
“Not a one. You?”
“No clue. We can come up with something later.” She stood and smoothed her skirt. “I’ll get back to planning with Evelyn.”
“Liz?” he called after her.
“Yes?”
“Do you have lunch plans?”
“Not really, I thought I might order a sandwich in an hour or so.”
“Would you like to eat with me? I’ll be free at one.”
“Sure, that would be nice.” She smiled and left the room, leaving a surprisingly pleased man behind her.
An hour and a half later, Liz poked at the chicken on her plate at the table in Will’s office.
“So tell me more about your family,” she said.
“What do you want to know?”
“Well, the basics about who’s coming. Who’s related to whom and how, that sort of thing, and maybe what they do for a living, what not to talk about in front of them, just general stuff.”
“All right. As far as taboo topics, just stay away from politics and you should be fine. Oh, and don’t mention anyone’s plastic surgery, no matter how obvious it is.
“There will be the Covingtons, my mother’s family. I’ve told you a bit about them before. My mother’s brother, Alistair, and his wife Julia will probably come. We aren’t particularly close, but he and I do business together sometimes and he’s a decent chap. We’re working on the merger together. I don’t talk to Aunt Julia much. She’s a society matron and spends all her time throwing parties and shopping. They have three children, Teddy, Calvin, and Cecelia—Cece. Teddy is five years older than me and we talk about business matters and used to play polo together, but we aren’t close. He’s married to a woman called Caroline and expecting his first child. I don’t know if they’ll make it. Not sure about Cece, either. She just got married to some textiles manufacturer, Hayes. She’s a good enough girl but I don’t really know her well, we just see each other at family gatherings, that sort of thing. She’s Jacqueline’s age, so they were closer. You might like her, she seems nice enough.”
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