“Everything you asked for, Mr. Darcy.” The man who had taken our bags when landed stood in front of the only trees in the clearing. On the ground next to him and the tree was a blanket, champagne, and a picnic basket. I didn’t think I had ever seen one outside of a movie.
“Thank you.” Theo handed him his keys, and he left. “Sit,” Theo whispered, tugging me down as he did dropped to the blanket.
I couldn’t believe this. “When did you plan this?”
“I heard a few women on set saying they hoped we wrapped soon so they could come here. After that it was a matter of making one phone call.” He took two glasses from the basket and handed me one. “What did you think, I’d planned all of this from the start?”
“If not, you’re really good at thinking on your feet.”
“You have to be with my job.” He popped the champagne, causing a few people to turn around. He poured a glass for each of us. “Besides, we couldn’t let such a good dress go to waste. All that would make it better is this.”
He reached up and gently pulled out the hair tie, allowing it to fall down in waves against the side of my face. For the second time that day, I was made aware of just how close he was to me. He tucked a few strands of my hair behind my ear.
“Beautiful,” he whispered. “As always.”
“Thanks. You don’t look bad yourself.” I straightened the glasses he still wore on his face. “You kind of remind me of Clark Kent.”
“So I’m your Superman?” he said with a grin.
“You keep telling yourself that.” I reached into the basket and grabbed the grapes along with a few crackers. I offered him some, and he bent down and bit a grape off the bunch in my hands. I heard one of my favorite lines from the movie and started to recite it. Closing my eyes, I brought my knees up to my chest, making sure to tuck the dress under my legs. I grinned and said every word.
“‘They didn’t agree on much. In fact, they didn’t agree on anything. They fought all the time and challenged each other every day. But despite their differences, they had one important thing in common. They were crazy about each other.’”
I giggled to myself, watching the screen.
“How many times have you seen this movie?”
“A least every other month with my roommates. I probably know the whole thing by heart, but that line is a favorite of mine and Mark’s.”
“Mark? One of your roommates is a guy?”
I glanced to him when I heard the small twang of jealousy. “Yes.”
He took another grape. “How close are you?”
“I met him when I got out of juvie. He’s the cousin of my other roommate, Cleo. He ran away with part of his inheritance. That’s how I was able to get myself grounded and start work afterward. So, to answer your question, we’re as close as can be.” I wasn’t making him feel better. He kept his eyes trained on the screen. “He’s like a big brother, and right now he’s back to dating guys, so you don’t have to be jealous.”
“I wasn’t jealous,” he lied.
“Says the man who tied me to a bedpost for kissing another man.”
“Can the woman who liked it so much that she begged for more really bring it up?” He looked at me lazily.
“Yep.” I grinned, and so did he. “Besides, if anyone should be jealous, it’s me. After all, you do work with your ex-fiancée.”
“I was wondering when you would bring that up.”
“Shouldn’t I?”
“I don’t care either way. If you want to know, I will tell you.”
I thought about it for a moment, going back and forth in my mind.
“You’re over-thinking it,” he whispered, amused. Reaching for the bottle, he refilled my glass. “I was engaged to Violet two years ago. We were dating, she got pregnant. I thought we’d become a family. Then one day she told me she got an abortion because she was asked to dance in Paris.”
“Wow—”
“It gets worse. She told me via a handwritten note. She never gave back the ring either, even after she’d gotten married to someone else a few months later. They were only together a year. I remember being thankful I hadn’t given her my mother’s ring because it was too plain.” He didn’t looked bothered at all, like he was telling someone else’s story, not his own.
“But she came back.”
“There were rumors she had an affair with the ballet director in Paris, so she joined Darcy Entertainment.”
“And you just let her?”
He looked at me, confused. “We needed a dancer. Though you did embarrass her when you upstaged her at the recital.”
“I didn’t mean to, and you’re a better person than I am. I can hold a grudge for years. In fact….”
Don’t, Felicity. I didn’t talk about my past, not with anyone, yet I felt like I could tell him. I heard Cleo telling me not to do it in the back of mind.
“In fact?” He waited.
Exhaling deeply, I faced the screen again. “I haven’t spoken to my father in almost a decade. It was my mother who taught me to dance and play piano. We used to sit side-by-side and play all the time. So many people wanted me to play or dance for them at recitals, at games. I got so many invitations. But I didn’t care about that. I only wanted to show my mother that I could be just like her. When I was eight, she died. Three days later my father brought home this other woman and her two daughters. They looked just like my dad, and they were only a few years younger than me. He didn’t explain anything. To her credit, the woman was never mean to me, but I hated her and I hated him. After I got into trouble, I never looked back. My life…. I’m a mess, Theo. There are days when I feel like there is nothing inside me. Like I’m a black hole. And the people I care about, the people who get too close, they get sucked in and die. No one wants the broken girl. People cheer you on when you’re a kid, but when you’re a teenager or an adult, they say, ‘Why aren’t you better yet? What’s wrong with you?’ I wish I knew the answer.”
He didn’t say anything, and I was grateful for that. We watched the rest of the movie in silence.
Theo
I understood why she was so distant now, why she no longer played, and in a way I took comfort in the fact that my initial thought was right: she was just like me. We had both been let down by our fathers and deeply missed our mothers.
I wondered if that was the reason I was so draw to her. Maybe something in me saw something in her. Maybe I was looking for things that weren’t there. Either way, I wanted her just like this.
“Did you always want to do this?” she asked.
“Do what?”
“Be Theodore Darcy, CEO of Darcy Entertainment?”
No one had ever asked me that question, so I had never even thought about it.
“I don’t know if I ever wanted to be CEO per se. I know I wanted to tell a story. I didn’t and still don’t care what medium it’s in, whether it’s music, dance, or film. Darcy Entertainment used to be a small indie filmmaker under my grandfather. Then my father, Arthur, expanded on that. Walt only cared about dancing. Arty was always more interested in computer technology. So it fell to me, and I do enjoy what I do.”
“I can tell, Ernest.” She giggled, shaking her head. “I was horrible, but you were great. I almost forgot you were you.”
She thought she was horrible? “How do you completely underestimate yourself and leave me dumbfounded at the same time?”
“You were dumbfounded? When?”
I couldn’t even begin to list the occasions and luckily, I didn’t have to. It started to pour, the rain beating down on everything and everyone in sight. While the others grabbed their things and ran back to their cars, Felicity stood up and opened her arms wide, allowing herself to get soaked.
“You guys aren’t true fans!” she yelled, unable to contain her laughter.
“Why aren’t they true fans?” I asked, stepping up beside her, getting as soaked as she was.
She pointed to the screen. “When else in life are
you going to get the chance to make out in front of what is arguably the most romantic movies of this generation? Who lets this just slip by?”
“I don’t see you kissing—” Before I finished, she’d jumped up and latched on to my arm, wrapped her legs around my waist, and kissed me.
They weren’t like our normal kisses, the ones that were prequels to us taking off our clothes. They weren’t lust filled. Instead we kissed each other like we would have been content with only this for the rest of our lives.
I even forgot it was raining.
Felicity
12:04 a.m.
I left a message for Cleo and Mark. “Hey, guys, I’m not sure what time it is there, but I’m heading to bed now. I will tell you all about my day tomorrow.”
After fixing my hair, I adjusted my breasts in the lacy nightgown I wore and stepped back into the bedroom to find Theo still asleep on the bed. I clasped my hand over my mouth to keep from laughing. He had taken off his shirt and pants, leaving him in nothing but his boxer briefs and socks.
I guessed I took too long. But he never said anything. Walking over to him, I took of his socks and placed them on the dresser of the house he had rented for our time here. I gripped the covers, but he grabbed my waist.
“Thanks, Mrs. Beauchamp,” he whispered as a grin spread over his lips.
“You were awake?”
He opened one eye and peeked at me. “I was just resting, but why would I stop you when you were taking such good care of me?”
I was going kill him. “Oh my gosh, you are—”
“Felicity, are you blushing?”
I jumped back and placed my hands on my flushed cheeks. “What are you talking about? I don’t blush. The room is just hot, okay?”
He sat up, finally noticing what I had on. “Is that for me?”
“No. I always sleep like this. You just haven’t seen it because I never planned to be over at your place.” I tried to hide myself under the covers.
“I thought you said it was hot?”
“Oh my God, Theo, can you just let me off the hook?”
He broke out laughing.
“I’m going to bed. Don’t touch me!” I snapped, more annoyed with myself than him. What was going on? I was the no-strings-attached one. The don’t-get-too-close one. I had walls higher than Mount Everest around me, yet Theo had somehow made me forget all of that.
This was not okay.
“You’re going to suffocate like that.” Theo lifted the covers off my head, and I glared at him.
I stared into his green eyes, ignoring the butterflies in my stomach now. “I don’t know what came over me. We’re just supposed to be about sex.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
He rested his head beside mine. “Why is it supposed to be just sex?”
“Because I’m not a good person,” I replied. “I’m going to hurt you.”
“When will you move on and forgive yourself for what happened back then?”
I frowned. “She probably would have been a teenager or something now. The woman I hit had her daughter with her. She pushed her out of the way, and I remember her crying over her mother, shaking her. Screaming as the tears poured down her face. But I killed her. That woman hadn’t done anything wrong. Her daughter became an orphan. I did that. That girl, she needed her mother, and I robbed her of that. I know how it feels, and I did it to someone else. How do I move on from that?”
“By letting others help you.”
He didn’t get it. I was beyond help.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Not like the movies
Felicity
10:19 a.m.
“Don’t say it,” he said, looking me dead in the eye.
“Sorry,” I replied as I took my hand off his head. “You have a cold, Mr. Darcy.”
He muttered as he grabbed a few tissues for his nose. “I can’t believe this. You were in the rain too. How the hell are you fine?”
“I don’t get sick. Fatigued but never sick. Now lean back.” I wrapped an ice pack in a towel and put it on his head.
This morning I’d woken up to what sounded like him trying to cough up a lung. His whole body was on fire, and on top of that he could barely get out of bed.
“I can’t rest. I have so much—”
“No.” I pushed him back on the bed when he tried to sit up. “The last two times you tried, you got dizzy. I’m sorry. Had I known—”
“We would have still done it.” He smiled, holding the ice pack against his forehead. “Next time I’ll have to remind myself that life isn’t a movie, and kissing in the rain can come with a few setbacks.”
This was my fault. “What were you going to do today? I can do it instead.”
“Don’t worry about it… Urgh.” He paused, regretting his head shaking. His eyes watered as a result of it.
“I am worried. Besides, I have nothing to do. If you explain, I’ll do my best.”
“I planned on going to the set again today to speak with the actors and warn them to get their act together. After that we were supposed to go on a hot-air balloon ride—Ah-choo!” He sneezed away from my face into his tissues. “I’ll feel better in a few hours. You can just go out and explore the town.”
“Are you sure? I don’t want to leave you like this.”
He nodded and reached for his wallet. “I’m going to be asleep for the most part. Nolan, the driver, is already here. Go. I’m fine.”
“I don’t need your card. Everything is cheaper here than back home.”
“Felicity, just take it. It will make me feel better.”
It was hard to say no when he when he was so obviously feeling miserable.
“Fine.” I took the card. “Just rest.”
He was so tired he didn’t fight me, shifting farther down in the bed and resting his head on the pillow.
“So much for my sex appeal,” he muttered.
“Don’t worry, it’s not totally gone. I’m sure you will bounce back in no time.”
He didn’t reply, because he was already asleep. For a split second, I thought about putting his card back on the table, but instead I placed it in my pocket and cleaned up around his bedside before I got ready. I knew he wanted me to go out and explore on my own, but for the most part I felt bad for being the reason he couldn’t do his work.
Changing into a simple pink dress I had been saving for later, I reached for a pair of flats and left the room as quietly as possible, making sure to close door behind me with nothing more than a small click. The rented house was small and cozy, surrounded by trees, and overlooked the town of Ambler.
I could see from the window there was a car already waiting. Nolan, the driver who had picked us up at the airport and brought us food last night, leaned against the black Range Rover, reading a newspaper.
“Nolan?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He straightened.
“No need to be so formal. I’m Felicity.”
“Yes, ma’am. Mr. Darcy told me to take you around for the day.”
Had he done that when I was in the shower? Because I didn’t remember him calling anyone. “I was wondering if you could take me to the movie set.”
He looked at me strangely but nodded. “Of course. Do you have everything?”
“Yep, thanks.” I let myself in on the passenger side of the car.
“You wouldn’t be more comfortable in the back, ma’am?”
“The front is fine, and again, it’s just Felicity.”
He looked at me like I was an alien but didn’t say anything as he started the engine. Winding down the window, I stuck my hand out, enjoying the warm breeze on my skin.
Don’t get involved, Felicity.
I knew I shouldn’t try to insert myself anymore than I already had into his life. I should just walk away, and I was going to. After this week I was going to end things with him. It was getting too serious. He wanted more from me than I could give him or anyone else. I didn’t want to hurt
him.
Why would I?
That thought. That brief second where I hoped for something more was the very reason why I had to leave. Taking out my phone, I texted Cleo and Mark: After this week I’m done with him.
Cleo: I understand.
Mark: I don’t.
Me: I’m going to screw this up. You know that.
Mark: No I don’t, and neither do you. Have you ever thought maybe you aren’t scared of you hurting him but him hurting you?
Cleo: Mark, life is not one big romantic comedy. Just because he’s into her now doesn’t mean this is forever. They barely know each other, and even if he knew everything, what would Felicity’s life be like?
Me: Exactly. We get along great… now. Besides, I don’t fit into his life.
Mark: Are they legal?
Me: Are what legal?
Mark: The things you guys are doing, are they legal?
Me: Yes.
Even though it felt so good it shouldn’t be.
Mark: Do you feel safe with him?
I knew what he was doing, and I couldn’t bring myself to reply. He texted me again.
Mark: Most importantly, are you happy with the situation you’re in?
Texting them had been a bad idea. I felt even more conflicted now than I had on my own. It did make me wonder, though. Mark and Cleo could be so alike yet have such varying views on the world.
“Ms. Felicity?”
“Huh? Yes?” I looked at Nolan.
He pointed to the white mansion we were now in front of. “We’re here. Would you like me to give you a moment?”
“Oh no. I’m good, thanks. You can go now—”
“Mr. Darcy said for me to stay with you at all times.”
Of course he had. “All right. I don’t know how long this will be, but I’ll just come to the car when I’m done.”
The first person I saw was Mr. Hamilton, talking with—no way—Deborah Day. She was one of my favorite actresses. Her blonde hair was curled into an updo. She wore white pearls and a bright blue dress with opera gloves that went past her elbows. She was dressed for the part, but from the look on her face it seemed like she was not pleased one bit.