“Answer it!” Mrs. Bennet replied.
Lizzy picked up her book again. This was usually the way it went. As the afternoons slowly passed, the two women would be drip-fed the latest news around town, either over the phone or by a well-timed passerby. Lizzy had gotten so good at tuning it out, she didn’t even notice when Donna hung up, or listen to her mother’s demands for a full recap. The only thing that stopped her cold, forcing her to abandon chapter 30, was when she heard Donna say two words: Marv’s Lament.
Lizzy’s head snapped up.
“Barb said there’s two cars, but she didn’t recognize them.”
“Was Charlie there?” her mother whispered.
Donna tutted. “She didn’t waltz up and find out, Joanne!She could only walk by so many times! But she said there were definitely people inside.”
Lizzy froze. While Jane held out hope that Charlie would eventually return to East Hampton, there hadn’t been any sign of life at Marv’s Lament in weeks. The entire town knew the Pierces had rented it for the whole summer, so the question of what happened had been swirling ever since, enough that Lizzy had started staying home from the Lodge with Jane on Saturdays just to ensure her sister avoided overhearing any of the gossip.
And now, suddenly, Charlie was back?
Anger roared to life in her chest as she reached down and grabbed her bag.
“Tell Dad I had to go,” Lizzy said, already walking around the counter toward the door.
Her mother barely looked over as she waved Lizzy away so she could continue her conversation with Donna uninterrupted.
Lizzy’s emotions ran the full gamut on the short drive from the bakery to Lily Pond Lane. While she wanted to believe this was all a misunderstanding, she wasn’t as forgiving as Jane. No matter the reason, there was no excuse for how unceremoniously Charlie had left, how much he had hurt her sister. And now he was back without even letting her know?
It would have been easier if Charlie had come with built-in red flags. If Lizzy had had even an inkling that this was what he was going to do, she could have been ready, she could have protected Jane. He was probably used to falling in love, but this was all new to her sister. How could he not realize that?
The cars Donna mentioned were waiting when Lizzy turned down the long driveway toward Marv’s Lament, a sleek black Mercedes sedan and an Audi SUV. She pulled her truck into the spot between them, her mind racing in so many directions thatshe was barely aware of turning off the engine and marching to the front door. It was slightly ajar, allowing the sounds of a classical piano melody to float outside. She slowly pushed the door open, careful not to make a sound.
The grand piano that had been hidden in a corner only a few weeks ago was set in the middle of the room now, the rest of the furniture moved out of the way so it alone was framed by the tall windows. A sweeping melody reverberated from the instrument, chords and scales rising and falling with such intensity it made her heart swell. And there, sitting in front of the black-and-white keys with his back to her, was Will Darcy.
At first, she didn’t recognize him. She was too distracted by the music, how it brought life to every sterile corner of the cold room. It was haunting. Ethereal and hypnotic.
Then he leaned back ever so slightly, and she froze in place.
There was no denying that blond hair, the distinct line of his jaw. The sleeves of his button-down shirt were pulled up to reveal tanned forearms as he leaned over the keys, his fingers dancing across them with confident ease. It was an odd juxtaposition, this man who was always so austere, so cold, yet now sitting here so casually, lost in this piece of music that… well, was the most beautiful thing she’d ever heard.
But Lizzy shouldn’t be hearing it. She shouldn’t be standing here at all. It suddenly felt like she had stumbled onto something illicit and that she needed to retreat. The music masked her steps as she moved toward the door. She would go back outside and ring the bell, pretend that this moment had never happened, and—
Her shin hit the massive coffee table, and an awful screech of wood-scratching-floor rang out. The music stopped and Will turned around to face her.
“Shit,” she hissed, heat rising to her cheeks.
“Elizabeth?” he asked like he wasn’t sure himself.
He got up slowly, his expression unreadable. The more he stared at her, unblinking and seemingly unfazed by her unexpected visit, the more she couldn’t look away.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” she finally blurted out.
“You didn’t.”
She scoffed, but the sound came out like a nervous laugh. “I think running into a piece of furniture in the middle of Mozart is the definition of interrupting, actually.”
He turned to close the top of the piano. “It was Mendelssohn.”
She blinked. “What?”
“It was Mendelssohn’sHebridesoverture.”
“Ah,” she said and swallowed. “So… not Mozart.”
