Lizzie and Abuela got home exhausted around 10 PM. Lizzie was surprised to see Lidia and George there, looking like they were about to go out.
“Lizzie!” Lidia bounded over, practically vibrating. “Guess what?! George is taking me out tonight, and we are meeting up with some friends of his on a yacht, and we are going to spend Thanksgiving at sea! Isn’t that crazy romantic?”
Lidia was giddy with excitement. George was stretched out in the chair, head leaning back, looking bored by the whole thing. Lizzie was a little surprised that Lidia was planning to go on a trip with him so early in their relationship, and for a holiday. She thought it would be rude to point it out so blatantly, so instead she said, “Oh, and you’re okay with spending the holiday with some people you don’t know?”
Lidia’s face fell slightly since Lizzie wasn’t matching her wattage. “Well, yeah. We don’t usually do a big thing anyway, and this sounds like a great opportunity for some good content. Why? Did you guys have plans?”
“We got invited to dinner at the Pemberleys,” Lizzie said.
George’s head snapped up like someone had yanked an invisible string.
“The Pemberley estate?!” He grinned, all teeth. “What did you do to be so unlucky?”
Lizzie thought, for maybe the first time, how incredibly wolf-like George’s features were. Had he always looked this predatory, or was it only now that she knew the truth?
“Abuela got us invited.”
George laughed and clapped his hands together as if this was the funniest thing he’d heard all year. “Oh boy, I bet you’re dreading having to do a whole evening with stuffy, sour-puss Will Pemberley!”
Lizzie stared at him deadpan, more than a little annoyed. “I think Will improves, actually, the more time spent with him.”
George’s smile suddenly looked more like a snarl. “How fortunate for you,” he said through his teeth.
He was studying her now, eyes narrowed, clearly trying to figure out how much she knew. Lizzie kept her face perfectly neutral.
“Okay, great then, it’s no big deal that I go do something else,” Lidia said, oblivious to the tension. “Ready to go?” She turned to George.
Lizzie wanted to stop her. Wanted to screamhe’s lying to you, he’s not the nice guy you think he is.But she couldn’t figure out how without betraying Will, and she knew Lidia wouldn’t listen anyway. So she just stood there with a sick knot in her stomach as her little sister walked out the door with a snake wearing boat shoes.
Lizzie and Abuela arrived at the Pemberley estate at 11:00 a.m. sharp, as requested. Being on time was shocking since Lizzie had tried on roughly twelve different outfits before settling on a simple brown A-line cocktail dress that made her feel simultaneously elegant and armored. Abuela was shocked by how basic the dress was for celebrating “El Sanksgiving,” as she called it.
Then she’d had to fight Abuela, who insisted that Lizzieshould bring a jacket.
“It’s like eighty degrees outside!” Lizzie had protested.
“¡Sí, pero it’s going to rain! And you could catchuna gripa!”
Lizzie won, but the second they stepped out of the car, fat drops started splattering the gravel. Abuela hugged her cardigan tighter and shot Lizzie a triumphantte dijelook.
“Don’t ask for mine when you’re wet and cold!” she sang, then marched up the steps like she owned the place.
Lizzie rolled her eyes and rang the doorbell.
Giana flung the door open before the chime finished.
“¡Llegaron!” she squealed, pulling them both inside. She was barefoot, wearing an apron longer than her jean cutoff shorts. “Chef Ramón isn’t loving all the help I’m giving him in the kitchen, but I’m determined to prove to him this kitchen hack I learned on TikTok works!”
Will appeared in the archway behind her, looking unfairly good in dark jeans and a charcoal sweater that made his eyes look lethal. He had a glass of red wine in one hand and the expression of a man who had already died inside twice this morning.
“Lizzie.Señora,” he greeted, voice low. “Welcome.”
Abuela sailed past him like he was the butler. “¡Qué lindois your house,mijo! Show me the kitchen, I can help with themojo.”
Lizzie protested, feeling that a chef might be annoyed by her interference, but Giana waved her concerns away, “She can be my ally, come on!” Lizzie glanced at Will, who nodded, indicating that it was fine, so Lizzie conceded. Giana grabbed Abuela’s arm like they’d been best friends for fifty years and dragged her away, chattering in rapid Spanglish.
This left Lizzie and Will alone in the foyer. Although it had been more than two weeks since the rooftop confession and their last words in private, without the buffer of another person withWill, Lizzie felt exposed, unsure how to act. She had played what she would say to him in her head several times, but now, faced with the actual man, she was anxious.
“I’ve been wanting to say for a while…” Lizzie started the speech she had practiced many times, but then looked him in the eyes. His intense stare made her mind go blank, and suddenly she wasn’t sure what she had practiced would be enough. “Thank you for the coffee.”Coward, she thought.
