Working It Out (A Romantic Comedy)

by Rachael Anderson

  The movie opened with some pretty scenes of the English countryside and a piano song so gentle and lilting, it could have put me to sleep. Elizabeth walked across the meadow reading. I’d seen Keira Knightley in Bend it Like Beckham and she looked even prettier here. There was a houseful of girls and a silly mother. There was a father that liked to tease the mother. And woo hoo! The new guy was single and rich and he was going to be at the dance.

  Soon a crowd of poorly dressed country folk was dancing to some lively music. It was crowded and noisy and I could imagine the room probably smelled bad.

  And then something happened—both on the screen and inside me. I took my feet off the seat in front of me and leaned forward. The new guy and his friend had just walked into the dance. Mr. Bingley was smiley and charming and cute in a goofy way, but I hardly noticed him. His friend was Mr. Darcy.

  And Mr. Darcy was magnificent.

  Sure, he was surly and dour. But he was tall and imposing. He looked around the room with contempt and while his mouth said boorish things about the local girls, his eyes were drawn toward Elizabeth.

  Blue eyes. Interesting eyes. Expressive eyes.

  The rest of the movie I was enchanted. I ached for it to go on and on and dreaded the moment it would end. Every time Mr. Darcy was on the screen, I melted. When he looked at Elizabeth, I couldn’t breathe. When he helped her into the carriage, I gripped the armrest a little tighter. When he danced with her my heart stopped beating for a second. He was the most intriguing man I’d ever seen.

  Did I mention Mr. Darcy’s eyes?

  And then they argued in the rain and they were so passionate and the place was so beautiful. I knew every daydream I’d ever dreamed would have to be re-imagined to include those giant, mossy pillars and that vast, green countryside. Even the rain was romantic.

  I wondered if they’d kiss. I wanted them to kiss. The anticipation of it all was killing me and I considered asking mom how it would end just to ease my mind, but I couldn’t let her know how much I was enjoying this movie she’d had to drag me to. Mr. Darcy leaned in so close I don’t know how they didn’t kiss. His feelings were so obvious in his eyes I don’t know how Elizabeth could stand it.

  And then Elizabeth refused him. How could she? Just kiss her! She’d be putty in his hands if he’d just kiss her. But he didn’t and when he left and she collapsed against the wall, I wanted to cry.

  Oh no! I was going to cry. I couldn’t cry at this movie. That would be far too embarrassing. I blinked hard and fast.

  It took much too long for Mr. Darcy to reappear on the screen. Okay fine. It wasn’t that long, but it felt much too long. He was so quiet and hard to read, but when he was with his sister, he was happy and he smiled.

  Oh my goodness. That smile. And I wanted to float away in his eyes.

  I loved this movie and it was going to end much too quickly. Finally Mr. Bingley, who turned out to be more adorable than goofy proposed to beautiful Jane. And then there was the hateful aunt. Rich snob! No wonder Mr. Darcy was so arrogant. And then Elizabeth couldn’t sleep because she knew she was in love with Mr. Darcy, so she went for an early morning walk in the meadow.

  The meadow.

  During the forty-five seconds that Mr. Darcy walked across the meadow, my life changed. Each long stride he took toward me—I mean Elizabeth—lodged itself in my heart and I would never be the same. The mist, the sunrise, the trench coat, and the sweet declaration of his love melded into the most beautiful few minutes I’d ever seen and I was bewitched body and soul.

  I felt a terrible emptiness when the movie ended. Mom and Janessa started talking almost immediately but I didn’t listen to them. I sat perfectly still, listening as the piano music filled my soul.

  When the lights came up, I followed Mom and Janessa out of the theater to the chilly, almost-empty parking lot. “Did you like it?” Mom asked. I nodded. “What about you, Janessa?”

  “It was much better than I thought it would be,” she said. “At least I’m not dreading the book so much now.”

  “You’ll love the book,” Mom said.

  “I’ll understand it better now that I’ve seen the movie,” Janessa said. “Lizzie? Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “You have a funny look on your face.”

  I shook myself back to the present. “No, you have a funny look on your face.” Maybe sarcasm could rescue me. I couldn’t let them know how utterly transformed I was.

  Janessa shook her head. “Whatever.”

  That night I couldn’t fall asleep. Something had happened to me. I was no longer the person I’d been just a few short hours ago. I didn’t think about Jake from the soccer team, the boy who’d been my crush for the last six months. I no longer cared if he noticed me or not. He was just a boy, after all.

  That night a dream was born. I’d discovered what I wanted, what I knew someday I must have. I knew I could never be satisfied until I found it.

  I wanted my own Mr. Darcy.

  Janessa walked into the kitchen stretching like a cat awakened after a century of slumber. Even in the morning, with her short, dark hair sticking up in all directions, she was beautiful. Janessa was the much prettier half of our best-friends duo. Her blue eyes and fair skin seemed lit from within, ethereal almost. My light, wavy hair and the freckles across my nose and cheeks would never inspire people to call me beautiful. Cute was the word most often used, if anyone commented on my looks at all.

  “Oh, you’re still here,” she said. “I thought you’d be gone to work already.” Janessa was a manager at Urban Elegance, a boutique women’s clothing store in the mall. She didn’t have to be to work until nearly ten so I was usually gone before she got up.

  “I needed a good breakfast this morning. There’s a teller meeting during lunch and Delia always orders the worst food. I may not get anything decent to eat until tonight.”

  “How was your big date yesterday? I wanted a full report but you were already asleep when I came in.” Janessa pulled out a bowl and rattled through the spoons. Everything she did in the kitchen made noise. Even by herself, she sounded like an entire staff of energetic sous chefs. She loudly shuffled through a half dozen boxes of cereal before settling on Cheerios.

  “It was fine but it wasn’t a big date. It was lunch.”

  “Was there potential?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  “What was wrong with this one?”

  “Who said there was anything wrong with him?”

  “You don’t have a list of objections for me?” Janessa raised one eyebrow, a talent I couldn’t master no matter how hard I tried.

  “I don’t have objections about everyone I date,” I said.

  “So when are you going out again?”

  “Probably never.”

  “So there was something wrong with him.” Janessa said.

  “No, there wasn’t. He was a perfect gentleman,” I said.

  “Then why don’t you want to go out with him again?” I shrugged. “Listen Lizzie. Any guy who gets up the courage to ask a girl out at the grocery store should get a few bonus points. Go out with him again.”

  Last week I’d been standing in the Asian aisle of the grocery store picking up some curry paste and coconut milk. “Do you actually drink coconut milk?” a tall, cute guy asked.

  “I suppose you could but I don’t know anyone who does. I use it for chicken curry.”

  “Sounds interesting. You like Indian food?”

  “It’s actually Thai.”

  “I haven’t had Thai food for years. I don’t know why. I think I liked it.”

  “I start craving it at least once a month. Sometimes I get it from Pok Pok and sometimes I make it myself.”

  “Pok Pok?” he’d asked.

  “It’s over on Division Street. If you like Thai, you should try it. The food is amazing.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind. I’m Chad, by the way.” I shook his outstretched hand. I couldn’t help but smile. It
was cute that he’d shake my hand in the grocery store.

  “I’m Lizzie.”

  “Nice to meet you, Lizzie. I’m just stocking up on ramen.” He waved a little plastic pouch of ramen and put it back in his basket.

  “Ramen has its place,” I said.

  “I agree. It makes a quick and easy lunch.” We looked at each other for a moment longer than was comfortable. He smiled a slightly crooked smile. “Well, I guess I’ll take my ramen and run. Thanks for the recommendation. I’ll have to try Pok Pok sometime.”

  * * *

  “Sure.” I watched as he walked away. When he reached the end of the aisle, he turned around and walked back to me.

  “I just have to ask. Would you mind if I called you sometime? Maybe we could meet for lunch or something?”

  “Oh, um . . .” He was cute and earnest but I could already tell there was no future.

  “Unless you’re not available. You probably have a boyfriend, right?”

  I shook my head. “I don’t have a boyfriend.”

  “Then can I call you?”

  “Uh, sure. I guess so.”

  “Great.” Chad handed me his cellphone and I punched in my number. “Thanks. I’ll be in touch.” He put his phone back in his pocket and shook my hand again before he left.

  He’d called me two nights ago. We’d met for lunch yesterday.

  “I just wasn’t interested,” I said to Janessa. “Can we leave it at that?”

  Janessa folded her arms and looked at me for so long I started to squirm. “What?”

  “I wish you’d look at yourself. You’re ruining your life with this stupid obsession.”

  “I’m not obsessed.” I stood up quickly, nearly tipping my chair over. I rinsed my plate and put it in the dishwasher. I could feel Janessa’s eyes on me the entire time, but I refused to look at her. “And just because I’m not interested in this guy doesn’t mean my life is ruined.”

  “Let me guess. Was he blond?”

  “Knock it off.”

  “Too short?”

  “He wasn’t short. I’ve got to go.” I left the kitchen with Janessa on my heels.

  “Was he too cheerful?”

  “Oh brother. I’m not having this conversation with you.”

  Janessa grabbed my arm and turned me toward her. “Yes, you are.”

  “I’m going to be late for work.”

  “Then we’d better talk fast.”

  “I don’t have anything to say,” I said.

  “Then I’ll talk. You listen. You have to start giving these guys a chance.”

  I folded my arms tightly. “I give them a chance.”

  “You give them one date, two at the most. But you’re not really giving them a chance because your mind’s already made up before you even go out.”

  I was getting annoyed. “I don’t have time for this conversation again.” Janessa was practically reciting word for word what she’d said after my last date. And the one before that.

  “Lizzie. If you don’t want to have the same conversation, do something different. Shake things up a little.” She smiled and did a little shimmy. I refused to smile no matter how silly she looked.

  “How do you suggest I do that?”

  “If this guy . . . What’s his name?”

  “Chad.”

  “If Chad calls you back, go out with him again.”

  I sighed. “I don’t see the point.”

  “Did you get a serial killer vibe from him?”

  “No, I got a nice-guy-that-doesn’t-deserve-to-be-led-on vibe from him.”

  “Nice guys are good. So you’ll say yes, right?”

  “If I’m not interested, it wouldn’t be fair to say yes.”

  “Oh knock off the baloney. You haven’t been fair to a guy since high school. You’re just afraid if you get to know a guy, you might like him. And wouldn’t that be awful? Was Chad funny?”

  “Yes, he was funny.”

  “Handsome?”

  I sighed. “I don’t know if I’d call him handsome, but he was cute.”

  “Cute is good. Especially if he was funny. So go out with him again.”

  “You act like it’s all up to me.” I walked to the closet and collected my purse. Like a tiger leaping on her prey, Janessa pounced at the bowl on the entry table and grabbed my car keys. “This isn’t funny, Janessa. I’m going to be late for work.”

  “Then let’s make a deal. You agree to go out with him ten times before you toss him aside and I’ll give you your keys.”

  “Ten times? No way.”

  “That’ll give you time to get to know him.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding.”

  “I’m serious, Lizzie. Ten is a good number. In that amount of time, you can make a real decision. Instead of one based on a stupid movie.”

  Now Janessa was skipping through a minefield. “It’s not a stupid movie and I’ve got to go.”

  “It’s the stupidest movie in the world if it ruins your life.”

  “Nothing’s ruining my life and I’m going to be late. Give me my keys and we’ll talk about this later.” A little tussle ensued as I tried to rescue my keys from her clutches. I almost had them when she darted to the bathroom and shut the door hard and fast, locking it behind her. “This is real mature.”

  “I don’t care about mature. You’re my best friend, Lizzie. I love you and I’m trying to save you from yourself.”

  I banged on the door. “Give me the keys. Now.” My voice had become shrieky.

  “I’ll give you the keys as soon as you promise you’ll go out with him ten times.”

  “I doubt he’ll ask me out again.”

  “Why? Were you a jerk?”

  “No.”

  “Are you sure?”

  I hesitated, knowing I hadn’t been very good company. “I’m pretty sure.”

  “If he doesn’t ask you out, you have to ask him.”

  “No way am I asking out a guy ten times. No way!”

  “You just have to ask him out once. If he doesn’t return the favor you can move on. But you have to be nice to him and give him a reason to want to ask you out again.”

  “This is the dumbest idea you’ve ever had.”

  “Listen Liz, I’m doing this for you. Give a guy a chance before you give him the old heave-ho.”

  I leaned my head on the door. “Just give me the keys. Please.” Now I was whining.

  “You’re the one keeping yourself from your keys. And probably true love.”

  I looked at my watch. Now I’d have to risk a speeding ticket or get to work five minutes late. I wasn’t sure which was worse—a ticket from a police officer or a tongue-lashing from Delia.

  “Fine. I’ll go out with him again if he asks me.”

  “And?”

  “If he doesn’t ask me, I’ll ask him?”

  “Right. And how many times will you go out with him?”

  “Way too many,” I said under my breath.

  “I can’t hear you.”

  “Ten times. If he asks me.”

  The door cracked open. “And you’ll be nice to him?”

  “Whatever you say. Now give me the keys.”

  Janessa emerged from the bathroom and triumphantly dropped my keys into my outstretched hand.

  “You’re an idiot,” I said.

  “An idiot that loves you and wants you to be happy,” she said. She turned and headed down the hall. “Someday you’ll thank me,” she sang.

  “If I don’t kill you first.” I slammed the door behind me.

  If you enjoyed this excerpt and would like to continue reading, see Karey White's page on Amazon.

  A hundred-million thanks to Braden Bell, Karey White, and Annette Lyon, for their brilliant editing skills. To Julie Bellon, for her talented way with words and willingness to help me come up with the blurb for this book. To my mom, Linda Marks, for always being so ready and willing to read anything I write. To my many sisters, for always letting me bounce ideas off
them. To my children, for letting their mom have some spare time to tap away at the computer. And to my husband, Jeff, for being the wonderful man he is.

  Rachael Anderson is the author of four novels: The Reluctant Bachelorette, Divinely Designed, Luck of the Draw, and Minor Adjustments. She’s the mother of four and is pretty good at breaking up fights, or at least sending guilty parties to their rooms. She can’t sing, doesn’t dance, and despises tragedies. But she recently figured out how yeast works and can now make homemade bread, which she is really good at eating. You can find her online at RachaelReneeAnderson.com.

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Other Books

  Dedication

  One

  Two

  Three

  Four

  Five

  Six

  Seven

  Eight

  Nine

  Ten

  Eleven

  Twelve

  Thirteen

  Fourteen

  Fifteen

  Sixteen

  Seventeen

  Eighteen

  Nineteen

  Twenty

  Twenty One

  Twenty Two

  Twenty Three

  Twenty Four

  Twenty Five

  Twenty Six

  Twenty Seven

  Twenty Eight

  Twenty Nine

  Thirty

  Thirty One

  Thirty Two

  Excerpt from " My Own MR. DARCY "

  Acknowledgements

  About the Author