“She took me for Thai food.”
“Incredible, right? But I’m sure English food is…Never mind. But there are so many reasons to go back to your home. Your father. Jane. You do want to see Jane again, don’t you? If I had a sister like Jane, I’d want to see her—”
“The woman was a university student,” Elizabeth said in wonder. “Can you imagine? And she thought nothing of it.”
“You want to go to college?” I asked her.
“I…would’ve liked…I would have liked the chance.” She straightened her shoulders. “But I suppose that’s not my story.”
“If it helps, your book is taught in colleges. In that way, you’re in college, if you think about it.”
She glanced up at the sky, at the sun beginning its slow long drop behind the horizon.
“I always planned to return home,” she said.
“Did you? Good, that was easy enough. Thank you. I need a win here.”
“It’s only…Oh, isn’t it beautiful?” She waved her hand to the Pacific Ocean.
Unshed tears gleamed in her eyes, hovering but not falling. From now until the end of time, it would be nothing but dinner parties and luncheons and card parties and neighborhood balls. She’d get toLondon once a year perhaps, but otherwise, she’d probably never travel farther than fifty miles from her home. And even if she and Darcy took a grand tour of Europe, she would never again lay eyes on the Pacific Ocean or the rocky, windy, wild Oregon Coast.
“What are men to rocks, mountains, and oceans?” she said. She gave me a little conspiratorial smile. “Don’t tell Mr. Darcy, but this is even prettier than Pemberley.”
“Your secret’s safe with me.”
“Is there time to watch the sun set?” she asked. “I’ve come so far.”
“I’m supposed to put you back before sunset but…how can I say no to the legendary Elizabeth Bennet?”
“Lizzy, please,” she said.
“Lizzy,” I repeated, flattered to be on a first-name basis already. “Call me Rainy.”
Together we watched the sun turn crimson red as it seemingly fell toward the earth.
While she watched it fall, I took the book from the canvas bag and opened it to the scene that came right before the blank pages.
When the last of the red faded over the horizon, Lizzy turned to me and said, “If you must.”
“I must,” I said, then looked her up and down.
“Oh, yes, of course.” She shrugged out of her jacket and pulled a gown from her backpack, putting it back on over her tank top and leggings.
As she dressed in her real clothes, I read softly from the book, working the necessary storycraft to return her to the safety of her own world, where she and Mr. Darcy would live happily ever after for all eternity.
Next to being married, a girl likes to be crossed in love a little now and then. It is something to think of and gives her a sort of distinction among her companions.
The sun gone, Lizzy turned to me.
“Thank you,” she said with a most ladylike curtsy. “But please, Rainy, the next time a duke offers marriage…say yes.”
“Promise,” I said, and though it broke my heart to take this all awayfrom her, I whispered the charm that would make her forget her little Oregon adventure.
When I closed the book, the sun was down, and I was alone except for a cat using the beach as a litter box and one set of petite women’s footprints in the sand, which the very next wave washed away.
Chapter Ten
When Koshka and I returned to the bookstore, it was about half an hour before closing time. Koshka meowed insistently at me once we were through the doors.
