First (Wrong) Impressions: A Modern Pride & Prejudice (5 page)

Soon, even Caroline noticed something was up.

“Darcy,” she said, “you’re so quiet this evening. Are you bored?”

“Not at all. Just thinking.” He smiled at her, but flicked a look at Lizzy long enough to catch her eye.

“About what?” Charles asked.

“I was thinking how even the plainest woman built for manual labour can be made rather lovely by expressive eyes.”

Charles choked on his beer.

Lizzy tried to contain her grin; she guessed that was his pathetic way of apologizing. Then again, maybe he was trying to goad her into admitting she’d eavesdropped, thereby forcing her to apologize for listening to a conversation never meant for her ears.

“Is that why you’ve been staring at Lizzy all night?” Charles said, laughing. “I thought there was something on her face.”

“Clearly the fine eyes on her face!” Caroline said, and the others laughed, though Lizzy and Darcy merely smiled when their gazes met.

“If Mr. Darcy is going to tease me tonight, then it’s only fair that I tease him back. Charles, you’re his BFF. Does your friend have any faults?”

Darcy’s smiled wavered for a moment, but he managed to put on a mask of neutrality when Charles answered. “I can’t think of anything at the moment. Oh! Yes, I can. It’s impossible to get a quick answer to a text message because he spends so much time thinking of four syllable words.”

“My style is different than yours. I spell my words.”

“True, true,” Charles said. “I’m always in such a hurry that I use every single abbreviation I can think of.”

Lizzy laughed at that and turned to Caroline. “I must imagine you have plenty to tease him over, since you work with him. Share something so that we can punish him.”

Caroline did not look amused. “Tease him? That’s rather juvenile, laughing at someone.”

“Oh, is Mr. Darcy not to be laughed at?” Lizzy asked. “I didn’t realize he was perfect.”

“I’m far from perfect, as I’m sure everyone at this table is aware.” Darcy’s smile had faded, but he didn’t seem angry. His voice was calm. “I can be resentful, like any other person. Once my good opinion of someone is lost, it’s lost forever.”

The table turned somber and Lizzy said, “That is something I can’t laugh at.”

“Everyone had a personality flaw.”

Lizzy snorted. “Yours, Mr. Darcy, is to hate everyone.”

The smile returned. “And yours,
Ms. Bennet,
is to willfully misunderstand them.”

They stared at each other for a couple of beats, before the waiter interrupted them with appetizers.

The conversation solved one problem, anyway; Darcy didn’t look at her for the rest of the evening.

Chapter 5

September 21

“I can’t believe your first real date with Charles will be at The Faith.”

“He didn’t want me to cancel.”

“Says a lot about him, to give up a nice restaurant and a movie to hang out at a homeless centre for karaoke night.”

Jane blushed prettily. She wore a skirt Lizzy hadn’t seen her wear in over a year. It was too small now, but Lizzy had done a patchwork repair job so it didn’t bind around Jane’s waist. Jane wore a flowing navy blue blouse that was long enough to cover the different colour fabric on her skirt.

“Besides,” Lizzy had told her, “if you end up with your shirt off, Charles won’t care if your skirt is two different colours.”

Jane nudged her sister. “I’m not as sexy as I used to be. I sure miss my skater body. I didn’t realize how great I looked back them.”

“Bah, you’re still the perfect catch in my eyes, Jane Bennet.” Lizzy returned the nudge. “You do like him, right?”

“I think so. But I don’t want to get too involved right away. It’s been a long time since I’ve been serious with someone.”

“Hey, staff! Are you open yet?” A drunken man was shouting from across the street. He sat on a small patch of grass with his backpack, work boots tied to it, and a can of beer in his hand.

“Not for another hour,” Lizzy shouted back.

“Can you get me something to eat?”

“Not until supper time. I can get you a bottle of water, though.”

“I don’t need fucking water, I need something to eat.”

Lizzy shrugged as she unlocked the door. “Sorry, sir.”

“Fucking whore!” he shouted back.

Lizzy ignored him and held the door open for Jane.

“What time is it?” A woman asked, from among the people gathered in front of the building.

Lizzy checked her cell phone. “Just after five. I’ll be open in an hour. Oh, can you guys do a favour for me? We’re expecting a visitor tonight. He’s tall, native, long braid. He’ll probably show up in a rental car. If you see him, just ring the doorbell, okay?”

Several people nodded and Lizzy went inside, the main door latching automatically behind her. Jane began flicking lights on, and Lizzy went to the kitchen to fill the coffee and tea urns. It was warmer than usual for late September in Edmonton, so she filled several pitchers of water and put them into the fridge.

Jane pulled down chairs from stacks against the wall and Lizzy set up tables. They worked in silence, both knowing the checklist by heart:

• Coffee, tea, cold water, hot chocolate
  
• Set up tables and chairs
  
• Restock the emergency supply cupboard with blankets, hats, gloves, socks, toilet paper, feminine hygiene, condoms, first aid, and baby food
  
• Test out the karaoke machine
  
• Read the log book for notes left from the previous shift for major incidents, anyone banned temporarily for bad behavior, or anyone given a warning
  

Volunteers and other staff filtered in and began their assigned chores for the evening. Lizzy looked outside a few times and noted how the line was longer than usual. Government cheques came out in a couple of days, when the lines would disappear for about a week because everyone had money again.

“We should have gotten Charles to come here for cheque day,” Lizzy mused. “There’d be a lot less people.”

Jane gave her a patient look. “Less people inside, but the streets would have a lot more drunk people. Scary inside or scary outside. Which is better?”

“Outside, obviously. There’s a door between you and the dirty homeless people then!” Lizzy said in a mocking tone.

Jane laughed and covered her mouth. “I’m sure Charles is going to be fine. He’s not that type.”

The front doorbell rang and Lizzy clipped her radio to her jeans and tugged the cord across her back. She hooked the mouthpiece to the neckline of her TEAM LEAD black sweater. Wedging her foot behind the door so that, if necessary, she had leverage to push it shut, she opened it a crack. “What’s up, Sunshine?”

Sunshine Cardinal pointed at the angled parking in front of the building. “Is that the guy you said to watch out for?”

The driver door opened and Charles stepped out.

“That’s him.”

Sunshine whistled. “Now that’s a good looking man, hey, Lizzy?”

“That’s a face I’m glad isn’t on billboards. He’d caused too many traffic accidents.” Lizzy spoke into her radio, “New volunteer out front. Going to get him.”

She opened the door, smiling and greeting people. She waved at Charles, who waved back. The other doors of the car opened. Darcy got out of the back seat first, wearing dress pants and a dress shirt. Lizzy was stunned. She’d not expected him to ever actually come down to The Faith.

Her surprise was overshadowed as Caroline glided out of the car, dressed in four-inch-heeled over-the-knee boots, skinny jeans, and a spaghetti-strap tank top that only just skimmed the waistband of her jeans.

And, damn it, she was wearing a red bandana.

The men around Lizzy catcalled and someone behind her made a vague rape reference. Lizzy spun around and demanded, “Who said that?”

All fingers pointed at Roy. “Sorry, Liz,” he said in a tone that suggested he wasn’t.

“Don’t say that again.” Why on earth would anyone show up at a homeless place dressed for clubbing?

One of the women asked, “You gonna let her in with gang colours?”

“No. I’ll explain it to her.” Lizzy rolled her eyes for their benefit. “Gary, keep the door open for me? I left my keys inside.”

“Sure thing, Lizzy.”

“Hey, Lizzy!” Charles sang out. “Where’s Jane?”

“Hey Charles, Jane’s inside. I didn’t realize you were bringing company.”

Charles gave Darcy an encouraging smile. “Darcy wanted to see the place.”

Darcy nodded.

“Hey, Lizzy!” A staggering man shouted from across the street. “You guys open yet?”

“Half hour,” she shouted back.

“You guys got any blankets?”

“Eight o’clock and ten o’clock for the emergency cupboard. We have a few blankets, but not very many. You better line up early for it.”

“I don’t wanna wait until then.”

Lizzy shrugged. “Sorry, John.”

“Get me a fucking blanket, bitch.”

“At eight o’clock and ten o’clock,” Lizzy said. She turned to a startled Charles. “Let’s get inside or else I’ll spend the next thirty minutes repeating myself.”

“Can’t you see she got volunteers with her?” shouted a young woman they all called “Rob’s Sue,” even though no one knew who Rob was. “Shut the fuck up!”

“Want me to beat your face in, you fucking slut?”

“Sue,” Lizzy warned, “come on. Don’t get into it tonight.”

Rob’s Sue ignored her. “Come over here and try it, you drunk Indian.”

“Sue!” Lizzy shouted. “That’s enough.” Into her radio she said, “I need help out front.” To Charles, she said, “You three, up to the door. Go inside.”

“Do you need help?” Darcy asked.

“You can help me by going inside.”

Sue started to charge at John, but Lizzy held her off. “Stop. If you get into a fight, I can’t let you in tonight. You know that. He’s not worth it.”

Sunshine, Gary, and others joined in, moving down the stairs to get a better vantage point, but also ready to step in.

“Asshole raped me three months ago,” Rob’s Sue shouted over Lizzy’s shoulder.

“You deserved it, bitch.” John threw a beer bottle.

Lizzy ducked to avoid it. Holding one hand out to Rob’s Sue, she turned to John and shouted, “Move on! You’re causing trouble and someone’s going to call the cops!”

“You going to call the cops on me? Go on, then. Why don’t I come over there and bash your face in?”

Several more of the people who’d been in the lineup moved between Lizzy and John.

John sent a drunken stream of curses, and a shoving match broke out.

“Come on, guys! It’s not worth it!”

Lizzy shouted for everyone to break it up or she’d close everything down for the night and no one would get in. If a brawl broke out in the street, she’d have to call the police and a good number of them already had warrants out.

Tempers settled and John drunkenly wandered off.

Two individuals in bright yellow coats with the word STAFF across the front rushed out and looked around for Lizzy. One was a petite woman, maybe five foot, maybe ninety pounds, who could take on just about anyone there. The other was her typical door partner, an average height college kid, who’d been training to work the door and deal with pre-opening tangles for only a couple of months.

“Sue, I’ll let you come inside early,” Lizzy said. “Come on.”

She didn’t follow, and instead stormed off behind the building.

Lizzy got on her radio to Luke. “Make sure the back door’s locked. Not just the screen door. I want the steel door locked, too.”

“Already done,” Luke radioed back. “Got the volunteers inside, too.”

Just great. Jane’s first date since her accident and there was a shouting match, and she was going to need to re-dress Caroline. It was going to be one of those nights; she could just see it.

Lizzy walked up the steps and scowled at Darcy and Charles, who held the door open. “I told both of you to go inside and wait.”

“Sorry, Lizzy, I thought you might need help,” Charles said.

Lizzy took a deep breath to calm the adrenaline pulsing through her. She stayed calm during the fights, but the release afterwards always hit her hard. Her hands began to shake. “Are either of you trained to deal with incidents here?” She gave them a moment for that to sink in. “So what were you going to do? Jump in and start punching people?”

Charles looked ashamed.

Darcy did too, though he added, “It was my fault, not Charles’s. I told him we should wait outside.”

“I don’t care whose idea it was. Remember, when you’re here, my job is to protect you and them.” She motioned at the homeless people around her. “So you do as I say next time.”

“Who protects you?” Darcy asked.

“See all these people out here? They’re not going to stand by and watch someone beat the shit out of me, because they know me. They don’t know you. Let us staff deal with the problems and less people get hurt. That’s how you make me safe. Got it?”

“I’m sorry,” Charles said.

“I am, too,” Darcy added.

“No harm done.”

“Are you okay, though?” Darcy’s eyes seemed a little wide and he was paler than normal.

“Yes,” she said simply. “Let’s sit down and talk about what just happened and the rest of the night, shall we? We have some rules that need to be followed by the clients, so, for the sake of fairness, volunteers and staff also follow them.”

“Sure thing,” Charles said.

They sat down at the table where Caroline was waiting and Lizzy continued, “After we’re done chatting, I’ll get Jane to take Caroline downstairs and find her some clothes.”

“What’s wrong with my clothes?”

“You’re sporting gang colours and aren’t wearing safe footwear,” Lizzy explained. She told them how bandanas were banned from The Faith, as from many other inner city establishments. They were an easy way to identify oneself as a gang member. The Faith was neutral ground; allowing gang colours meant that they were allowing specific groups to claim that space. Plus there was a greater risk of violence, as people would be representing, as it were.

“I’m clearly not a gang member.”

“It doesn’t matter. I don’t wear them and I work here. You can’t wear them, either.”

“Fine,” she said, in a tone that suggested it wasn’t fine at all. “What’s wrong with my boots?