by Ruby Cruz
“It’s fine. In fact, I think it might be just what my aunt needs right now.” I schooled a polite smile onto my face, as an attempt to chase away the unease that had crept into my system. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”
The Darcys saw us to the car and, after I helped Aunt Jo climb into the passenger’s seat, waved us off. We were still within sight of the siblings when Aunt Jo railed on me. “So what’s going on between you and the doctor?”
“What?”
“I may have nearly died this week, but I still got eyes. What’s with the two of you?”
I hesitated, kept my eyes on the road though I could still feel my aunt staring at me. “It’s…complicated.”
“Uh huh.” Her tone was skeptical. “Don’t see what’s so complicated about a guy and a girl wanting to jump each other’s bones.” My head whipped around and I found her scrutinizing me. “I told you, I got eyes.”
I sighed, turned my eyes towards the road again. “I don’t know what this is, Aunt Jo. For the longest time, I hated his guts, couldn’t stand the sight of him, or even the thought of working with him.”
“And…?”
“And a few months ago…he told me he liked me, might have even been in love with me. And I rejected him.” The memory burned fire onto my cheeks. “Anyway, we still work with each other and so we’ve been civil. Courteous. Completely professional.”
“But now you don’t hate his guts anymore.”
“No. I don’t hate his guts. But I don’t know what it is I feel. Honestly, I’ve never felt…I feel like every time I see him I just want to go and hide, but when I don’t see him all I can do is think about him. If I knew that he was your doctor….”
“What? You’d have avoided visiting me? Now, you ask me, that’s the cowardly approach.” Aunt Jo sniffed. “I know you’ve got more gumption in you than to run away from something. Hell, you’ve put up with your ma for as long as you have, taking care of her and everyone else in the world. Maybe it’s time you started taking care of yourself for once.”
“And you think that starting something up with Dr. Darcy is one way to take care of myself?” Even just the possibility had me sweating.
“I’m saying that you’ve always thought of everyone else before yourself. This Darcy character, he seems like a decent person. Why don’t you just give it a chance?”
“I already rejected him once. Last time I knew, most guys don’t open themselves up for rejection more than that.”
“Way I see it, he’s already opened himself up by setting all this up for us. Like I said, I got eyes, and I’m not as stupid about these things as you think. I know there’s no way insurance is going to pay for me to go to this fancy place for rehab, but he’s offered it, no questions asked, no strings attached. I’ve a mind to take him up on it because it seems like a decent place and I like that sister of his. Seems like a smart girl to start up a place like this on her own.”
“He thought you might do well with the in-patient program, you know, stay here while you recover.”
Aunt Jo went quiet, a sign that she was seriously considering the possibility. “You think I could bring Jasper with me?” The question was serious.
In an attempt to lighten the mood, I shrugged, “Hey, in a place like this, clients probably could pay for anything they want. Pets probably come with the deal.”
“Don’t know how I feel about taking someone else’s handouts, though.” Aunt Jo blew out a breath. “Any case, Ana said she’d probably have an answer about the whole insurance thing when we come for dinner tomorrow night. Said she’d have someone make some phone calls or whatnot.”
After I fed the cat and ourselves, administered evening meds to Aunt Jo and helped her into bed, tidied the apartment and called Jane to give her the update on our aunt, I settled down on the couch. Jasper watched me warily from his perch on the kitchen counter but I ignored him. I flipped the TV on but kept the volume low. I wasn’t watching anyway, not really. My mind kept replaying the scene of being with Darcy on the trail, the feel of his fingers as they brushed my cheek. I didn’t know this feeling that filled me, didn’t understand the tightness that centered in my core and spread to the tips of my toes.
I remembered my conversation with Aunt Jo, her suggestion that my feelings for Darcy were more than platonic. What I’d said to her was true. I didn’t hate Darcy, not anymore. But what I felt for him was different than attraction. I’d been attracted to George, to many other guys really. However attracted I’d been to them, though, not once did any of those guys have me running scared.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
What Happens in Vegas
I’m not sure when I finally fell asleep but when I awoke, I found Jasper had peed on the spot exactly where I put my foot when I stepped onto the floor. I refrained from chasing the cat so I could skin him and instead busied myself with finding the carpet cleaner and odor eliminator I’d bought the other day. By the time I finished with that chore, Aunt Jo was awake and grumbling about breakfast.
I fixed some egg white spinach omelets with low-fat cheese and whole wheat toast, fare that caused her to mumble under her breath, “May as well eat cardboard. Easier to make and cheaper.” I ignored her comments and was gratified when she cleaned her plate. She grumbled again when I insisted that I watch her calculate her insulin dosage by herself so she could learn how to do it properly. When she came up with the correct dosage, she gave herself a self-satisfied grunt but ignored the praise I heaped on her.
The rest of the day was spent with more of the same: fixing Aunt Jo her food, calculating her corresponding insulin dosage, instructing her on the proper dosage and indications for her medications. She grumbled and argued but she followed my instructions diligently, even reminding me that I needed to bring her to the pharmacy to refill her beta-blocker prescription. Her diligence had me hopeful that maybe she’d be able to come through this okay after all.
When Aunt Jo emerged from her afternoon nap, she was primped and ready to leave for our dinner with the Darcys. I noted that she’d curled her hair again, had changed into what she considered her “good pants” and had added a swipe of lipstick to the makeup she was already wearing. “You’re not wearing that, are you?” She eyed my jeans and T-shirt with a critical eye.
“It’s what I brought to wear,” I answered defensively. “I packed for a visit with my sick aunt, not a fashion show.”
“Come on, girlie. You have about fifteen minutes to run to the store and buy something nicer. I’ll wait in the car.”
“I’m not trying to impress anyone.”
“And you sure won’t with an attitude like that. Those nice people are fixing us a nice dinner for us to eat. You better show them some respect and come dressed accordingly. Let’s go.”
~
When I emerged from TJ Maxx, Aunt Jo nodded in approval. “Now that’s what I’m talking about. You gotta spend your money on something, don’t you?”
I sighed. My budget could handle a new pair of sandals, I reminded myself. The dress and jacket…well, I just wouldn’t buy any clothes next month, not with my tuition payments coming up for fall. At least I wouldn’t be a completely poor student living with Jane, I thought absently.
As I drove to Pemberley, Aunt Jo’s mood lightened. I was heartened to know that she was looking forward to this dinner so much, and then realized that she really hadn’t been out much since Uncle Jim had passed. She’d met the majority of her friends through Uncle Jim and his work and after he was gone, they seemed to have drifted away as well. This dinner with the Darcys may well have been her first dinner out in years. Even though my life was going to get much busier in the next few months, I made a pact with myself to visit her much more often and take her out at least once a month.
When we reached Pemberley, the sky was dark and the air was cool. I parked the car in front of the small cottage that Ana had indicated she was staying in, and helped Aunt Jo climb out. Darcy was already at
the door and rushed out to help her climb up the short flight of stairs to the front porch. She waved us away impatiently. “Leave me be. I’m not a complete invalid.” Darcy and I shared a smile as we followed her into the house.
Darcy directed her into an armchair in the living room. When Ana came out of the kitchen to greet us, I offered her the plastic grocery bag I held in my hands. “I’m not much of a cook but I brought some dessert.” I’d remembered that Ana was a vegan and had picked up some strawberries and non-dairy topping. “The dessert shells are egg- and dairy-free, I checked the ingredients list, so I hope they’re okay.”
Ana gave me a genuine smile. “They’re perfect. Thank you. This was really thoughtful of you.” She didn’t take the grocery bag so I was forced to follow her into the kitchen.
“Do you need help prepping anything?” I laid the grocery bag on the counter and automatically began to empty the contents. “Jane inherited all the culinary talent in the family,” I explained, “though I make a passable sous chef.”
“Ah, yes, Charles told me of your mother's talent in the kitchen.” I hadn’t realized that Darcy had followed us into the kitchen. His eyes twinkled. I couldn’t tell if he was laughing at me or not.
“Don't sell yourself short, missy,” my aunt chimed in from the living room. “Lizzy here just filled my kitchen with all types of rabbit food and somehow made it taste good. That’s talent right there, getting an old biddie like me to eat vegetables.”
“You’re a woman of hidden talents,” Darcy said to me, his eyes still twinkling. “Perhaps you should assist Ana in the kitchen.”
Ana rolled her eyes at her brother. “Will, why don’t you keep Mrs. Gardiner company in the living room?” After Darcy left the kitchen, Ana turned to me. “I think everything is set. The only things I know how to cook are strictly vegan and Will doesn’t cook, so he insisted we order from someplace. There’s a great bistro a couple miles from here that delivers so I’m just waiting for Andy to come by with the food and we should be set.” Ana set the fruit and whipped topping in the fridge, then retrieved wine glasses from the rack at the corner of the kitchen. She began to polish the wine glasses with a dish towel.
The house appeared small from the outside but was easily the size of my mother’s home. The kitchen was spacious and updated, the under-cabinet lighting giving the space a warm, intimate feel. Instead of the usual ceramic tile, the floor was lined with hardwood protected by attractive throws. Shiny red apples were arranged in a pretty canary yellow bowl on the island counter and a matching pitcher of burgundy alstromeria adorned a corner by the gas stove.
Ana noticed me admire the kitchen and she said, “My mom oversaw the renovations here before she died. I love this room. It reminds me of her.”
“It’s a great room. A great cottage, really.”
She smiled again, but her eyes dimmed. I remembered what Darcy had said in New York, that George and his mother had lived here. There was so much of the story that I didn’t know, but I didn’t want to ask.
She watched me for a moment, then said, “It’s okay, Lizzy. Will told me that he told you, about what happened with me and George.”
“I’m sorry. It’s none of my business.”
“No, it’s okay. You were…Will told me that you’d been sort of…involved with him also, and that he’d wanted to warn you. Anyway, to answer the question I see in your eyes, yes, this is the house that George used to live in. That was years ago, well before my parents died.”
“Don’t you feel weird, you know, living here?”
“Not really. Like I said, my mom had the place renovated right before she died and no one has really lived here since then except for me so I like to think of this as living with a little piece of her.”
“You said that your parents died around the same time.”
“Yeah. My dad, he had a heart attack. He was driving my mom home from the city. They’d just spent the evening there seeing a Broadway play, and he passed out while behind the wheel. At least, that’s what the coroner thinks happened. They were driving on 78, traveling 75 miles an hour when the car crashed into a tractor trailer. The autopsy showed that he mostly likely had a heart attack while driving and went into cardiac arrest.”
“Oh, my God. I am so sorry.”
She nodded in acknowledgement. “Anyway, it’s pretty much been just Will and I since then, so, forgive me if I seem a little overprotective of my big brother.”
“Overprotective?”
She shook her head. “Don’t mind me.” She smiled again, and then called out, “Hey, Will, why don’t you go get that bottle of wine? Oh, Lizzy, would you mind grabbing the wine opener? It’s in the dining room, on the buffet server.” She waved an arm towards a doorway off the kitchen as she continued to polish wine glasses.
I went through the indicated doorway and to a modestly furnished dining room. Ana had set the table with white plates against butter yellow placemats. Cobalt cloth napkins were folded neatly on top of the plates. I turned to the buffet server where a fancy corkscrew was displayed. I grabbed it and was about to return to the kitchen when I collided with Darcy.
I grabbed the corkscrew with both hands as he clutched the wine bottle he held. “Sorry.” He gestured to the corkscrew. “I was just looking for that.”
I held the tool out to him. His eyes never left mine as he grasped it and set the wine bottle on the buffet. I glanced at the wine, more to break eye contact than actual curiosity. “That looks like a nice bottle of wine.”
“I remembered that you favored this particular vintage while we were in New York.”
Despite myself, I could feel my face flushing. “Thank you. That was…thoughtful of you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I should get back to my aunt. Make sure she’s not getting herself into trouble.”
“You do that. She definitely seems like the type to find trouble.” He grinned.
I avoided the kitchen doorway that Darcy stood in and exited into the hallway so that I could bypass the kitchen altogether. I found my aunt browsing an issue of Horse Illustrated. “Are you thinking of going English or Western?”
Her eyes perused the centerfold, which appeared to be a picture of a handsome pinto. “Now, she’s a real beaut. Did you know I used to ride when I was younger than you? I was still in high school, saved up some money, borrowed some from my parents, and bought me one of those little ponies that grow to be no taller than that lamp over there. To pay for the board and the feed, I’d rent her out for pony rides, you know, little kid’s birthday parties, carnivals, that type of thing. I loved that damn horse, kept her even after I married your uncle.”
“What happened to her?” Ana asked as she carried two glasses of wine; Darcy followed her with two more glasses.
“She died at the ripe age of thirty. Lizzy here was still a tot when I had to say good-bye. She loved that thing also, cried buckets when I told her Mable had gone to heaven.”
“I don’t remember that.” I truly didn’t, but I did love horses and had always wished I could ride.
“You were barely two at the time, but you were fearless with her. You could barely sit in the saddle by yourself, you were so little, but you held on and rode with your shoulders back and head held high, big smile plastered on your face.” She chuckled at the memory. “After Mable died, I didn’t have the heart to get another horse for a while, and then your uncle started getting sick and…well, life happens.”
“When you’re strong enough, you’ll have plenty of opportunities to ride at the center,” Ana said. “We can make sure to incorporate that into your regimen.”
Aunt Jo pressed her lips together and blinked. She stared into her wine glass, which I noticed had significantly less wine in it than everyone else’s. She muttered, “That’d be fine, I think.”
I smiled at Ana. I didn’t know how I’d ever be able to repay her and her brother. I almost felt like Aunt Jo was transforming bef
ore my eyes.
“First things first,” Darcy said, clearing his throat. He held up his wine glass in a salute. “To good health.”
“To new friends,” Ana added.
Because I didn’t know what to say, I just raised my glass, then sampled the wine. It was as good as I remembered. I blushed as I also remembered that Darcy had chosen the wine specifically with me in mind.
Ana made some light conversation about the types of horses that were stabled at Pemberley, and then the food arrived. “Oh, thank God,” she announced as she bounded up from the couch to answer the doorbell. “I’m absolutely starving!”
Within minutes, she had the table set with steaming platters of flatbread, grilled sirloin (to please her “carnivore brother”), julienned vegetables with some type of demi-glace, and herb-crusted roast chicken. For herself, Ana had a large mixed green salad adorned with grilled vegetables, roasted pine nuts and what looked like grilled tofu. Ana passed around a small dish of olive oil and dipping herbs for the bread (“Sorry, no butter in this household!”) and encouraged us to sample everything, even her salad (“I’m always trying to convert people, so nibble away!”)
I’d never seen Aunt Jo so relaxed. Not once did she complain about the food or her stingy helping of wine. Not once did she grumble about the conversation topics which ranged from why Ana had chosen a vegan lifestyle to Darcy’s equestrian awards to the various trails on the property. She even calculated her own insulin dosage without my prodding. I almost began to suspect aliens had kidnapped the real Aunt Jo and had left a clone in her place.
After the delicious dinner, the dessert I’d brought seemed overly simple in comparison but Ana raved about the sweetness of the strawberries even though they were not in season and couldn’t believe I’d gone through the trouble of finding egg-free dessert shells. I welcomed the offer of coffee, though I would’ve gladly had a second glass of wine if I weren’t driving home later. When the time came to clear the dessert dishes, I stood to help but Ana shook her head. “Relax. You serve people every day, take a moment to enjoy being served for once.”