I will. Just as soon as I’m done clubbing. A girl’s gotta have her social life.
How she could still joke about that after everything that had happened, he’d never know. But it seemed to help her cope.
Talk to you tomorrow, party animal.
He turned at the sound of someone nervously clearing his throat, and the medieval literature guy was standing there with a goofy smile on his face. Great, now he’d have to apologize for not staying for the lecture on chivalry. How ironic.
“Will, I already mentioned it to Charlie, but since you’re staying with him, I wanted to extend an invitation to you personally as well. I’m the block watch captain for the neighborhood and we’re having our annual block party this Friday night at the park at six. There will be food and dancing. We have lots of single ladies on this street, including my daughter, Charlotte. I’m sure she’d be excited to meet you.”
Will wanted to decline right then, but since the guy had brought his single daughter into it, he figured a less offensive strategy would be to hedge.
“That’s nice of you. I’ll talk to Charlie about it.”And by that, I mean, I’ll make sure to be busy on Friday night.
“Excellent. Have a good night, then!”
***
Elsie headed straight to the shower, more than ready to get the pungent smell of grease and pizza dough out of her hair. Her mind kept rewinding her conversation with the irate pizza customer. It was like God realized he’d given the guy too much natural good looks and decided to skimp on the personality.
Elsie was more than happy to be only passably pretty.At least I’m a decent person.
Hunger finally had her reluctantly turning off the hot water and she quickly dressed and toweled off her hair before padding into the kitchen.
Her sister, Jane, turned and smiled. “How was work?”
Elsie wrinkled her nose. “As terrible as it usually is. Speaking of, I have the perfect idea for a new T-shirt.” Elsie ran to her desk and started to sketch, an evil grin spreading across her face. All thoughts of food were forgotten for the moment. She felt her shoulders relax as she drew a perfect set of eyebrows arched down in insane displeasure. Wavy hair, just the right length, dimpled chin. Muscular arms bearing down on a counter, fingers splayed. But what to call him?
Jane followed her into the room. “Two more custom orders came in and one of them paid the rush fee. If you have the time, we really need it done tonight. Pretty please?”
Elsie let out a large sigh and set aside her revenge piece. She’d get back to it later. “What do they want done?”
Jane set down the email printout and backed up slowly, fingering her long blonde braid.
“Is it that bad?” Elsie asked before looking down at the multiple paragraphs of instructions. “They want five teenage girls recreated as puppies?”
“They sent photos,” Jane called. “I’ll make you dinner.”
Elsie sketched out the general idea of what she wanted, and then turned on her computer screen and began to research dog breeds. Who in their right mind wanted to recreate their daughter and her friends on a T-shirt as puppies? But that’s how she and Jane had garnered a loyal following. Making things no one else could.
One of the girls had glasses with fun frames. An easy detail to transfer. They would each need something identifiable. Something to stand out and represent their look…
She barely noticed when Jane set down a burrito plate next to her. What time was it? With a yawn, she took a bite and glanced at the bottom right corner of her screen. 11:30. Someday, her late night eating habits were going to catch up to her. But she couldn’t bring herself to eat another slice of pizza or another plate of the restaurant’s tasteless spaghetti. They were lucky to be the only pizza joint on the east side of town.
Jane popped her head in again. “I’m heading to bed. Why don’t you finish it in the morning? I’ll even take your shift checking in on Mom and Dad.”
It took all her willpower to shake her head at Jane. “No, Janie-girl. I promised Mom. You help out enough as it is.”
Jane turned to go, but stopped at the end of the desk and picked up Elsie’s drawing. “Who’s this?”
Elsie fought the urge to grab it and leaned back in her chair. “Some mean customer I had tonight at the restaurant.”
“Someone new in Meryton? Is he as handsome as he looks here?”
Elsie shrugged. “He was a jerk. I just, I liked his face. That’s all.”
Chapter 2♥Debt and Other Unpleasant Things
Mrs. Bennet beamed when Elsie walked through the door. “I’m so glad you’re here. I think the toilet upstairs is clogged. Would you be a dear and check it for me?”
