She looked back at the road and thought about how wrong she was.
***
Darcy took ice skating at Bryant Park on Tuesday.
Mia was better at it than either of them, which she established within ten minutes and made no effort to be modest about. She skated away from them just to prove that she had done this before and did not need supervision.
Elizabeth and Darcy were left at the boards, both of them holding the railing with the quiet dignity of people who had overestimated themselves.
"I thought you would be good at this," Elizabeth said. "You are precise about everything."
"Precision requires traction," Darcy said.
"That is an excuse."
"It is an accurate statement."
"You are holding the board with both hands."
"So are you."
Elizabeth looked down at her hands. Then at him. He was looking back at her with the expression that was supposed to be a smile, but was trying to be anything else, and she felt the laugh before it arrived.
They made jest of each other for a while before Darcy finally asked that they let go of their fears and try the skating thing.
They skated — slowly, badly, without letting go of the boards for longer than was necessary — and Mia lapped them twice and on the third pass came alongside Elizabeth and took her hand and pulled her into the middle of the rink. Elizabeth yelped and grabbed Mia's arm. Somehow, she did not fall.
From the boards, Darcy watched.
On the fourth pass Mia went for him too. He did not yelp. He did, however, lose his footing briefly and grab Elizabeth's arm on the other side.
For approximately fifteen seconds the three of them moved across the ice in a chain, Mia pulling them both, all three of them laughing.
At some point, Elizabeth found herself thinking,this is the thing.
She did not say it out loud.
She held onto it instead.
***
The new jolly trio stayed in on Wednesday.
Darcy cooked. Properly, this time — he had watched a cooking show just to master the recipe.
It was a chicken dish. Mia ate two portions and declared it significantly better than last time, which had not set a high bar but was still a victory. Elizabeth ate her portion and said nothing complimentary about it and then ate the rest of what was in the pot when she thought no one was looking.
Darcy did see her and he beamed with satisfaction.
That evening Mia made them watch a film she had been wanting to show them for weeks.
They watched it on the sofa with Mia between them and Darcy with one arm along the back of the sofa behind Mia's head, and at some point in the second act, Mia shifted and her head went to Elizabeth's shoulder and her feet went the other way toward Darcy.
She ended up sleeping before the ending, and neither adult moved.
The film finished. The credits rolled.
Elizabeth looked at Mia's face. Then she looked up and found Darcy already looking at her across the top of Mia's head, in the particular way he looked at her at the peak of their dating period.
