“Yeah.” Will knew exactly what he meant.
Michael was hard to avoid as they got ready to play. Will tried to stay near Richard as he changed his shoes and got out his water, but Michael hurried over the moment Richard stepped away to talk to Charlotte.
“Will!” Michael spoke brightly, but his face didn’t match his tone. He looked anxious. “Glad to see you! Have you given thought to my proposal? I sent it to your email. Really, we could even get by with an investment of $25,000. It would get us off the ground, and you’d see returns tenfold, promise. By Christmas at a minimum. This product is amazing, honest.”
“Look, Michael, I’m just here to play volleyball,” Will said. He glanced across the net to where Charlie was talking to a group of the women. Typical. “I really don’t invest in this sort of thing. I’m not a venture capitalist.”
“A what?”
“A . . . never mind. Look, Michael, you’re a great guy, but I don’t have time to research your product, and I only really invest in stock or in my own company, anyway. I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to look elsewhere.” He made sure to finish tying his shoe as he said the last word so that he could stand up quickly. “I’m gonna go warm up.”
Will made a point of standing next to Charlie while he did some stretches, just in case Michael didn’t get the hint. His type never seemed any good at taking hints.
Unfortunately, the delay meant that the teams had been decided without him, and he wasn’t on Elizabeth’s. But Richard was.
He glared across the net at the other team. Richard was all over Elizabeth, hugging her or fist-bumping her after every point scored, throwing his arm over her shoulders between plays, and constantly laughing and joking with her. Will wanted to hit him.
Will closed his eyes. He didn’t even like Elizabeth that way. Or did he? He’d initially been distracted by his disapproval of her living with her sister. And perhaps it had taken Richard’s indelicate reminder of his own difficult background to get his head on straight. He hadn’t wanted to hear at the time, but he did know that everybody went through tough times at some point.
He knew he’d desperately needed help in the past and had finally gotten it from the Darcys, and even from his long-ago friend Lizzy. She hadn’t asked him why he needed a coat; she’d just given him one. And she’d given him the best present of all: books read aloud, and later, her library card. It was painful to realize that he probably wouldn’t have been willing to help someone without questioning, the way Lizzy had. He had far more than she’d had, but he’d gotten so used to saying “no” to all of the constant demands that he’d forgotten that he should say “yes” as often as possible.
He opened his eyes just before Jane served, and in good time, too, as the ball came right to him. He easily passed it to Charlie, who managed to set it up to Caroline, who hit it over the net.
It was hard to keep his eyes off Elizabeth. He played mostly by muscle memory as he watched her crouch or jump to hit the ball, smile at her teammates, laugh with Richard, and brush stray hair out of her face. Her eyes sparkled, and her whole face was lit up. From the tense feeling in his stomach as he watched her, especially when she smiled at Richard, he knew that he saw her as far more than Jane’s sister. But what did that mean, exactly?
Wham! The ball hit his forehead with enough force to make him take a step back to regain his balance.
“Dude, what was that?” Michael asked.
“Will, I’m so sorry!” Jane exclaimed from the other side of the court. “That was my serve!”
“Hey, it’s okay. It was my fault, I took my eyes off the ball.” They were on Elizabeth, but of course he wasn’t going to mention that part.
They resumed play, Will trying his best to pay more attention this time.
He was delighted when he moved to the front row to find himself facing Elizabeth directly across the net. When he gave her the customary hand-slap as they faced off, he felt a tingle run up his arm. He smiled at her and was pleased to see that she gave him a slight smile back.
Caroline was a good server so Will got to keep his position for several minutes as Elizabeth’s team failed to return the serves. He found himself showing off just a bit for Elizabeth, wondering if she would notice him the way he noticed her. He jumped just a bit higher than he had to when he blocked Elizabeth’s return.
Will couldn’t resist a bit of teasing. “Man, your team just can’t seem to get you a set! Of course, I’d just block you anyway.”
“Oh, really? We’ll see if you’re still smiling when I roll it right over your block, Big Jumper.”
Will flushed. So she’d noticed his jumps. Perhaps he’d overdone it just a bit. Was he turning into Caroline? The mere thought made him shudder. But she was smiling as she said it, so maybe she didn’t mind. Or maybe he was way overthinking this.
Finally, Richard kept the ball alive long enough for Jane to set it up for Charlotte to hit it over the net. After Will’s team sent it back over, Jane passed it to Tim, who set it up for Elizabeth. As she jumped up for the spike, Will leaped high to block her.
When he landed, he could tell immediately that he had overdone it and was over the center line. Which might not have been a big deal, if it weren’t that Elizabeth came down just a moment after him, her foot landing on his ankle and her ankle twisting hard as she went down.
“Ow!” she cried as she dropped to the ground.
Will quickly ducked under the net, but not before Richard got to her first. Elizabeth sat holding her ankle. Will could see tears in her eyes.
“Let me see,” Jane said, pushing her way through. She helped Elizabeth take off her shoe and roll down her sock.
“That’s really swollen,” Will said. “It might be broken. We’d better get you to the hospital.”
Elizabeth shook her head. “It’s not broken, just maybe a sprain. I would know if it were broken.”
“Even so. You should have it looked at.”
“Oh, should I?” She glared at him.
“Look,” Will said, holding out his hand. “It was my fault. Let me drive you to the hospital to make it up to you. Even a sprain should get looked at and wrapped.”
“That’s okay, Will,” Jane said, stepping closer. “I’ll take her. We drove together, anyway.” She crouched next to Elizabeth, slipping her arm around her sister’s waist, then they stood up together.
Will watched, feeling forlorn, as the two sisters walked towards the parking lot. He noticed that Elizabeth was staying off the injured ankle entirely, so she was clearly in real pain. At least the court was the closest one to the cars. Suddenly, he realized that neither sister had remembered to grab their gear, so he collected it and ran after them.
“Thanks,” Jane said. “I would have been mad at myself for not grabbing the keys in just a moment!” She unlocked the car and gently helped her sister into the passenger seat.
“Hey, Will.” Jane closed the car door for her sister and turned to him. “I have a tutoring appointment in a few hours. If the hospital trip takes too long, do you think you could pick her up from the hospital for me?”
“Definitely,” he said. He gave Elizabeth a slight wave as they drove off.
He sighed. He wanted to impress the girl with his physical prowess, and what did he do? Sprain her ankle. What next?
He returned to the game reluctantly. Maria had switched sides so that they still had a balance, but the attitude wasn’t as light and jovial as it had been before Elizabeth’s injury. Will felt his stomach churning with anxiety. It had been his fault, after all. Would she be angry at him over this?
The game couldn’t end too soon in his opinion. Caroline was, of course, all over him afterwards. “Oh, Will, you poor thing, that must have been so traumatic! I’m so glad that you weren’t hurt, at least.”
Will wasn’t sure how to respond to that. She didn’t mind it that Elizabeth was? She probably didn’t. He stayed silent, but perhaps he shouldn’t have.
“Guess she’s unemp
loyed again.”
Crap. He hadn’t thought of that. Elizabeth wouldn’t be able to carry plates while on crutches. If she was lucky, the restaurant would keep her employed, but she wouldn’t be able to take any shifts until she could walk without the crutches. If she was unlucky, they might fire her outright. What had he done?
Caroline wasn’t finished putting down Elizabeth. “When you do manual labor, your livelihood is so precarious. I suppose it’s a good thing she has Jane to sponge off.”
Will swallowed, hearing his own thoughts from not so long ago. When he heard Caroline say it, it sounded so thoughtless and judgmental. He’d come to think of Elizabeth so differently now and to realize how wrong he’d been to begin with.
“Caroline, just stop!” he said. “Knocking Elizabeth all the time just makes you look jealous.” He turned and walked away before she could respond.
He took a deep breath as he reached his car. It was still hard to confront people. He’d spent too much of his childhood going along to get along. But he had learned there were some things that weren’t worth letting go of just to keep the peace.
He was relieved when he finally reached home. He could take a shower and change and try not to think about the pain on Elizabeth’s face when she’d fallen. He had just stepped out of the shower when his phone rang.
“Hey, Will, it’s Jane. I need to go to my appointment. Can you pick up Elizabeth when she calls? She’s at Arthur Slade Medical Center at the emergency department. She’ll let you know when she’s done.”
He nodded, then realized that she couldn’t see him. He cleared his throat. “Of course. Does she have my number?”
“I gave it to her. Thanks, Will, you’re a sweetheart.”
Will smiled as Jane hung up. No, she was the sweetheart. He’d maimed her sister, and she was still being nice to him.
Elizabeth didn’t call for another forty-five minutes. He finally got a call from an unknown number.
“Hey, uh, Will?” her voice asked cautiously.
“Elizabeth? You ready to be picked up?”
“Yeah. I’ll be right outside the emergency room entrance.”
When he pulled his car up to the curb, he winced to see that Elizabeth was sitting in a wheelchair with her leg bound in an Ace bandage. An orderly stood with her, holding a pair of crutches. Elizabeth was hunched over and reading on what looked like a Kindle, but she looked up at his approach.
As soon as he put the car in park, he bounded around the car to help her, but she was already up and out of the wheelchair and taking the crutches from the orderly.
“I’ll help,” he said, putting his arm around her waist and taking a crutch in hand.
He felt her tense, but she allowed him to lead her over to the passenger seat and help her in.
Once they were on the road, Will thought he’d better say something. Elizabeth was strangely quiet.
“Elizabeth, I’m so sorry. I can’t believe I did that.”
“It’s okay, Will,” she said, but she wouldn’t meet his eyes. “It happens. I’ve seen it before. It’s pretty much what happened to Maria a couple of years ago.”
He had a feeling she wasn’t as blasé about it as she pretended. “Right. Well, thanks. So... it’s not broken, then?”
“Nope. It’s a grade 2 sprain, though.” She turned away from him, towards the window. “Which means I have to stay off it for four to six weeks.” Her voice sounded strained.
“Ouch.” He winced. “That’s rough. I really am sorry.”
She shrugged. “It is what it is. Won’t be my first volleyball injury. First time I played volleyball with Charlie, he sent a ball into my face and gave me a bloody nose.” She turned back to him and rolled her eyes.
“It was kind of you to give him some tips.” Will smiled at her. “Especially as he’s often playing against you.”
“Somebody had to. The guy’s a menace on the court!”
They drove in silence for a few minutes. When they were only a few minutes from Jane’s apartment, Will realized he wasn’t quite ready to drop her off and end their time together.
“Hey, look . . . instead of going straight back to Jane’s, do you want to get some ice cream? I mean, nobody deserves ice cream more than you do right now.” And he would get to spend more time with her.
Elizabeth laughed. “Well, okay.”
“Ice cream isn’t going to conflict with your meds, is it?” he asked her with mock seriousness.
“With ibuprofen? Hmm, I don’t know, maybe I should check the drug interactions.” She smiled, and Will’s heart gave a little leap. It had been a stupid joke, but at least it made her smile at him.
When they got to Baskin-Robbins, Will hurried around the car to help Elizabeth out. She handed him her crutches first. He held them with one hand while giving her the other to pull her out. She slipped the crutches under her arms as he closed the car door.
“You’re pretty good with those,” he observed as they walked up to the door.
“I sprained an ankle in middle school. I guess it’s like riding a bicycle―you never forget how to use them.”
“Although I think being stuck on crutches is roughly the opposite of riding a bicycle.”
She laughed again. He loved how easily and often she laughed.
After they ordered and sat down with their ice cream, they were silent for a few minutes, licking away. Then Will said, “So, um, how long have you known Charlie?”
She looked thoughtful. “Well, he’s been dating Jane for, what, nine or ten months now? I met him pretty soon after they started dating.”
After another silence, Will tried again. “So, I just wanted to say that I’m―”
“If you apologize again, you’re going to be walking home,” Elizabeth said, pointing at him sternly. “And don’t even say that it’s your car. Or that I can’t drive because this is my right foot. Because―oh crap. I can’t drive. This is my right foot.” She gave a wry chuckle. “Well, I guess it works out that I don’t have a car and mostly take public transportation anyway!”
He was sympathetic. “That stinks.” What was she going to do for money now? He’d cost her her job. How was she not more resentful?
“So I guess you have the opposite problem of my employment problems?” Elizabeth struggled upright on her crutches, waving Will off when he hopped up to help. She took a few steps to toss her trash away and came back to sit across from him, sighing a bit as she dropped back into her seat.
“How do you mean?”
She shrugged. “Being CEO and all. I’d imagine it’s the opposite of not having enough work. Things must be pretty crazy for you.”
“No kidding. I’ve been trying not to work too many hours, but it’s sort of inevitable right now. And I guess . . . I never quite know what to do in my off hours. I mean, I read a lot, and I try to join in on Charlie’s games and stuff like that. But he’s busier lately now that he’s . . .” He flushed, suddenly, realizing who he was talking to.
Elizabeth gave him a knowing look. “Now that he’s engaged to Jane?”
He nodded.
“It’s the same for me. She’s gone from the apartment a lot. And when she’s around, he often is, too. I try to make myself scarce, but I sleep on the couch, so there’s not really anywhere for me to go. It would be weird for me to hide in her bedroom all night. Sometimes I sneak out and go to Charlotte’s. Jane always says I’m welcome, and I don’t need to leave, but. . . well, you know how it is.”
“Yeah. I’m glad that he found her and everything. It’s just different.”
“Hey!” Elizabeth said suddenly, sitting up straighter. “I have an idea! I can show you how to have fun in your off hours! You take weekends off, right? Whenever you want to do something and Charlie’s not around, give me a call. I specialize in lightening up stodgy CEOs.”
“Stodgy?” He laughed. “That’s not a word I hear often.”
“I guess I read too many old books. Staid, buttoned-down, unimaginative―take
your pick. You know what they say about all work and no play! Anyway, what do you say? We could go zip lining! I’ve always wanted to try that!”
He raised his eyebrows and looked pointedly at her ankle.
“Oh,” she said, following his gaze. “Right. Well, there’s still stuff I can do. I’ll think of something.”
Maybe this would be a way he could make it up to her. After all, she couldn’t carry trays or even lead people to their tables while on crutches. She probably wouldn’t be able to pick up any shifts until her ankle was healed. “I could hire you―”
“Don’t even think about it.” She was shaking her head. “You’re not going to ‘hire me’ as anything. If we do this, it’s just for fun. Making me into a paid tour guide will strip all the fun out of it.”
He laughed. “Okay. I’ll call you if I need livening up.” And he’d at least make sure to pay for all their tickets and food.
“You do that.”
Will helped Elizabeth to the door of Jane's apartment. He thought about asking if she'd like some help getting settled, but decided not to press his luck. They seemed to be getting along all right now, but her thanks at the door had been clear.
Just as he was about to start the car, he noticed something on the floor in front of the passenger seat. It was Elizabeth's Kindle.
He picked it up to return it to her, but he couldn't resist turning it on to see what she had been reading. The screen flashed on and a row of books with men in muscle shirts appeared.
Will was still chuckling to himself when he knocked on Elizabeth's door. He had called up and told her only that she'd forgotten something in his car.
"So what did I forget?" she asked as she opened the door.
He held up the Kindle.
"Oh, thanks. I would have missed that."
"Stealth Warrior, eh?"
Elizabeth turned bright red. "You looked at my books?"
"I couldn't help it. I look at people's bookshelves, too. You can learn a lot about a person from seeing what books they read. For example, you like men in muscle shirts."
She rolled her eyes. "All right, Poirot. You've found me out: I like Navy SEAL romances. Surely you have a few books you read just for fun. What are you reading right now?"
A Good Name: A Modern Pride and Prejudice Variation Page 15
