First (Wrong) Impressions: A Modern Pride & Prejudice (11 page)

Luke smiled. “I know.”

“My hands are dirty every time I walk into this building,” Lizzy quipped, which got her a wink from Luke and a reproachful glance from Melissa.

It took Pastor Liam a moment to clue in, but he chuckled, looking around. “Yes, this is quite an older building. I don’t envy your maintenance, that’s for sure!”

And on it went.

On and on and on.

Finally, Lizzy interjected, “Pastor Liam—”

“Please, Liam, when we’re not officially working.”

“Liam, are you comfortable working with LGBT youth?”

“Of course.” The surprise was evident in his voice. “God made us all in his image. I would never dream of not being comfortable around any of his creatures.”

Melissa added, “I’m happy to hear that, because we’re in need of someone who can work with our youth. We have three teen male prostitutes, two cross-dressers, and two girls we think are trans, or at least have some gender challenges.”

Liam nodded gravely. “Runaways?”

Lizzy made a so-so gesture. “About half.”

“I have a lot of experience working with LGBT youth, being out myself. Sometimes they’ll talk to me as opposed to someone straight or still in the closet.” Liam gave Luke a strange look. “It would be difficult for someone still closeted to give meaningful help to a kid who is out and got punished for it by their family.’

Lizzy glanced at Melissa before saying, “Um, Liam? I should mention that some of our donors are very…um…”

“Conservative,” Luke supplied.

“Yes, very conservative.” Lizzy laughed. “Just be careful about how, erm, out you are around them. They might cause some trouble.”

“I understand,” Liam said. “Though, if anyone were to give me trouble, I would remind them that we have all been made in the Lord’s image and that Jesus commanded…” And on he went.

Lizzy couldn’t deny that a small part of her hoped someone did snark at him at some point, because he’d outtalk and out-religion them all and she’d love to see that.

****

Lizzy extracted herself from Pastor Liam long enough to use the toilet and stuff a stale doughnut in her mouth before George Wickham arrived. The doorbell rang and she brushed the icing sugar off her hands onto her jeans. White powder streaks ran down her legs and she laughed, thinking she looked like an oxy user, rubbing off the pill coating on her clothes. She made several inappropriate but accurate comparisons between herself and some of the oxy users at The Faith, laughing at the gallows humour of it all, before she arrived at the door and her smile froze.

Outside stood a man of average height, with lean muscle, ginger locks, ginger eyebrows, and cheekbones chiseled enough to slice bread. He was in jeans, sneakers, a snug tee, and a snugger leather jacket. One side of his mouth quirked up when he eyed Lizzy and he said, “Hi there. I’m there to see Elizabeth Bennet. She’s expecting me.”

“Yes, um, that’s me. Hi.”

“Hi.”

“Oh, come in, please.” Lizzy let George in. She rolled her eyes at herself for being dazzled by good bone structure, as she closed the door behind him.

“Thanks for letting me do my hours here,” George said. “It’s tough to find anywhere that will do them and Denny told me you don’t normally have the time to take people on. I really appreciate you doing this for me.”

Lizzy gave him a smile by way of reply. If every criminal who came here was as good-looking as him, she’d turn this place into a community hours harem. “Let’s head down to my office and I’ll go over my rules.”

Once settled in her office downstairs, George took off his jacket and hung it on the coat rack in the corner. His sculpted arms threatened the seams of his shirt.

Oh, this was going to be a wonderful couple of weeks.

Lizzy got down to business, explaining to George how she worked community hours. No amount of good looks and charm — things he had plenty of — would get her to lie; he had to do twenty hours of community service. She’d expect him to work twenty hours.

“That means, you don’t show up for a shift, work for thirty minutes, then disappear for a two-hour lunch. I will report that you worked thirty minutes and not two and a half hours.”

“Understood,” George said, smiling. “Do people really do that?”

“Always. The other thing is that I need to know what you did and if there are conditions, such as avoiding certain people or groups. I need complete honesty. I have a vulnerable population and I need to ensure that everyone, including yourself, is safe under my roof.”

George gave her a sheepish grin. “You’ll laugh.”

“I haven’t had a good laugh in ages.”

George shrugged a muscular shoulder. “I got into a fight at an Oilers game. My buddies were drunk and got into it with a Flames fan. I tried to break it up, but ended up throwing the last punch, as it were. I knocked the guy out, knocked him over a couple of stands, and ended up annoying a lot of people. My own fault for getting in the middle of it.”

She tried to tell if he was leaving anything out, but he didn’t seem to be. She was usually good at reading people and she didn’t see anything other than charming, flirtatious, and a bit boyish.

“Well, then, let’s get started.”

Chapter 12

Lizzy was with George and another volunteer, chatting about how she wanted the hygiene donations organized, when the doorbell rang. She excused herself and was greeted by a cheery Charles, a smiling Jane, and a dour Darcy.

Jane thrust a large cup at Lizzy. “We stopped for lattes.”

“Bless you. I’ve been dying for one.” Lizzy opened the door for them. “I didn’t think you’d be back so soon. Charles made it seem like you’d be gone for a week or more.”

“I thought my meetings would take longer than they did,” Darcy replied. “It works out nicely so I can be back in town to work on the acquisition.”

“How is that going, by the way?” Charles asked, absently wrapping his arm around Jane’s waist.

The door hasn’t clicked shut, so Darcy gave it a little push. “Not as well as I’d like. The CEO is… difficult.”

“That’s no surprise, right?” Lizzy said. “Wouldn’t you be difficult if someone bought your company?”

“If I ran my business into the ground and owed my employees two months’ wages, but still managed to draw a seven-figure salary and renovate my house with company money, I’d say I didn’t have the right to be upset.”

“That sounds horrible,” Jane said.

“Trust me, I’m doing this man a favour by buying his company.”

“You don’t strike me as the charitable businessman,” Lizzy said.

“Lizzy,” Jane chided.

Charles only laughed and said, “Oh no! Let’s not go down that path once again. It’ll only lead to uncomfortable truths. Nobody wants that.”

“Very true.” Darcy didn’t smile.

But when Lizzy flashed him a challenging, teasing grin, the corners of his mouth tugged up.

“The condo’s done. Finally! We’re moving our stuff out today,” Charles announced.

“Aww,” Lizzy said. “I was just getting used to having you people underfoot.”

Charles sipped his coffee. “You’re welcome to visit anytime you need to get away.”

“Hey, Lizzy?” George shouted from the kitchen. “What do you want done with all of this mouthwash?”

“Chuck it,” she called back. “Mouthwash is a beverage around here. Hey, can you come out and meet my sister?”

“Sure, one sec.”

Lizzy turned to the party. “I have a new helper.”

“Ooo, is this the mysterious man I’ve been hearing about?” Jane asked.

Lizzy didn’t have a chance to reply. George strode out. His wide grin faded and he stopped short.

Lizzy said, “George, this is my sister, Jane Bennet. And Charles Bingley, and Darc—”

“He knows who I am,” Darcy interjected, with a fair amount of heat in his voice. “Don’t you, Wickham?”

George stared at Darcy in silence. His gaze flicked to Lizzy and back to Darcy. His mouth curled and he said, “Fancy meeting you here. I’m working off some community hours.” He flashed Lizzy a bright grin. “Lizzy said it was okay.”

Darcy glanced at her. “Did she now? Isn’t that nice of her?”

Lizzy cleared her throat. “I don’t normally take them on anymore, but I was short of help and he’s a friend of Denny’s. It’s just a week, and I don’t mind helping out a friend.”

Darcy ignored her, keeping his glare on George and growing redder by the moment.

Charles said, “Well, we should probably be going. We have to pack.”

Jane turned, surprised. “But we just got here.”

“Don’t leave on my account,” George said. “I’m sure there’s something important here to make you want to stick around.”

“Good bye, Lizzy,” Darcy said. “I won’t be able to keep my volunteer commitment tonight.” And he left the building.

Lizzy looked between the closing door and George. She turned to Charles, who was glaring. “Sorry,” Charles said. “Better take off. Promise you’ll come by the condo tomorrow?”

“I work late tomorrow, but the day after?”

“See you then.”

“Sure.” Lizzy gave Jane a pleading glance. Jane, for her part, shrugged; clearly unsure what was going on, then followed Charles out.

Once they’d left, Lizzy whirled on George. “What the hell was all that about?”

“Darcy and I…have a history.”

“Yeah, I gathered that. But, what the hell was that all about?”

He stared at the now closed door a beat longer, then the easy expression returned to his face. “I suggest we grab some lunch and I’ll tell you.”

****

They chose the vegan restaurant a couple blocks away from The Faith. Lizzy loved their buffet; little battered shrimp-shaped tofu bits, too good to pass up. They took their food and slid into one of the booths.

“So…” Lizzy didn’t bother to hide how badly she wanted to know the story.

“So.” George replied, pouring soy sauce over his food. “How long have you known Darcy?”

“A month or so. He’s been living in my basement.”

Amusement crossed his face. “Seriously?”

“They’re all moving out today, thank God. He’s been crashing at my place, along with Charles and Caroline. Do you know them too?”

“Not really. Darcy met Charles at school, and I was older so I didn’t really hang around with them. I hear Charles is a good guy, though.”

“I think he is. But, Darcy. You know him from school?”

“I’ve known him most of my life.” George shoved a forkful of noodles into his mouth.

“But the way you guys acted.”

“We had a falling out.”

Lizzy reined in her curiosity as much as she could. “It must have been bad. I thought he was going to lunge at you.”

“Fitzwilliam Darcy would never lunge at anyone.”

“Fitzwilliam?”

George laughed. “Oh, right, he goes by William Darcy these days. Fitzwilliam’s his real name. He has an older cousin, also Fitzwilliam, who goes by Fitzy.”

“Oh! That explains his company name. Fitz & William.”

“Exactly.”

More silence to chew.

“What happened?”

George thought for a moment before answering. “My father was a lawyer for Darcy’s father. Darcy’s father, Will, had taken me under his wing. I come from a big family. There’s nine of us kids, you see.”

“Wow! That’s a huge family.”

“Yes, it is. French Catholic on my mom’s side and Irish Catholic on my dad’s. My father couldn’t afford to send us to private schools and all that. So, since Darcy and I were such good friends as boys, Will Darcy paid for me to go to Harrow. It’s a boys’ school near London, sorta thing.”

“Ontario?”

“England.”

“Oh.
Wow.
“

George nodded. “Yup. It was a fabulous education. Old Darcy always wanted me to become a lawyer, just like my dad, you see. He even put aside the money for me to go the entire way.”

“Wow.” Lizzy knew it sounded lame, but she couldn’t help it. A private school, plus university, plus law school. That would have been a lot of money to set aside for a kid who was your own, let alone someone else’s. “He must have really liked you.”

“I think the old man liked me more than he liked his own son, to be completely honest. Our temperaments were more alike.”

“I thought Denny said you work construction.”

George nodded gravely. “I never did get to go to law school.”

“What happened?”

“When Darcy’s father died, he put control of the funds into Darcy’s hands. I was in Africa at the time, on a charity trip for the summer. I rushed home in time for the funeral. However, Darcy wouldn’t talk to me. I thought it was just the grief. But soon I discovered I no longer had access to the bank account that had been set up for me. When I confronted Darcy, he said he was withdrawing the support his father had promised me.”

“What? Darcy took your money?”

George nodded. “It’s worse than that. He withdraw the money that was set aside in that account to pay for my apartment, my tuition, everything. I didn’t have a penny to my name, so had to drop out of school and start working. I thought I’d be able to get a student loan, but it turned out difficult enough for me to live. So I’ve been working ever since at odd jobs, saving to go back and finish my first degree.”

“You didn’t even finish your bachelor’s?”

“Nope. I had one term left.”

“God, George. I don’t know what to say.”

They chatted for the rest of the meal, and Lizzy was able to put her finger on why she disliked Darcy so much. He was so full of pride and disdain for people not in his social and financial circle that he would actually hurt another person’s chance at success because he couldn’t be bothered to part with some pocket change.

And no matter how much George’s schooling would have cost, it was pocket change to someone like Darcy.

Despicable.

****

Jane and Lizzy curled up on their couch to watch a movie and drink hot chocolate with too much whipped cream, chocolate sprinkles, and Irish Cream. It was their little celebration for having their house to themselves again, now that Charles and the grumpy gang had moved into their finally-renovated condo.

As Lizzy was fiddling with the remote controls, trying to get the television set to the right channel, she told her sister what George had said about Darcy.