The Best of Fools (Jane Austen Book 2) (36 page)

Back to work I went. Immediately. It's what I like to call "avoiding reality." Very healthy.

I left the airport and went straight to the shop, blared some Chopin, got familiar with everything, and ordered the sign for the front. 1812. Then I did a bunch of paperwork. I figured I'd work the shop myself until sales started to happen, then maybe hire Brooke and Han to help and come sew with me.
If
sales started to happen. Big
if
there.

I hadn't slept in my bed alone since I got the new apartment. Didn't want to go home for that very reason. Autumn still hadn't responded to me and I was getting a little frustrated. Donovan and Han were preparing for a trip to Korea so he could meet her family. Gulp. So I couldn't vent and whine to him. That left my parents and Eddie who I hadn't talked to since Alistair came and I was kinda avoiding that too. Their advice would be too idealistic for me to follow and I didn't want to feel like a romantic let down. But Eddie's advice ... I didn't even think of that one. He'd probably be ho-hum. And for whatever reason I felt like I could use a generous dose of ho-hum.

So I finished everything I needed to do and set next Monday as the grand opening for 1812. I was scared out of my ever-loving mind, but I figured if I failed again I could run away to an English countryside.

In the car I put on Carl Davis and the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra's movie theme album, beginning with the
Forrest Gump
theme. My favorite theme song outside of Batman. Oh man. That climactic part of the song made me want to grab my cape and soar. So beautiful and triumphant. After that I moved back to Danny Elfman's
Spider-Man
and by the time it ended I was parked at my parent's house.

I glanced at my phone before I went inside. 5:12p.m. His flight was set to land at 6:30pm my time, 11:30pm his time.

Literally counting down the minutes to talk to him again, while also pretending that I wasn't.

Mom greeted me at the door. Dad and Eddie looked up from a game of Risk.

"Oh, no," I said. "Not Risk."

"Fourth day," Eddie said. "And I'm not backing down."

Dad laughed. "He's losing."

"No I'm not. I'm letting you think that so that when I win you'll be even more shocked."

"Okay," Mom said. "It's just a game."

They both stared at her like she had left her brain in the cake I could smell baking in the oven.

"Smells like..." I inhaled again. "Is it strawberry cake?"

"Wow," Eddie said. "Is that what meatloaf smells like to you?"

Mom shook her head. "It's strawberry cake, yes."

Somehow I needed to get Eddie alone to talk. I couldn't even believe my own brain for thinking such a thing, but I was curious to find out what he'd tell me. I sat beside Dad as they continued their game. After a few minutes in the kitchen Mom reappeared and sat on the other side of me.

"Did you pick a name for the store?" she said.

I told her and we talked about my plans for a little bit, but I could tell by the sparkle in her eyes that she desperately wanted to ask about my love life, because, well, for the first time ... I actually had one.

I tried to avoid the topic until she asked about Donovan and Han, which bled into her finally saying, "So...." with that smirk growing and growing.

"Yes?" I said.

"The handsome British boy." She lit up. "How did things go with him?"

"Why did I know you'd have to refer to him as the British boy?"

"Sorry." She straightened her back. "British
man
."

"No." I laughed. "I mean calling out the British thing."

"Well." She laughed. "How could I not?"

"He's fine. Our time together was nice."

She leaned forward and motioned for me to continue.

"What?"

"And...."

"And I had fun?"

"Will you be seeing this young man again?"

I nodded and inhaled through my teeth. "Yes, Mom."

Dad laughed. "Let her be, honey."

She made her way back to the kitchen and I waited a few minutes before asking Eddie to show me his latest wood project. I even double-winked, but he didn't look up from his game. At all.

"In a minute," he said.

Not wanting to seem strange, I let it go and told myself his advice would've been weird anyway. My younger brother? What was I thinking?

I pulled out my phone and sent Autumn another text.
Hey... Can we talk soon? I feel like you're drifting away.

No response and she still hadn't acknowledged my other three messages. So I typed out how I really felt.

Soooo ... I know you're busy and all with your new school and friends, but there are people here ... eh em ME ... who still care about you and need you. Can you just call me tonight? I'm trying not to get annoyed, but Autumn ... this friendship is more to me than a high school thing. You're my sister and sisters don't leave each other for other people. Please call tonight. I'll be up.

Mom called us in for dinner and we ate, talked about normal stuff thankfully, and topped it off with cake. We laughed and for a few minutes here and there I even stopped looking at the time. But when 7:30pm hit and he hadn't messaged me I started to worry, but did a quick flight check and saw that it hadn't landed yet. They estimated twenty more minutes. So I helped Mom clean up real quick and parted ways, went home, drew a bath, which reminded me of Alistair just like every. thing. else.

I put the phone on a little table by the tub and put a towel there too just in case I needed to dry my hands to answer a call. Autumn or Alistair would call. One of them. Autumn I wasn't so sure about, but Alistair....

He'd call.

I almost fell asleep to the sound of crickets, but my phone rang.

"You're alive!" I said.

"Jane, I'm so sorry," Autumn said. "It's been so hectic and I do still care. I swear."

"I know. Maybe I overreacted because everyone is gone."

"Alistair finally left?"

"Yeah. He stayed a week and he's coming back in October. I think I might surprise him by coming at the end of this month if I can afford it."

"Those flights are like two thousand dollars."

"I know."

"How was it? You sound as depressed as you were when you told Don you loved him."

"I'm not depressed. Lonely. Confused."

"So emo. So unlike you."

"I know." I stared at the other side of the tub where Alistair sat, luring me over to him with his eyes. "Oh man. I'm so dumb."

"What are you guys gonna do?"

"He insists that we'll make it work, but I can already feel myself falling apart." I closed my eyes. "This
is
unlike me. But it is me at the same time. What the hell, right?"

She laughed. "One day at a time."

"Anyway, tell me about school."

"My dorm is small. Like a horse stable or something. My roommate is pretty much like Zoe, except without the random acts of being nice." She sighed. "I hate my classes. Seriously. The one class I thought I'd like could win an award for worst teacher ever."

"One day a time," I said.

She laughed. "I know, right? That's all we can do."

We kept talking until 10:24pm. Alistair hadn't called. His flight landed a while back and I figured he'd call as soon as he got home. Maybe before then.

I got into bed at 11:02 and watched my phone, opened the app, and repeated until, just after midnight, my eyes begged me to let them close.

"Only for a few minutes," I whispered, but I think I was asleep before finishing the sentence.

I woke up at four something in the morning and didn't see a single message from him, so I finally opened the app and messaged him first. Just sent,
Alistair.
And waited for my phone to alert me. Minutes. Eternity-like minutes. One. After. Another. After—

"Why isn't he messaging me?" I said to myself.

"Maybe he ran into an ex-girlfriend in the airport and went to a hotel," less enjoyable me said.

"Or maybe he died on the plane," less reasonable me said.

"Or maybe he doesn't like you anymore," less confident me said.

"Or maybe he fell asleep," more reasonable me said.

"Or maybe his phone died and then he fell asleep," most reasonable me said.

"Thank you," I said. "That's probably it."

My phone beeped and my pulse quickened as I opened his message.

Jane. I'm so sorry. My phone died and when I plugged it in I fell asleep. It's 9 here. Your text woke me up. I miss you.

I read the words several times, smiling.

You there?
he said.

I typed,
Hey ... I miss you too. How was the flight?

Him:
Long. Boring. Too much turbulence. Hate flying. Did I tell you I miss you?

Me:
You may have mentioned it. :-)

Him:
I can't wait to hear your voice. Can I call now?

Me:
Yes.

Buh-ter-flies. We talked on the phone dozens of times before. But it was different now and I was so nervous.

The phone rang.

"Jane," he whispered.

I closed my eyes and could almost imagine him beside me with his messy hair on my pillow.

"Can I come visit this weekend?" I said.

"Jane. Are you serious? How can you afford that?"

"I have an emergency credit card. I've never used it."

"Jane." He laughed. "I'm flattered, really." He laughed again. "It's not realistic. I can come in October."

"I want to come. You told me to be unrealistic, remember? I open the shop on Monday, so maybe I could come from Friday to Sunday?"

"You're something else."

"Am I being irrational? I don't even know what's come over me."

"I told you what it is. It's the—"

"I know, I know. So how about Friday? Maybe we can see a few more of the Batman places I wanted to see last time."

He breathed into the phone for a few seconds as I waited for him to answer.

"You said it yourself," I said. "Just jump in."

"First of all, you already know I can't possibly resist your immense longing for me—"

"Oh, stop." I laughed. "You wish you were so full of yourself."

"Secondly"—I could tell that he was talking through a smile—"I would like to see you as much as possible, but I also don't want to waste money when you need it. I want your dreams for the fashion line to work out."

"Just for the weekend?" I couldn't believe I was begging to see him. I was actually begging! "Okay, if you don't want me to...."

"That's not it at all." He quieted, then said, "I'm looking forward to it."

"Will I get to meet your mom and dad?"

"We could do that if you would like, but Dad lives about an hour south and Mum is two hours away."

"We'll see," I said. "So, Friday it is."

Later that night, after talking to Alistair before he went to sleep, I tried to buy a plane ticket, but it kept saying invalid card number. That's when I realized the expiration date expired two months ago and as far as I knew I never received a replacement. I called the company first thing the next morning, but they said there was no way for me to use the credit line until I received the replacement card they were sending out. Seven to ten business days was too long.

Alistair offered to pay for the plane ticket, but I couldn't let him do that this time. So we decided to wait until October and instead of him visiting me, I'd get to see his place.

So I stayed home and we talked every day and night instead. When Sunday rolled around I realized I hadn't even thought to call anyone else about the grand opening the next day. My mind was on Alistair so much that the shop didn't seem as important. Of course, Donovan and Han had already left for Gongju and Autumn was gone too, so they wouldn't be able to come anyway. And quite honestly, after that last experience I wasn't sure if I wanted to invite anyone. Maybe I could be embarrassed alone this time. So ... I called Mom and told her I was opening, but not making a big deal out of it and asked her to come by later in the week if she wanted.

Then Monday morning came and anxiety dawned right along with it. I went to the shop early, checked over everything, and messaged Alistair as I got ready. He tried to lighten my mood by joking around, and I'd laugh along well enough, but the closer it got to opening the more freaked out I got.

At nine on the dot, I flipped the sign to
open
and waited. No one came inside, but it was a busy shopping area and soon enough someone would come. I put a little chalkboard sign out front that said, "Grand Opening" and right below, "Gotham City Inspired Fashion."

I didn't expect a lot of interest right away given the fact that obsessive Batman fans didn't seem rampant or anything, but I wanted a few customers just so I could get some sort of idea.

Alistair sent another message.
Remember you're doing this for you... not the customers. If they love it, then great. If not, don't stress.

Oh, oh, here comes someone
, I typed.

A guy walked in, probably in his early twenties, and smiled while looking around. "Gotham City inspired?"

I smiled and clasped my hands in front of me, then put them in my pockets, then clasped them again.