Improvise

by Melanie Rachel

  His words were greeted with skepticism. “Well, you know what the board would say, and it’s against my better judgment, but I can call them back and cancel.” Charles leveled a cool gaze at Will.

  Will stared at him for a moment, then shook his head. “I’ll take care of it.”

  There was a moment of silence. “Presentation?” Charles asked.

  Will nodded. “Presentation.”

  They spent most of the morning discussing possibilities, further research, and next steps before digging into the duties Charles would be handling while Will was away.

  “You can call me each morning if you want to check in,” Will said finally, but Charles shook his head.

  “I will call you if there’s a need,” he replied. “I know you’re good about answering your cell, and I can handle what’s here.” He clapped Will on the shoulder. “Just enjoy yourself.” He stretched his arms out wide, shaking out his muscles after sitting in one posture for so long. “Any plans?”

  Will stared at Charles across the desk. He was unsure why Charles didn’t see how far over the line he had crossed. “Yes.”

  Charles laughed, then asked, “Are they secret?”

  Will shrugged. “Whatever she wants to do. Those are my plans.”

  “She’s a fortunate woman, Will.” Suddenly, Charles grinned, rubbing his hands together and sitting on the corner of Will’s desk. “Now, tell me about her sister.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Wait, what?” Elizabeth asked, suddenly on alert. She listened intently.

  She and Will were getting ready to return to the city after spending the day together in Montclair. They’d headed downtown and toured the shops, stepping into Nest and Company, the antique store where the Gardiners had found many of the Craftsman items for the house, before going for a stroll in Edgemont Park and walking around the art museum. She’d shown him how she sent music to her sisters’ various accounts on their birthdays, even when she was far away, and added a few songs to his. “They’re all girl singers,” he’d teased her. Pop. Not my thing, but okay.

  Will had thoroughly enjoyed himself, though truthfully, he didn’t much care what they did. What he would remember from the day was watching Elizabeth’s cheeks turn ruddy with the cold, rubbing her hands in his to warm them up, her eyes lighting up as he stole a kiss, the feel of her body leaning into his as he put his arm around her shoulder. She’d suggested that they spend the evening compiling a list of the things they wanted to do in the city over the rest of his days off and then work up a schedule. She suspected that her jobs would slow over the holidays, though her full-time clients would still pay her retainer. “Not that we won’t stop and do something else if we feel like it,” she’d added, and he’d just nodded.

  “Do you know who did it?” Elizabeth asked, drawing Will’s attention to her phone conversation. “Who? Are you sure it wasn’t . . . okay, okay.”

  It was Jane on the other end, which was odd enough in itself because she was supposed to be at work. He had figured she must be on her break. Elizabeth’s lips flattened and her eyes narrowed.

  He signaled for the check.

  They had just been finishing dinner at a restaurant called Escape, because when Elizabeth spied the sign, she couldn’t resist. “Serendipity,” she’d stated, and asked him to park the car. Will thought fondly of her clucking at the prices on the menu, but he hadn’t had to convince her to order what she wanted. It’s progress.

  “Really?” Elizabeth said disbelievingly into the phone. She paused, the teasing glint that nearly always visible in her eyes transforming into something hard. “Okay, ask him to stick around. We’ll be there shortly.” She hit a button and immediately made another call.

  “Char?” she asked, her voice clipped and professional. “Is your dad around?” She stood, motioning to Will that she was going to step outside. He nodded, certain that his evening had just become more complicated. When he signed the check and left a tip a few minutes later, he stepped outside to see Elizabeth shoving her phone in her pocket. She glanced up at him and gave him a steely glare that made him very glad that he was on her side, whatever this was.

  “We need to make a stop at the hospital on our way back,” she said in an eerily calm voice.

  “I feel responsible for this,” Elizabeth said, shaking her head as they got into the car.

  “I don’t think I can comment until I know what’s happening,” Will replied.

  Elizabeth shot him an exasperated glance. “You remember when you and Charlotte made me leave Jane’s car at the soccer park?”

  Will didn’t see what that had to do with anything. “Yes?”

  “Well, Charlotte returned it just late enough for Jane to think she didn’t have a ride home.” Elizabeth was positively glowering, so he kept his reply brief.

  “Okay . . .”

  “That gave this guy Stanley the opening to offer Jane a ride home. She declined, and apparently my sister hasn’t wanted to tell anyone that he’s been relentless ever since.”

  Now Will was frowning. “Why doesn’t she report him?”

  Elizabeth huffed. “You know as well as I do, Will, that there are ways to harass someone without appearing to break any of the rules. Tonight, he asked her out again and nearly called her a . . .” Elizabeth grunted in frustration. “I’m not allowed to say it, but it starts with the letter b. Still, she cut him off before he got there, so there’s nothing to take to Human Resources.”

  Will rolled his eyes. Great. Another shining example of manhood for the rest of us to live down. “And he thought that would be the best way to get a woman to go out with him?”

  Elizabeth shook her head. “Apparently he thinks she’s just playing hard to get.”

  “Was that it?” he asked, knowing there had to be more but not sure he wanted to know the answer. “I’m not minimizing it,” he assured her quickly. “I just figured there’s something specific that’s sending you on this mission.”

  “Her lunch was missing, so she looked in the garbage, and sure enough, someone had dumped it and her containers into the trash.” She frowned. “She thinks it was Stanley. I don’t like that this is escalating. It’s time he felt some push back.”

  Will thought maybe he’d have a few words with the man—or what was left of him—after Elizabeth was through. “Do you want to pick up something for Jane to eat?”

  Elizabeth raised an eyebrow. “No. She’s already eaten.”

  “How?”

  She looked out the window. “Charles was there, though Jane didn’t say she’d expected him. He’d brought them dinner.”

  Over the rest of the short ride, Elizabeth explained that Dr. Lucas had told her she should remove the refrigerator from the staff lounge, and Charlotte, furious at the slight to Jane, had said she’d meet them there with appliance sliders. Elizabeth told him that he and Charles would be on moving detail. Evidently, she had something else to do.

  Will glanced at Elizabeth a few times as she gave him directions. There were no jokes now, no teasing, not even an explanation of her plan. She was no longer relaxed or mischievous. Instead, she was focused on her plan, almost to the exclusion of anything else, her eyes staring straight ahead, her body tensed, almost . . . coiled to spring. This is the Marine in her, he thought, impressed.

  Charlotte was holding four brown plastic disks when she met them at the door to the staff room. Charles held up a hand in greeting as Will entered, and they quickly rocked the refrigerator first one way and then the other while Char slipped the sliders under each foot. Then Charles walked backward, steering, while Will pushed. With two men and the sliders, it wasn’t a difficult job.

  Char opened the door to her father’s office to reveal Elizabeth already sitting at the computer.

  “I think it’ll fit in the corner here,” Charlotte said, pointing, as Will and Charles guided it over the small threshold and shoved it against the far wall.

  “Do you have it, Char?” Elizabeth asked, her eyes gle
aming with a wicked fire. Charles looked at Will, who shrugged.

  “I do,” Charlotte said with a smile. “It’s a bit rushed, but it’ll do the job.” She reached into a cardboard cylinder leaning against the desk and removed a rolled-up sheet.

  Elizabeth didn’t return the smile. “You ready to help me hang it?”

  “I am. Do you have the video done now?”

  “Yep. Thank your dad for getting permission to pull it.” Charlotte nodded, and Elizabeth returned her attention to the computer. A sly smile began to creep across her face. She tapped something on the keyboard with a flourish, grabbed the sheet as Charlotte held it out to her, and disappeared into the hall. Will and Charles looked to Charlotte for an explanation. She shrugged.

  “Dad was pissed. He’s been warning the entire staff for close to a year to stop acting like they’re in middle school, and he loves Jane. He even said she should file a harassment complaint, but I doubt she will. So he gave Lizzy permission.”

  “For . . .?” Will asked. Charles stood watching the entire proceeding with his arms across his chest and a crooked grin on his face. Whatever was happening, he seemed pleased to be a part of it.

  “Oh, this you just have to see,” Charlotte chirruped, following Elizabeth’s quiet, determined steps out of the room. “She’s in full-on protection mode. It took her thirty seconds to devise her evil plan of revenge, and Dad was happy to help. C’mon.”

  There was one doctor in the room, short and slight, hands in the pockets of his white coat, turning around in a tight circle as though the refrigerator might suddenly reappear if he looked hard enough. In the corner where the appliance had previously been located, Elizabeth was already standing on a chair and attaching one edge of the sheet to the wall as high up as she could reach. Charlotte moved over to help her get it straight.

  “Will,” called Elizabeth, “you’re tall. Can you help us here?”

  He held the other side up on the wall until it was secured.

  “Ready?” Charlotte asked Elizabeth.

  “Let it go,” Elizabeth said, still business-like.

  Charlotte released the sign. It unrolled rapidly, a piece of blotting paper floating away and onto the ground, and the women got to work securing the sides and bottom. Will heard Charlotte tell Elizabeth, “I’m glad it’s not me this time.”

  Elizabeth grabbed a Sharpie from Charlotte’s pocket and wrote out a web address in bright blue ink on the sheet.

  The doctor who’d been in the room when they entered stopped his search to read the message and look something up on his phone. “Gibbons,” he muttered. He turned to Charlotte. “Is there any way to get the food we had in there?”

  “You just have to sign in at the desk,” Charlotte explained, “then you can go into my father’s office and get your stuff, but don’t forget to sign out.”

  “What a pain,” he said. He held up his phone, displaying a video. “Jane’s food?”

  “Yes,” Elizabeth replied.

  He nodded. “He’s a spoiled brat,” the resident said. “Tell Jane we’re on her side.” He exited.

  Will watched him go, then stepped back to read the sign himself.

  Charlotte stood back to admire her work for a moment. “It’s amazing what a couple of fabric markers can do,” she said, pleased.

  Above the web address Elizabeth had added was an artistic rendering of one-foot high black and gold letters, reading:

  THIS IS WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS.

  Elizabeth wasn’t finished yet. She stepped back, took a photo with her phone, typed a quick message, and sent it.

  Will took her phone to examine the video. A man in a white coat held Jane’s bento box upside down as her food fell into the trash can. Although it was upside down and a little fuzzy, BENNET was written in marker on the side of the container.

  “Talk about caught red-handed,” Charles said, looking over Will’s shoulder. “How could he miss that thing?” He gestured to the camera positioned in the corner.

  Jane ran into the room. “I told Dr. Heller I had to use the restroom,” she panted. “He almost nailed me for the phone, but I told him I forgot about it after my break. What did you do?” She looked at the sign, checked her phone, and smiled. She did not laugh like Will, Charles, and Charlotte had, but she was clearly relieved. Elizabeth gave her the resident’s message.

  “I’m so glad you’re home,” Jane whispered, throwing her arms around Elizabeth’s waist and leaning her head on Elizabeth’s shoulder. Elizabeth stopped glowering as she pulled her sister in for a hug.

  “I’ve got you, Janie,” she said softly.

  “I know,” Jane said with a tiny sniffle, “and I have you.” She kissed Elizabeth’s cheek, and with a quick wave and a round of thanks to everyone, went running back to work.

  “What did you text her?” Charlotte asked, holding out her hand. Elizabeth wordlessly handed her phone over.

  “Give the enemy no quarter,” she read aloud. She shook her head, handed the phone back, and shouldered her purse. “I’d have rushed over too, if I were Jane. She probably thought you were staging Waterloo in here.”

  Elizabeth’s entire face lit up.

  “Oh no,” Will interrupted with a groan, moving to stand behind her and wrap his arms around her. “I see those cogs turning.” Elizabeth turned her face up to gaze up at him through her lashes. “No,” Will said with a chuckle. “I am impervious to your charms, and I am not bailing you out of jail. You’ve made your point. Let’s go home.”

  Elizabeth moved her gaze to his arms. “Don’t think I don’t know this is more a restraining hold than a hug, Will,” she said sourly.

  “Trouble in paradise, Will?” Bingley asked. “There’s always my sister.” He grinned.

  Will steered Elizabeth out of the room after tossing Charles a dirty look.

  “Have a nice vacation,” Charles called after him.

  When they were finally back on the road, Will checked his mirrors and asked, “Are you feeling any better now?”

  Elizabeth leaned back in her seat and cracked her window open just a bit. Taking a big breath of cold air, she nodded. “I’m feeling a tad less murder-y, yes.”

  “Murder-y?” Will asked carefully, trying to keep the laughter out of his voice. He didn’t think Elizabeth would appreciate it at the moment.

  “It’s not funny, Will,” Elizabeth ground out between clenched teeth.

  Apparently, he hadn’t hidden his amusement well enough.

  “I wanted to strangle that man. Jane, of all people. Kindest, nicest . . . she was practically crying when she told me.” Elizabeth rolled her shoulders and leaned forward, stretching her back. “I don’t mind saying, though,” she told him crisply, “that when Jane was telling me the story, I thought for a second it might be Charles who had dumped her food.”

  Will was all attention. “Charles? Why would you think that?”

  “Gee, I don’t know,” Elizabeth replied sarcastically. “Her dinner winds up in the trash, and suddenly he’s there as the hero with a replacement meal in hand.”

  “Ah.” Will was silent for a moment. “Okay, I can see that makes a warped kind of logic. But while Charles isn’t perfect, he’s not a misogynist.”

  Elizabeth’s shoulders lifted a bit. “Look, I know he doesn’t like me—at least, he doesn’t want to like me, but you say he’s your friend, and I respect that. Just be glad I didn’t condemn the guy without solid evidence,” she replied. “Before the Marines, I would have. Believe it or not, you are dealing with the older and wiser version of Lizzy Bennet.”

  Will tapped his hands on the wheel. “Here’s the thing,” he explained, “Charles likes women—I mean, genuinely likes them. He wouldn’t pull that kind of scam.”

  “He likes women,” Elizabeth repeated slowly. “Just not me.”

  “He doesn’t know you. Give him time.” Will’s eyes scanned the road ahead. “Charles's problem is that he likes women too much. He gets too serious too fast and then can
’t get out. He raises expectations he doesn’t fulfill.”

  Elizabeth’s face clouded over. “We’ve gotten serious very fast.” She paused. “I mean, we are serious, right?”

  “Yes, Elizabeth, we’re serious.” Will shook his head and gently insisted, “You know I’m not like Charles.”

  “No,” she replied, somewhat mollified, fingering the hem of her sweater. “You are not.”

  Will shifted into a higher gear and changed lanes to get around a semi. “What did Dr. Lucas tell you when you asked permission to view the security film?”

  A wicked grin formed on her face. “‘Go to it,’” she said proudly.

  He cast his mind back to review the whole event. “You really sprang into action there, marshalled your forces,” he said admiringly. “It was . . . impressive.”

  Elizabeth turned her intense gaze on him. “I have always been the one who protected my sisters,” she explained. “That extends to all my family. And you’d better get used to it, because that covers you and the major now, too.”

  “I doubt Richard will need your services,” Will joked, “but Georgiana might.”

  She shrugged. “I don’t know,” she suggested waggishly, “he was a diplomat for a long time . . .” She wriggled in place. “When will I meet your sister?”

  Will flipped on the turn indicator and turned to check traffic before changing lanes. “Thanksgiving, I hope. She said she’d make the trip because of Richard, even though she’s coming back at Christmas, too.”

  Elizabeth grabbed her phone when she heard a text notification.

  York CU looking for an eval of their website. Interested? They’re looking at Jan.

  The York Credit Union was local, but they were fairly large. It could be a good account and she might be able to score some recommendations.

  Send the details. Thanks.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  A few days later, Will entered his apartment to a pleasant aroma, like fresh bread and . . . fish? He dropped his keys in the bowl before heading for the kitchen. When he arrived, Elizabeth was walking in circles around the island muttering to herself and shaking a spatula for emphasis. Her hair was swept back into a ponytail that bobbed a little each time she took a step. He felt his lips stretch into a smile as he stood there. He was just about to announce that she couldn’t have been much of a Marine if she still wasn’t aware of his presence when she addressed him without breaking her stride.