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Chapter Twenty-Four

Missing Caroline's birthday party temporarily created a pleasant situation for Darcy, because she refused to speak to him the next day. She muttered to anyone around when she knew he could hear her that he was a liar.

"He is not," Charlie finally snapped after hearing this for the tenth time. "He never said he would attend your birthday party. He said he'd try to make it. Unfortunately, something came up and he couldn't make it. Get over it already."

Darcy was rather hoping she wouldn't get over it quickly, but Caroline Benson possessed a remarkable ability to rebound from disappointment quickly, foolish optimism still intact. Two more days saw her back to normal and still doing her best to impress him.

There had been no change in the situation between Chazz and Jenna. Darcy wasn't sure whether to take this as a good thing or not. After all, shouldn't the normally easygoing Chazz have gotten over the slight already? Darcy asked Elisabeth if her sister had told her anything, but Elisabeth was unable to give him anything new.

Although the rain had stopped after the end of the second day, the sun hadn't returned in the days since the skies had opened up. Everyone kept expecting more rain. Instead, there was the threat of more rain and worse humidity. If the sun had been shining, the humidity would've been easier to take, but as it wasn't, the sky seemed more oppressive than it had ever been during the heat wave. It was during this weather uncertainty that the note appeared.

The note was posted on the back bulletin board where everyone could see it. And in case anyone missed it by deliberately not looking on the back bulletin board, copies of the note were posted by the silverware rack in the wait station, on the delivery drivers' door, and next to the spec charts in the kitchen.

Elisabeth groaned upon reading the note. She wasn't fond of meetings as a rule, since they usually served only to infuriate everyone. The words "staff issues" meant that at some point, the meeting would deteriorate into an all-out yelling contest between the night staff and the day staff, both sides arguing that the other didn't do their share of the work. Having worked on both shifts, Elisabeth was inclined to agree with the day staff, and not just because that was currently the shift she was on.

The day shift generally was comprised of herself or Sean as the shift managers, Charlie, Kit, Erin or Darcy as the wait staff, Chazz as the day driver every day but Sunday, and Jack as the day cook. The night shift was usually run by Bubba, which would've been more than enough to insure a lack of work without including the Gossip Sisters for waitresses or cooks and J.P. as the closing night driver (although the other night drivers did a good job). But the night staff insisted they did the bulk of the work.

"Sean, why are you torturing us like this?" she asked when he appeared.

"Because last week and again yesterday, I had to listen to Caroline complain for forty-five minutes about Charlie not finishing the shakers before she left."

"Charlie had lights yesterday. She didn't have time to finish them. And it's not like Caroline doesn't have anything to do when she gets here at three-thirty, anyway. Why can't she do them and shut up about it?"

"When have you ever known Caroline to do anything and shut up about it?"

"Well, when Charlie was closing all the time, she never complained so much when the Gossip Sisters took off without doing everything they were supposed to do if they had somewhere else they had to be."

"She complained to you, obviously. Why didn't I hear about it?"

"Because I always helped her out and because we knew it would look like we were sniping at them, which we knew you hated."

"Well, I'm working on a system which will hopefully stop it. By the way, I'm gonna need your help with my plan."

Elisabeth held her tongue, knowing that no matter what plan Sean came up with, it wouldn't work. Something would always be on a slow boil, waiting patiently for the right time to explode.

Darcy stumbled into the store Friday morning, wishing he'd gotten about four more hours of sleep. The only other people there were Chazz and Jack, both of whom looked as though seven in the morning was a perfectly good time to be out of bed and doing something productive.

"Good morning," Chazz said quietly, while Jack ignored him.

"Who said it was a good morning?" Darcy mumbled. "I don't suppose there's any coffee made, is there?"

"Of course there is," Jack muttered. "Isn't there always? What would we do without our daily dose of caffeine?"

Darcy frowned. He really wished he knew what Jack's problem with him seemed to be these days. Jack had seemed to be angry with him since the beginning of the month, yet Darcy could think of nothing he'd done to cause the emotion.

Shrugging it off, figuring that Jack would get over whatever it was eventually, he made his way to the beverage bar and poured himself a cup of coffee.

The other door opened and Sean appeared, a large box of donuts in his hands as he made his way to the center tables set up for the meeting. "Good morning, Mr. Williamson," he said cheerfully.

Darcy glared at him. Did no one have any respect for silence in the early morning hours? "Yeah," he growled.

Sean just laughed, obviously used to such a response. "Save some for the latecomers," he said, opening the box.

Just then, the door opened and Elisabeth and Charlie walked in.

"Sean, you should have your head examined," Charlie snapped as she nearly tripped on the rug. "It's too damn early to be having a meeting. My brain doesn't function properly until at least ten in the morning."

"That explains a lot," Jack teased.

Charlie flipped him off before almost running into the salad bar.

"See? I'm telling you, I will have no coordination or intelligent processes until at least ten, so there's no point in having a meeting because I'm just going to forget everything we talk about."

"You always manage to do that anyway," Sean pointed out.

"She might be okay if she gets something to eat," Elisabeth corrected. "Look, Charlie. We're early enough that we've got our choice of the good donuts."

"I even saved you a lemon-filled one," Chazz said, holding up the prize. "Now, how often do I do that for you?"

"I can barely remember the last time it happened," Charlie agreed. She stopped at the beverage bar to pour herself a glass of Mountain Dew before sitting down next to Darcy.

Darcy almost groaned, for he'd been hoping Elisabeth would sit next to him. But with Charlie on his right, Elisabeth would have no excuse to sit by him when she would ordinarily sit by Charlie, which is precisely what she did.

"What time is it, anyway?" Charlie asked, taking the offered donut and biting into it.

"Six forty-five," Darcy mumbled. "God, I could sleep for another ten hours. I didn't get to bed until after two."

"Don't you have to be back here at eleven anyway?" Chazz asked.

"Mm-hmm."

"Then what the hell were you doing up so late, anyway? Hot date?"

Someone----Darcy suspected it was Jack, but he couldn't be sure----kicked Chazz under the table. "No," he replied. "I was just up late."

"Whose dumb idea was it to make us come in here at seven in the morning!" Caroline Benson shouted from the door as she walked in, trailed by Lucy and Louisa, both of whom looked like they'd just gotten out of bed and come to work. All three of them wore short, translucent nighties over jeans with slip-on sandals.

"Mine, so shut up and get over here!" Sean shouted back.

Caroline stomped over to the table and took Darcy's other side, to his eternal disgust. Not only wasn't he going to get to sit with Elisabeth, but he had to sit next to Caroline. He swore to himself that if she even made a move toward his lap, he was leaving. He would take a write-up. Louisa and Lucy took the two seats next to Caroline, presumably to cut off any escape attempts he might make.

"Good morning, Darcy," Caroline cooed.

"Is it?" he mumbled, taking a drink of his coffee. It was scalding, but he could almost feel the caffeine flowing through his veins. It was bliss.

"It gets better all the time."

"Funny, I was just thinking the opposite," Charlie said as she took a drink of her soda.

Same here, Elisabeth thought. She'd been hoping to sit next to Darcy during the meeting, but Charlie had taken a seat beside him as they were friends, and Caroline had taken his other side because she was always doing things like that. "Where's Bubba?" she asked aloud.

"Who cares?" Charlie muttered.

"Hell if I know," Sean said. "He's the one who printed out my note to be here." He glanced at his watch. "He's got five minutes."

"What's with the 'who cares,' Charlie?" Jack asked.

Charlie shrugged. Elisabeth frowned and wondered, for the hundredth time, what Charlie knew. "It's got to be something," she added, hoping to draw Charlie out.

"Come on, Charlie, is something about Bubba bothering you?" Caroline asked, looking as sincere as she possibly could.

With a heavy sigh, Charlie answered. "He asked me out yesterday, all right? Do I have to say anything more?"

Chazz, Jack, and the Gossip Sisters burst into laughter. Darcy and Elisabeth did not. Darcy knew Charlie was upset about something, but wasn't sure what. Elisabeth knew the reason, although Charlie hadn't told her. Charlie feared that as punishment for breaking up with Darcy, she was doomed to end up with someone like Bubba.

"It's not funny," Charlie snapped.

"Sure it is," Jack said, trying to stop from laughing. "The thought of you and Bubba together is absurd."

Charlie's eyes narrowed. Elisabeth almost groaned, because Jack should've known better. "And why should that be absurd? Why is the idea of a guy asking me out so absurd that you can't stop laughing about it? Am I that ugly or fat? Has my skin gotten so repulsive that I'm resembling a lizard rather than a human?"

Although Chazz continued to chuckle and the Gossip Sisters couldn't stop giggling either, Jack obviously realized his mistake as his face got serious. "It's not you," he was quick to say. "It's the thought of you and Bubba. I mean, you're...well, polar opposites."

Charlie raised an eyebrow, and Elisabeth almost felt sorry for Jack. Almost.

"Now, Charlie, you'd be the first to admit that what I just said is true. You're smart, Bubba isn't. You bathe at least once a day and you're forever worrying about getting something on your clothes. Bubba hasn't bathed since the day he was born and only does laundry when it walks up to him and smacks him in the head. Bubba's practically an alcoholic while you rarely drink. You're always on time for your shift----early, in fact, while Bubba..."

"----just pulled into the driveway, so you might want to stop insulting him," Louisa finished.

Jack shrugged. "I'm not saying anything now that I haven't or wouldn't say to his face. I'm just trying to point out to Charlie that the idea of her and Bubba isn't ridiculous because of her, but because of Bubba."

"Thank you, Jack, I think," Charlie said.

"You didn't agree to go out with him, did you?" Lucy asked.

"No, I didn't. I have some standards, believe it or not."

Bubba walked into the room and conversation stopped short. He was wearing a pair of old jeans with dirt at the knees and what looked like oil stains at the ankle. His Metallica T-shirt had seen better days. His hair looked uncombed and definitely oily. "What?" he muttered when he noticed everyone staring.

No one had the heart to tell him.

Once everyone else had arrived, Sean reached for the toy gavel that had been his gag gift from Elisabeth and Bubba last Christmas and smacked the table with it. "Could we get started, please?" Sean called over the noise of his employees. It took about a minute for the last of the conversations to die out with Caroline sputtering, "I did not!" to something Lucy said.

When it was quiet, Sean smiled. "Thank you. I know what a great hardship it must've been for some of you to drag your butts in here."

"You have no idea," Charlie muttered before yawning.

"Well, the reason I called you in here is because those wonderful nitwits at the Company have decided that we need a new type of promotion."

"Beauty contest," Jack said.

"Trivia night," Charlie suggested.

"Survivor. Each week, another member of the staff is voted out of the store until there's only one person left. That person would then become known as...The Best Employee on Planet Earth!" Chazz boomed.

"And the most overworked. After all, if you vote out everyone else, you're left by yourself to run the shift, make pizzas, wait on tables, and deliver as needed," Kit replied.

"Wasn't I conducting a meeting here?" Sean demanded.

"You were dragging it out," Charlie said. "So, what are they making us do?"

"Well, it looks like the Company thinks we need to have a Kids' Night."

"Nooooooo!" Louisa, Caroline and Lucy wailed in unison. Everyone burst into laughter.

"God, no, not a Kids' Night. Why do we need one of those?" Jack asked.

"Like you're gonna have to deal with them," Charlie told him. "You'll have the luxury of getting to stay in the kitchen and cook."

"Exactly. I'll have to cook for the little heathens."

"Could I finish, please?" Sean snapped, looking annoyed. "The Company made this decision after gauging the success of Pizza Hut's Kids' Night, as well as several other restaurants such as Denny's."

"But Denny's doesn't sell pizza," Chazz pointed out.

"That's not the point," Elisabeth said. "They have special promotions for the kids, which brings in their parents and creates more business on a night when there ordinarily isn't business. If we get something like this going, we make more money and you get a bigger raise."

"Yeah, yeah. Every time the Company comes up with a new promotion, you guys promise me it'll mean a better raise. Yet every time, my raise never amounts to more than a few cents." Jack toyed with his coffee cup.

"That's because you don't do your part," Charlie teased. "Come on, now. If you get out there in a clown costume to welcome the little kiddies, they might give you a better raise."

"I can see it now. Jackie the Clown. You'll be as good as Bozo," Elisabeth added.

"Or at least as funny as Homey the Clown," Chazz added. "I can see that now, too. Jack with a sock, saying, 'Jackie don't play that.' I think your big raise is just around the corner."

"Okay, can we put the foolish fantasies to rest for a minute? Because there's no way in hell I'm getting dressed up in a clown costume just to make a few more cents an hour. I'll leave that to all of you."

"Sounds like someone didn't get enough sleep," Caroline said sotto voce to Darcy.

"None of us did," he replied.

"The centerpiece of this promotion is having the buffet open one night a week," Sean said, raising his voice, only to be greeted with more groans. "For every adult buffet purchased, they get one child's buffet for free. In addition to this, we'll be having activities aimed at bringing in kids. I've already got the first month's activities lined up."

"When is this starting?" Caroline asked.

"Tuesday night. We decided on Tuesdays because Pizza Hut and Denny's here in town have Mondays locked down. I've asked the Effingham Fire Department if they would come with the fire truck for the kids to check out and sit on. They'll also be handing out little toy badges and booklets on fire safety. They've agreed."

"What did we have to give them?" Chazz asked.

"Enough free pizza to feed the entire department for a week," Sean replied. "Now, the thing I want you waitresses to remember is that they only get one free buffet to go with the paid adult buffet. And the kid has to be twelve or younger. So if a lady comes in here with six screaming kids and wants free buffets for all of them but nothing for herself, she's out of luck."

"What if the parents don't want to eat the buffet? What if they want individuals or a large pizza or something like that?" Charlie asked.

"Something like a medium or large pizza, they can have two kid buffets for free. Individuals get...well, they shouldn't get anything because the buffet costs more, but I guess we'll throw in one free buffet for them. But if I run across a ticket that's got one adult buffet and four or five free kids', I'm not going to be happy and you're gonna know it. Okay?"

Everyone nodded half-heartedly.

"Now, as for what you, the employees, can do to help out, we're going to need to come up with different ideas after this first month is over. And I'm asking for one volunteer to help organize the activities. This volunteer would work from five to seven-thirty and get paid regular wage instead of waitress wage."

"Would we be expected to help clean up the mess?" Louisa demanded.

"Trust her to ask that question," Charlie mumbled to Elisabeth.

"It would be nice," Sean told her.

"What about tips?" Louisa continued. "When you factor in tips, waitresses make more than regular wage. So basically, we're making less money but we're expected to help clean up their mess."

"I suppose that we could come to some sort of arrangement like we used to do when we had a hostess," Sean mused. "The waitresses working could give the activities director ten percent of their tips."

"What if the hostess or activity leader or volunteer or whatever you're calling this person hasn't done anything in your opinion to earn the ten percent?" Charlie asked.

"Are you volunteering?" Lucy asked her.

"No. I have lights on Tuesdays."

"I thought you were down to one day a week," Jack said.

Charlie shook her head. "Hopefully when I go to see the doctor in two weeks, but until then, it's still Tuesdays and Fridays."

"Those only take ten minutes, Charlie, not the whole night," Caroline objected. "You could have your light treatment and then come back to work."

Charlie shook her head. "Sorry, Sean, but I have enough stress in my life without adding a herd of screaming children every Tuesday night."

"Well, I hope you don't think I'm going to do it," Caroline snapped. "I always have to do everything around here."

"Oh, God, here we go," Elisabeth mumbled.

"No one said you had to do it, Caro," Sean said hastily. "You close on Tuesdays anyway, so that would eliminate you automatically. I was thinking maybe Louisa or Lucy would volunteer."

"But we have other things to do, too," Lucy complained. "And do you have any idea how hard it is to get a baby-sitter?"

"Yeah," Louisa said. "Drew is on second shifts now."

"Drew's working?" Jack asked, drawing Louisa's ire. "I thought he was content to continue drawing unemployment until his benefits ran out."

"You could always bring Valerie in here, if she's good."

"If she's bound and gagged, you mean," Kit said. "If it becomes a choice between having to volunteer or work with Valerie bouncing off the walls, I'll do it. I like kids, as long as I don't have to take them home."

"Really? You learn something new every day," Sean said, ducking when Kit threw an empty Equal packet at him. "All right, all right. Kit will be our Kids' Night coordinator, so pass along any and all ideas you have to her. Kit, if you wouldn't mind staying behind a few extra minutes when the meeting is over so we can talk about Tuesday."

"Sure."

"Okay, next item of business...suggestive selling."

There were more groans as Sean picked up the portable CD player that was usually kept in the back. "Last week, I received a call from Thomas Palmer about a problem we have with this."

"Are you going to play them the taped call you let me listen to last week?" Elisabeth asked.

Sean nodded and held up the tape. "As I'm sure you're all well aware, last month the Company implemented a new system to check to see how well we're suggestive selling. They tape all those phone calls, and at the manager's meeting Thomas Palmer gave me a copy of them. Most of them are okay. I've made a couple of minor notes about things people aren't doing. Caroline, you're terrific, but you flirted with the guy who called. That's going a little out of bounds. Kit, always make sure to push the bread sticks and sodas. You'd be surprised how many people will order more if they know about them. Erin and Charlie, excellent. Louisa and Lucy, good, but make sure you read the order back to them. Darcy...well, you need to sound a little friendlier on the phone."

"I've been working on that," Darcy explained. "It's not as easy as it looks."

"I know. Just keep working at it. Topher and Walt, good. J.P....well, we'll get to you in a minute. Chazz..." Sean glared at him. "Quit clowning around on the telephone."

"Come on, Sean. I have to have a little fun at this job."

"I don't mind that as long as you're not on the telephone while you're doing it. Jack, would you please try to remember to include the word pizza after announcing that the caller has reached Planet Earth?"

Everyone laughed at that. Jack looked unrepentant, but mumbled something about doing that.

"Okay, back to J.P. and this tape. He's already heard the tape, but I wanted all of you to hear it because if I ever get another one like it, you're gonna be out that door faster than you can say 'oops.'"

"What the hell did you do?" Charlie asked. "Did you cuss the guy out? Tell him to go somewhere else?"

J.P. had turned red and said nothing as Sean popped the tape into the machine and hit play.

"Planet Earth Pizza, this is J.P., how can I help you?"

Sean pressed pause on the tape. "Now first of all, he didn't tell the person 'good afternoon.' Then he didn't suggest the special."

"I don't suggest the special right off the bat, either," Charlie pointed out. "I usually wait until after I have the phone number and name before I do anything like that, otherwise they're trying to order and you're trying to slow them down so you can get all the information you need."

Sean started the tape again, and a young-sounding woman spoke.

"Hello. I'd like a pizza, please."

"No kidding. We figured you might want flowers," Jack exclaimed, causing everyone to laugh again. Sean gave him a dirty look.

"Okay. Could I get your phone number, please?"

"It's 217-555-0131."

"217-555-0131....Miller?" J.P. drawled.

"Yes."

"Will this be for delivery or carry-out?"

"Carry-out, please."

"What can I get for you, then?"

"Do you have that stuffed pizza that I saw advertised last week?"

"Absolutely. Would you like that in a small, medium, or large?"

"Large, please."

"What would you like on there?"

"Pepperoni only. That is what's on sale for $9.99, isn't it?"

"Well, yeah. The pepperoni."

Several of the employees were chuckling by now, because the special was any one-topping stuffed pizza for the given price, not just pepperoni.

"Does that come with dipping sauce?"

"Yes, ma'am, your choice of ranch or marinara sauce."

"Would you recommend the ranch or the marinara?"

"Uh...well, the marinara."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's not too bad. Compared to the ranch, it's great."

"What's wrong with the ranch?"

"It's nasty," J.P. said bluntly.

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah. I tried it when we first got it in, and it doesn't come close to resembling ranch dressing. It tastes like vinegar and mayonnaise with a little bit of ranch seasoning thrown in. Since we started this promotion a month ago, we've gone through three boxes of the marinara sauce but the box of ranch has hardly been touched."

By now, everyone but J.P. and Sean was dying of laughter.

"Wow...okay, then, I'll take the marinara sauce."

"Okay, then, that's one large stuffed pizza with pepperoni and marinara sauce."

"Do you sell bread sticks or anything like that?"

"Uh...yeah, we do. We've got bread sticks."

"What else do you have?"

"Garlic bread and soda...and that's about it."

"What about spaghetti and salad and chicken wings?" Elisabeth asked.

"I guess I'll take an order of bread sticks, then."

"Will that be all?"

"Yes."

"Okay, then. That should be ready for you to pick up in about twenty minutes, ma'am."

"J.P.?"

"Yeah."

"I'm Arianne Miller with de Bourgh Enterprises. This was a check on how well you suggestive sell the product."

Pause. "Oh, damn."

Sean turned off the tape recorder and waited for the laughter to subside. "Now you know how bad it can get."

"And you can rest assured that I'll never do anything that stupid ever again," J.P. added.

"You'd better not," Sean said sternly. "If I ever get another tape with a phone call like that, let me assure you that you won't be working for me after I'm done playing it. Got it?" After more unenthusiastic nods, he continued. "Okay, now that we've dealt with that, it's time for the next item on our agenda, and that's the problem we seem to have with work not getting done."

Elisabeth sighed. She'd been hoping that maybe they could skip that part. "Probably should've discussed that and then played the tape," she said.

"I'll remember that next time," Sean said. "Guys, everyone has to do their part. I know that some of you aren't always able to get everything done because you've got other places to be. I know Charlie's still got her lights and Erin's gone back to work at Nova. Pretty soon, Jack's going to have the same problem when he starts teaching his afternoon classes at Kluthe."

"Charlie would get more done if she wouldn't sit around writing on that screenplay of hers when she should be working," Caroline said.

Charlie flushed red. "I don't work on my story if there's work to be done."

"Really? Should we check your apron pockets? I'm sure there are a couple of napkins lodged in there somewhere."

"If I do write, it's when we're dead, before the rush hits, or when I'm absolutely certain I've got everything done. And at least I don't stop in the middle of a rush to flirt with cute guys."

"That's because----"

"That's enough!" Sean shouted. "That's another thing we're going to get around to talking about, but right now I want to settle this issue. I've been working with Bubba and Elisabeth on lists."

"Oh, not more lists," Louisa grumbled. "They never work, Sean."

"They will work this time because if you don't have everything on your list done before you leave, you will be written up. Three write-ups and you're out. The only excuses that are allowed are those for people who absolutely have to leave. This means the only people who will be excused are Charlie on Tuesdays for her lights, Erin for work every day, Chazz and Jack for their classes. All the rest of you will have to do your work before you leave and have it checked over by Elisabeth, Bubba, or me, whoever's here. And rest assured, if either Elisabeth or Bubba lets you go without checking over your work and I come in to find it a mess the next morning, they're getting written up, too."

Elisabeth deflected the glare he sent her way with a nod, knowing that the problem really wasn't on her end. She always made sure everything got done before she let anyone go. He needed to talk to Bubba, not her, but of course he couldn't single out Bubba during the meeting.

"Is everyone clear on that?" Sean asked, waiting for the nods. "Good. Then finally, I want to talk about all the crap that's been going on around here. All the backstabbing and fighting has got to stop, guys. It's not good for business and it's not good for staff morale to have everyone at each other's throats. I get tired of coming in here and having to hear about how Caroline is doing this or not doing that, or something about Bubba that isn't true, or Elisabeth or Darcy and Charlie. I get tired of it."

"You notice he only mentioned things he hears about us?" Charlie whispered to Elisabeth.

"Mm-hmm."

"I'm tired of having to talk about this at every staff meeting. Every single person in here is an adult, but sometimes I have to wonder whether or not I'm working with adults or a bunch of teenagers. I want it to end today. Is that understood?"

Everyone nodded.

"Okay, then. That's it for today. Remember everything I've said, and be thinking of ideas for Kit and Kids' Night."

"You get the feeling that was a waste of breath?" Charlie asked Elisabeth as the meeting broke up. Elisabeth could find no reason to disagree, although she did give Sean credit for trying, and for keeping the meeting from getting out of hand.

Chapter Twenty-Five

The rain started up again the next morning. It started as a light drizzle, but by the time Charlie left the apartment on her way to another sixteen hours of drudgery (as she described it to Elisabeth on her way out the door) it had increased to a steady but not unpleasant rain.

By the time Elisabeth left at ten o'clock, the rain was coming down harder and the sky to the west was an unrelenting gray. She cursed Charlie for stealing her umbrella as she darted to her car, knowing that the hair she'd spent twenty-five minutes styling was totally ruined. She shut her car door on the rain and looked into her rearview mirror, seeing what she'd suspected.

"Why do I bother?" she muttered as she started the car, reminding herself to call Charlie and growl at her when she got to work.

The visibility was poor even with the windshield wipers going full blast. Elisabeth remembered belatedly that her driver for the day was J.P., notorious for his disregard for hazardous conditions when driving. She wondered how many "near-misses" he was going to have as she sent up a hasty prayer for the well-being of everyone who would be driving on the roads with him.

She pulled into the parking lot, blaring Elvis Costello's "Welcome to the Working Week," humming along because she didn't know the words even though she liked the song. She killed the engine, cutting off the music, and groaned. She opened the door and hefted herself out of the car. The rain pelted her once again, causing her to run as quickly as she could----which wasn't all the fast lately----to the building. Jack was already holding the back door open for her.

"Thank you," she said, pulling her wet shirt away from her body in a futile attempt to quick-dry it. "God, I must look like a beached whale with all this rain around."

"You look about like you normally do, just a little rounder around the middle," Jack said diplomatically.

"You're lying through your teeth, Middleton, but thanks anyway. What did they end up doing last night in sales?" she asked.

"Thirty-two. And if you need proof, look no further than the dining room floor."

Elisabeth groaned. "Lovely idea Sean had, those lists. I told him they wouldn't be worth printing off. Bubba never makes anyone do anything if they want to leave early."

"Is that Elisabeth?!" Kit shouted from the direction of the dining room. She was on her way to the bathroom. "Tell her that I'm very close to telling Sean to stick those stupid lists where the sun doesn't shine!"

"Tell Bubba that----he's the one who ignored it!" Elisabeth shouted back as she made her way to the front. She noticed the chill immediately. "Yeesh, it's cold in here. Who turned the air conditioner down to forty-five degrees?"

"It's at sixty-six, actually," Jack said. "And I did, because Bubba left it on eighty last night."

"That's still too damn cold with the rain," Elisabeth told him, pushing buttons until the air conditioner turned off. "People will be catching pneumonia in August because they came in here with wet clothes on."

"We could always post a sign suggesting that they get out of those wet clothes. Isn't that the phrase they always use in melodramatic romances?" Jack grinned.

"You don't want me to tell you what sort of idea I think that is, do you?"

"I can hazard a guess."

"What would we have them change into?"

Jack's grin widened. "I just thought of a new promotion here at Planet Earth Pizza."

Elisabeth gave him a dirty look. "Get your mind out of the gutter," Elisabeth said. "That's a worse idea than the one Chazz came up with last year when we had those stupid poles around the dining room to hold the ceiling up."

"It was still worth a thought. Speaking of ideas, I was thinking about a baseball game."

"You and Charlie both. She's been grumbling all week over the fact that the Cardinals can't seem to win two games in a row these days."

"I meant going to see a game. You, me, Sean, Rachel, Chazz, Jenna if she can get off, and Charlie. Kit can't make it because her brother from Arizona will be in town. I checked the schedule and the Cardinals play the Phillies at home a week from this Monday. We're all off around four. If Chazz and I do the driving, we can be at the ballpark by six or so. Game's at seven."

"Why do I get the feeling that you've already called for tickets?" Elisabeth smiled.

"I only checked on tickets. We can get seven seats in the bleachers."

"How about eight?" Elisabeth mused.

"Eight?" Jack gave her a sly look. "Oh, I see."

"It's not what you're thinking. You left out Darcy. He'd probably like to go to a ball game."

"Darcy? I didn't think a ball game would be his sort of thing so I didn't include him."

Through the rainy, fogged-up windows, Elisabeth saw a black car creeping into the parking lot, splashing water as it went past. "Why don't you ask him? He's here now."

"Well, I don't know if they'll have another ticket."

Elisabeth frowned. "What has Darcy done to tick you off?" she asked. "You almost sound like you don't want him to go."

"Nothing," he said. "I...just feel like an idiot because I forgot him. That's all. I had everything figured for seven."

"Oh. Well, seven's probably the right number, anyway. Rachel hasn't been so keen on being around me since...well, because of the baby." Elisabeth wasn't convinced that he was telling her the truth but she didn't pursue the issue as Darcy scurried into the building, dressed in a long raincoat and hat. "Hi, Darcy!" she called.

He gave them a brief wave before continuing into the break room to shed his gear. When he emerged, he was mostly dry from the knees up. "Hello," he said cheerfully. "Hi, Jack. Why is it so cold in here?"

"Jack's a naturally cold-blooded creature," Elisabeth quipped.

"Hey, Darcy," Jack said with a slight smile. "Want to go to a baseball game Monday instead of going bowling?"

Darcy looked confused. "Are we voting on what to do?" he asked.

"No. Jack's already looked into getting us tickets for the game next Monday night in St. Louis. He just needs to know how many to order."

"Is everyone from the store going?" he asked.

"God, no. Just the usual suspects from our Monday night bowling games. You won't have to worry about Caroline at all."

"It sounds like it would be fun. I'll join you."

"You haven't seen Chazz drunk in public yet. Fun doesn't quite describe it," Elisabeth warned him. "The last game we went to, he was drunk by the third inning and insulting the left fielder."

"Now get it right, El. He didn't limit himself to the left fielder. He had plenty of abuse for the center fielder, too."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot about that." Elisabeth chuckled. "Chazz is a Cubs fan, so when we go to St. Louis games, he says there's nothing else for him to do but get drunk and heckle the Cardinals. He says he's doing his part for the Cubs' morale."

"Whatever that means," Jack added.

"So then Charlie has to threaten to gag him every second inning, he teases her about her crush on what's-his-name, then Jack threatens to help Charlie gag him, and things go from here," Elisabeth finished.

Darcy looked thoroughly confused now, but remained silent.

"Well, I'll order the tickets tonight. They'll be thirteen bucks apiece," Jack said. "Just give me your money by Monday."

Business was normal for a Saturday in spite of the rain. In fact, a case could be made for it being a bit slow, since the wait staff never had more tables than they could handle and everyone got excellent service whether they wanted it or not. Darcy in particular was having a good afternoon, having made four five-dollar tips. Elisabeth was proud of how far he'd come since he'd arrived. In the beginning, there was no way he could've charmed anyone into giving him a buck, much less five, but now he was getting as good as Charlie and Erin.

When business slowed down, Elisabeth and Darcy found a free moment alone in the walk-in. Elisabeth went in on the pretext of counting dough so she'd know how much to prepare for the night rush. Darcy was planning to fill the salad bar.

"So..." Elisabeth started.

"Yes?"

"So I was thinking that maybe you'd like to come over to my place tonight and have dinner around seven or so."

"Are you cooking?"

Elisabeth smiled. "No, I was thinking more along the lines of ordering from Deb's Wings & Subs. They have fantastic honey barbecue wings. We could get all sorts of junk and rent a couple of movies and just...hang out. How does that sound?"

"That sounds great, but what about Charlie?"

"Oh, well, as long as you were back upstairs by eleven, it would be okay. Charlie works until then, so she wouldn't know. Which reminds me, I need to call her up and yell at her for stealing my umbrella this morning."

"She stole your umbrella?"

"Yeah, she caught me at a weak moment. I was just waking up and she casually mentioned that she had it on her way out the door. Before I could stop her, she was gone and my umbrella was with her."

Their hands brushed together as she reached for salami and he reached for a jug of ranch dressing. Elisabeth felt that connection again, even though they weren't looking at each other. Despite the fact that it was frigid in the walk-in, her skin felt oddly flushed. She turned to face Darcy at the same moment he turned to face her.

Elisabeth tilted her head up as he leaned down. Her eyes started to close and she knew that she was seconds away from their first kiss when suddenly, the light went out. From the other side of the closed door she could hear someone laughing. She screeched, "Jack!"

She opened the door and found her culprit standing just to the left, grinning widely. "I just thought I'd better stop whatever was going on in there. Charlie might stop by and catch you, you know," Jack said as he flipped the light back on.

Jack wandered into the back room, thereby missing the way their faces had blanched at the mention of Charlie. Darcy walked past her with his ranch dressing. He murmured, "Later."

Elisabeth walked after Jack, a frown on her face. "Didn't anyone tell you that scaring a pregnant woman could be dangerous? What if I'd had my hands full of heavy crap? What if there was a slick spot in there? I could've fallen and hurt myself. Don't you remember what happened to Stacy? She was six months pregnant with those twins, slipped and fell when the light bulb burned out and spent a night in the hospital making sure the babies were okay."

Jack stopped sorting pans and turned serious eyes to her. "I'm sorry, El. You're right, I wasn't thinking. You'd just been in there a long time and..."

"You're getting worse than the Gossip Sisters."

"That's who I was thinking of, actually. Lucy's here and she asked to see you. I told her you'd stepped outside because I didn't want her to notice that you and Darcy were in the walk-in together. Now, I know that you two don't get along and the idea of anything happening is ridiculous, but Lucy's got an overactive imagination. She'd go running off to Charlie and that would break up Charlie and Darcy like that." Jack snapped his fingers.

Elisabeth was puzzled. "Break up Darcy and Charlie?"

"Yeah. Aren't they going out again?"

"No...er, not that she's told me." Elisabeth was tempted to tell Jack the truth, but she knew how close he was to Charlie and it made her choose not to do it.

"I don't imagine she would, after all the fuss that was made the last time they went out."

"What makes you think they're going out again?" she asked.

"Darcy told me the other day that he had a date. He said it was his legitimate excuse for not going to Caroline's birthday party."

"Oh."

"I figure that since the Gossip Sisters made Charlie's life hell the last time they went out, she and Darcy decided to keep things quiet for now."

"Maybe that's it. I'll have to ask her." Elisabeth looked longingly at Kit's cigarettes, wishing she had the courage to steal one. "What does Lucy want?"

"Hard telling with her."

Elisabeth nodded slowly and left Jack to resume sorting pans. She had a fleeting thought that she'd missed something, but it was gone as quickly as it arrived and she focused on figuring out what Lucy wanted. Probably just wants to be a nuisance, she thought glumly, and it turned out that she was right.

Darcy knocked confidently on Elisabeth's door promptly at seven. He'd seen the delivery driver from Deb's Wings and Subs arrive three minutes earlier, so he presumed that everything was ready for him. A few seconds after he knocked, the door opened.

Elisabeth had changed clothes and styled her hair. She was wearing a loose-fitting green shirt that almost disguised her pregnancy over a pair of matching green pants. She wore black house slippers. Her hair, which had grown longer as the summer progressed, fell in shiny waves to her shoulders. Her eyes, which her outfit almost matched, were bright.

"Come in. Dinner's here already," she said, stepping aside to let him in. "I hope you don't mind that I ordered the barbecue wings, some garlic chicken, tons of mozzarella sticks, salads, a couple of meatball subs, and some soda. I also have Doritos and corn chips. And salsa."

Darcy smiled. "I'm sure that's more than enough," he said.

"Oh, I wasn't worried about having enough for you. I was worried about me. I've turned into a human vacuum cleaner of late. And I swiped Charlie's copies of A Room with a View and Casablanca." Elisabeth shut the door and walked him into the living room, where the food was laid out. Sitting on the couch, the two of them chose what they wanted and started eating while Casablanca played.

"I love this movie," Darcy said, before taking picking up another mozzarella stick.

"I know. I remember the first time Charlie brought this home, I didn't think it would be any good. We got to the first scene at the Rick's and I was hooked. I've loved this ever since. If Charlie and I ever decide not to live together, I'm going to end up spending a fortune on movies because all the good ones----and some of the bad ones----belong to her." Elisabeth took another bite of a meatball sub.

"What do you think is the best scene in this movie?" he asked.

"Easy. The one at the end. Don't you agree?"

"I always thought the best scene was where Victor gets the entire café singing La Marseillaise. That scene gives me goosebumps, and then it's followed by one of the funniest lines in the whole movie."

"Oh, yeah. 'I'm shocked----shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!' And then the guy comes up and says, 'Your winnings, sir.' The captain thanks him and sticks the money in his pocket." Elisabeth chuckled. "I still like the ending, though."

"It is pretty nice." They returned to watching it. Sure enough, when the movie reached La Marseillaise, Darcy got goosebumps and Elisabeth got teary over the ending. By then, both of them had more or less eaten what they wanted. Elisabeth put in A Room with a View and the two of them started watching.

Halfway through the movie, however, Darcy found his interest waning somewhat by the fact that every nerve in his body was telling him that Elisabeth was sitting less than a foot away from him. She'd taken off the house slippers, revealing bare feet with pale pink polish on her toes.

"Elisabeth?"

"Hmm?" she asked, still watching the movie.

"I hate to interrupt the movie with shop talk, but I was wondering if you could help me out."

"Sure." She was still distracted.

"Why has Jack seemed so upset with me lately?"

"Because he thinks you're going out with Charlie again." This was said in an off-hand, almost subconscious manner.

"What?"

Elisabeth blinked a couple of times. If he hadn't known better, Darcy would've thought she'd been hypnotized. She turned to face him, almost as shocked by her answer as he was. "He...thinks you're going out with Charlie again. Ohh! I'm so stupid! I can't believe how dumb I am."

"You're not stupid. Why do you say that?"

Elisabeth groaned. "Because the whole damn truth has been sitting in front of me the whole damn time, and I never noticed it. But it all makes sense. We all knew Jack had a thing for someone. At the Christmas party he admitted he'd once been attracted to a co-worker, but he played it off as nothing. God! Chazz even looked her way when he said it! I was sitting next to him!"

"It sounds as though Jack's done a pretty good job of hiding it from everyone," Darcy said. "I presume that Charlie doesn't know, either."

"No. You know her. Her head's always in the clouds or in a book. She dreams of the one but hates to admit it, so she decides to be oblivious to someone who could be it."

"Do you think she'd date Jack if she knew how he felt about her?"

"Maybe not after that blunder he made at the meeting yesterday. But under normal circumstances, I think maybe she would. Although he's got about as bad a inferiority complex as she does. Do you remember what he said at the party?"

"Vaguely. I was slightly drunk that night, if you'll recall."

"He said that although he was happy with the life he had, what sort of life was it to offer someone who wanted something more? Everyone knows that the minute Charlie can get a full-time position at Heartland, she's going to be out the door. To Jack's way of thinking, that could mean she'll want as little as possible to do with anyone once she's gone. And...she was dating you at the time. And you're very different from him."

Darcy couldn't say anything. It was more true than she could imagine.

"Does this mean we should...at the very least tell him that we're dating?"

Elisabeth shook her head. "I thought about it, but he's too close to Charlie. He wouldn't be able to prevent himself from telling her. Besides..." She looked at him. "I want to be sure, before we say anything. I don't want to...to become gossip fodder and chance something going wrong before we even know..."

Darcy wanted to protest that he knew now, but he sensed that it wouldn't be the right thing to say. But he did want to show her in some way, so he took her shoulders firmly and, before she could say anything, kissed her.

She gave only a brief squeak of surprise as his lips closed over hers. Darcy had only a second to fear that she would pull away before she threw her arms around him and inched closer on the sofa.

They spent several minutes kissing, occasionally breathing (although Darcy was convinced that air was no longer essential to life), and completely ignoring the movie. It was only when Elisabeth accidentally kicked the coffee table and pulled away, hissing in pain, that they stopped kissing.

"Damn," she mumbled. "Leave it to me to ruin a perfectly wonderful kiss by kicking a coffee table."

Darcy grinned. "Maybe it's just as well. I don't want to take things too fast with you and...well, more kissing like that and we would've...you know."

Elisabeth gave him a sardonic look. "All too well."

"So we should just keep watching this movie and then...I'll have to go because it'll be close to eleven."

"Right."

"Do you have any idea what this movie is about?"

"Not a clue. I only picked it out because I thought you would like it."

"I was afraid of that. Guess we'll just have to make up the storyline as we watch."

Elisabeth laughed. "Sounds like fun, and I'll even be nice and let you start. Want to guess why those three guys are running around a pond naked?"

"Why do you spend twenty bucks on these lousy little wimpy umbrellas when you could get a nice big one from Wal-Mart for five?" Charlie asked, shutting the umbrella and stepping fully inside, shutting the door behind her.

"Because it was pretty," Elisabeth replied. "And if you think it's a piece of junk, why did you steal it?"

"Because I thought it would at least keep some part of me dry. It didn't." Charlie frowned at her before tossing the umbrella aside and slipping off her shoes. She glanced at the dining room table where she'd tossed her keys and frowned. "You ordered out?"

Elisabeth cringed. Damn. Two Styrofoam glasses, two used plates and silverware, enough food for two...it was obvious that someone else had been there.

"Yeah."

"Didn't order anything for me?" Charlie teased.

"Well, I didn't----"

"Relax, El, I was only kidding." Charlie sighed. "What a miserable day. The streets are starting to get bad."

"I know."

"And I have to get up at six tomorrow morning and do it all over again." Charlie wandered off to her room, presumably to go to bed.

Elisabeth breathed a silent sigh of relief and decided that sleep was a good idea. She turned the television off. The knock at the door came a moment later. She yawned and wondered who could possibly be at her door at eleven-thirty at night. She thought of ignoring whoever it was, but persistent knocking convinced her that the person was not going away.

Elisabeth ambled over to the door and opened it. When she saw who it was, she gasped.

"Jenna!"

Her beautiful sister was standing in the doorway, her face ravaged, eyes red from crying, looking as though her heart had been crushed. Her hair was in disarray and she held a large suitcase in her hands. "C-can I come in?" she whispered.

"Of course! Please come in...Charlie! Charlie, get in here!"

There was a moan from Charlie's room and a muttered, "But I just got into bed! Why?"

"Get in here!" Elisabeth repeated. Then she turned to Jenna. "Unless you'd rather she not be here."

"Why wouldn't I want her here?"

"Just checking."

With a loud, put-up groan, Charlie came back into the room. She opened her mouth to say something cutting when she saw Jenna. She closed it quickly and hurried over to take the suitcase. "You can have my bed, Jen. I swear, I washed the sheets yesterday."

"No, no...I'll take the couch, but...but..." Jenna burst into tears.

"Water, quickly, and a box of Kleenex," Elisabeth suggested, putting an arm around her sister's shoulders and moving her to the couch. She sat down beside her.

The reason for Jenna's upset was obvious, but Elisabeth didn't want to say something stupid so she waited until Charlie had returned with the water and Kleenexes. Charlie then took a seat in her chair.

"Chazz?" Elisabeth murmured.

Jenna nodded. "We b-broke up!" she wailed. "I thought he loved me, b-but...but he said he didn't think things would work out b-between us! And then I told Ma what happened and s-she said that this was a good thing because he w-wasn't worth my time and that he was a bum and I told her I loved him and..."

"Slow down," Charlie told her in a soothing voice. "Here, have a drink of water."

Jenna nodded slowly and took a sip. "Chazz called me when he got home from his class today and he told me that we needed to talk. I figured he'd gotten over being mad about not inviting him home when I told Ma about him. I was so excited. I got all dressed up and...and so we went to Ryan's for dinner and then he told me."

"The rat," Elisabeth hissed. "Telling her in a public place so she won't make a scene. Typical."

"He was really polite about it and he looked so sad that at first I couldn't believe what he was saying. I thought it was one of his really bad practical jokes. The whole time I kept thinking that he was going to stop looking so sad and laugh and tell me that he'd really had me going. Only...he...never...did."

"What did he say?" Charlie asked.

"He said that he'd given it a lot of thought and decided that it wasn't going to work between us. He kept going on and on about how much better I was, and I told him he was being stupid but he wouldn't listen! If he'd broken up with me because he thought I was ashamed of him, I could've explained and things would've been fine. But he just kept saying that he'd known all along that things couldn't work between us. He'd known from the beginning that things would end this way and...and that he hadn't cared, he'd wanted me anyway."

"You're wrong, El, he's not a rat. He's a super-rat," Charlie growled. "What sort of thing is that to say? He 'knew' they weren't meant to be even before they started going out? What kind of crap is that?"

"Well, in my vast experience, it means one of two things. Either it means he's still mad about the fact that you wouldn't take him home to meet Ma, or it means that he wasn't as serious about things as you were."

Jenna's lower lip trembled. "B-but you told me that he'd always loved me! And h-he said at the party, after I left, that he regretted wasting so much time with Josie when he wanted to be with me!"

"Then he's still mad about the fact that you wouldn't take him to meet your mother," Charlie said. "I wish he'd come and talked to me about that. I would've had him straightened out in three seconds, maybe two because everyone knows what your mother's like."

"Speaking of Ma, what happened then? You said that you told her about what happened with Chazz," Elisabeth said.

Jenna took another sip of water and blew her nose. She tossed the Kleenex into the trash and grasped another one. "I came home so upset that she knew something had happened. She pounced, wanting to know what it was. I told her that Chazz and I broke up, and she was...she was so happy. I couldn't believe the look on her face! She was smiling, El. She said that she knew Chazz was a loser and that she'd tried to warn me. She was saying 'I told you so' and that was the last thing I needed.

"I told her that I just wanted to be alone but she kept pestering me. She kept telling me that in the future I should take her advice about men because she was older and wiser and...and that Mel worked with a guy whose son had just taken a lucrative job with the bank."

"That woman has no heart," Charlie murmured.

"I told her that I wasn't interested in anyone but Chazz, and she said...I can't believe she would say this! She said that it was obvious Chazz wasn't interested in me and he never had been. She said the best way to get over him was to find another guy and date him. She said it would be better if he was everything Chazz wasn't. I tried to tell her that no guy around could be better than Chazz, but she told me not to be silly. And then she asked Mel to call that guy and tell his son that I was available."

Elisabeth had seen her mother on occasions behave in just such a manner, steam rolling over other people's feelings to get what she wanted, but never had it happened to Jenna.

"Oh, Jen, I'm so sorry. What happened then?" she asked softly.

Jenna sniffled. "I told her that I wasn't about to be set up on a blind date by her. When she kept insisting, I went to my room and started packing. I came out with the suitcase and told her I was moving out. Oh, well, right away she changed her tune. I was her baby girl, I couldn't leave. She told me that I didn't have to meet this guy until I was ready. I told her I would never be ready and that it was for the best if I left. Then she said..." Jenna exhaled sharply. "She said that if I thought you would be any help with the situation, I could think again. She said to look at what a success you were with guys. Five months pregnant with no father in sight."

"Forget no heart. She's inhuman," Charlie snapped.

"Yeah, well, I only have a few days' worth of clothes here, but I figure we can go back when you have a day off to get the rest. I...I hardly know what I'm going to do with all my knick knacks and books. You two have accumulated more junk since I left."

"Don't worry about that. We'll make room. We did before," Charlie was quick to say. "We can go back on a rotating schedule with the bedrooms."

Jenna gave Elisabeth a once-over, her eyes concentrating on her expanding belly. "No. Not with the baby coming. I couldn't do that to you, El. I'll just take the sofa bed until the baby's born."

"Don't be silly. It's not so uncomfortable," Elisabeth protested, but she was quickly outvoted.

"I'm so sorry, Jenna," Charlie said. "I wish I could loan you guys my mother when things go bad for you. She'd have given you a shot of apple schnapps and a big batch of French fries to go with the shoulder to cry on."

"She's going to make it," Elisabeth said. "She's got us to do that for her. I'll run to the store to get the French fries while you give her the shot or two or ten of apple schnapps."

Jenna shook her head. "No alcohol. I don't need to get drunk or I'll just end up calling his house and begging him to take me back. I don't want it to be said that Jennifer Bennet ever begged some guy to take her back. I have some bit of pride left, you know."

"Of course," Charlie said. "I'll go for the French fries."

"No, I can't let you do that. You have to be at work early tomorrow and if you don't get any sleep, you'll be crabby and you'll get in trouble."

"Aah, don't worry about it. I don't have a crisis client and once I get something good to eat in the mornings along with a cup of hot chocolate, I'll be in a good mood." Charlie went to get her keys from the dining room table. "Any other requests?"

"Marlboro Menthol Light 100's in a box," Elisabeth said.

"Not a chance in hell. Anything else?"

"Ice cream. I noticed we're out and it's your turn to buy."

"I'll buy it," Jenna said weakly. "Since I'll be back here, I should put in for this one." She reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out a twenty.

"Your money's no good tonight," Charlie said with a sad smile. "Ice cream and French fries. Anything else?"

"Whatever else you think is appropriate, and Dr. Pepper." Elisabeth grinned.

"Uh-huh. Okay, I'll be back in a bit." Charlie left the apartment with a resounding bang of the door, leaving Charlie and Jenna alone.

"Are you sure it's okay for me to move back here?" Jenna asked, her voice small.

"C'mon, Jen. I told you the other day that you were more than welcome to stay here. In fact, we're delighted."

"I know, I know. Less money in rent and utilities." Jenna laughed weakly.

"Exactly. So you see, something good has come of this. You're back with Charlie and me, where you'll get good advice, good food, and no one saying 'I told you so.' Really, it's the perfect arrangement."

"Thanks."

The two were silent for a minute before Elisabeth asked, "So you have no idea why Chazz suddenly decided to break up with you?"

Jenna shook her head. "We talked the other night and he said that he needed time to think. I wasn't sure if that was good or bad, but it was a polite conversation so I took it to mean he just needed more time to sulk. Then tonight he hits me with this." She shuddered. "I didn't realize until...until tonight how much I loved him. Isn't that funny? I'm absolutely bananas about him and he doesn't want anything to do with me now."

"This doesn't make any sense. As long as Chazz waited before finally asking you out...it just doesn't make any sense to me, Jen."

"You and me both."

"Want me to call and scream in his ear for a bit? Tell him you've moved out of the house, you don't care what Ma says and he's an idiot for not realizing that you love him?"

Jenna shook her head again. "I told you----no begging. If I do that, I'll lose respect for myself and he'll have the upper hand in any future relationship we might have together, whether it be friendship or...whatever."

"I can't believe he's such an idiot." Elisabeth looked at Jenna with concern. "It is okay for me to call him an idiot at this point, isn't it? After he's done this to you?"

Jenna gave her another weak smile. "For the moment. But just remember, anything you say now can and will be held against you if we get back together."

"Understood." Elisabeth was glad to see Jenna smile, even if it was only for a second and not up to her usual sunny standards. She had a feeling smiles were going to be few and far between unless someone could smack some sense into Charles Bingley----and quickly.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Three days after the break-up, there still had been no sign of Chazz. He'd called in sick ("More like he called in afraid of getting his butt kicked," Charlie had muttered when Elisabeth told her) and had arranged for J.P. to take over his shifts. Talking to Jack the first two days gave them no new information, for Chazz hadn't been home since Saturday night.

"Then where the hell is he?" Charlie asked. "Waiting for the whole thing to blow over? Waiting for Jenna to find a new boyfriend so he doesn't have to fear that we're going to kill him?"

Wednesday morning dawned as every day in the month of August had before it----gray and gloomy. The omnipresent gray skies showed no signs of leaving. Elisabeth drove into work that morning with Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Who'll Stop the Rain?" in the CD player, asking herself that same question. She pulled into the parking lot just as it started to drizzle. Fortunately, she had her umbrella back because Charlie had bought one of her own.

She walked into the store and hastily closed the umbrella, shaking the water droplets off of it and setting it just inside the door. It didn't surprise her to hear Jack playing the same song she'd just been playing. She found Jack at the make table putting the finishing touches on a pan of cavatini with beef and bacon.

"I'd say good morning, but I'm reserving that saying for the day we actually have one," Elisabeth said.

"You have no idea how true that is," Jack replied. He set a lid on the pan and reached for another one, putting in first noodles then sauce and cheese. "Chazz is home."

"He is? Good. Bring the little jerk over here so I can have a nice chat with him. He could use a little straightening out if he thinks he's going to get someone better than Jenna. And what's this crap about not being good enough for her? Has Chazz suddenly decided to join Inferiority Complex Sufferers Anonymous like you and Charlie have?"

Jack's fingers lingered over green peppers. "I don't think you'll be saying that when you hear what he told me." He grabbed a few of the fresh-cut vegetables and added them to the mix.

Elisabeth leaned against the make table. "So tell me."

After adding a few tomatoes and onions, Jack put a lid on the pan and set it on top of the first one he'd done. "If I tell you this, you have to swear it goes no further than you and me."

"Jack, you know I'm going to tell Charlie."

"Okay, then you and me and Charlie and that's it."

"Jack, this is hardly a state secret. What's the big deal?" Elisabeth was swiftly running out of patience and wished Jack would just get to telling her what had happened. When he didn't speak, she sighed in frustration and hissed, "I swear it goes no further. Now tell me!"

Jack looked around as though making sure no one else would hear him. "Darcy told him to do it."

Elisabeth froze. After a moment, she remembered to breathe. "W-what?" she stammered.

Jack nodded slowly. "Darcy told him to break up with Jenna. Chazz said he went over to Darcy's one night a couple weeks ago and asked for his advice on what to do about the situation."

"So Chazz was thinking of breaking up with her before he went to Darcy's and Darcy told him something like 'you should do what's in your heart.'" Elisabeth was trying to find a loophole----any loophole----that would leave Darcy innocent in the matter.

"I don't think he was. Chazz admitted that he wasn't sure what to do, and even after he'd talked to Darcy, he didn't want to do it, but in the end he decided he should. He said that Darcy sounded convincing."

"I'll bet he did," Elisabeth said grimly.

"Look, I debated whether or not I should tell you this, because it does make Chazz look stupid, following someone else's advice when he should've done what he wanted to do, but...I had to tell you."

"You did."

"Yeah. I mean...for all that some of us have gotten to know him over the past couple of months, how much do we really know about this guy? Didn't we, at one point, think he was a spy for the Company?"

"In the beginning, maybe, but what has that got to do with this situation?"

"Absolutely nothing. I'm just pointing out that we don't know enough about Darcy to speculate about his motives. Maybe he's got a secret thing for Jenna and wanted Chazz out of the picture."

"It's not that," Elisabeth said emphatically. "Trust me, it's not that."

Jack shrugged. "If you say so."

"I do." Elisabeth felt a chill go over her. What if Jack was right, and his interest had been in Jenna all along? What if he'd just been stringing her along all this time...

You're being ridiculous. There's no way a man could kiss a woman like Darcy kissed you just the other night and feel something more for another woman. There just isn't.

"Look, I don't know why Darcy did it. Maybe Chazz made the whole thing up to make himself look better, I don't know. I doubt if that's the truth, though. Chazz doesn't lie...at least, not very often."

"I know," Elisabeth murmured. "I'm just having a hard time believing..."

"Yeah, well, whatever you think, don't forget that you promised to keep it between you and me and Charlie if you absolutely have to tell her. Don't go telling the Gossip Sisters. You'll make their day."

"Right, right." Elisabeth was in a fog as she stumbled to the office, not wanting to believe the worst, but fearing that it just might be the truth.

"You're not going to believe this," Elisabeth said, grasping Charlie's arm by the elbow and dragging her into the walk-in the moment Charlie stepped in the door.

"What? Don't make me go in here, El, it's cold," Charlie complained. "Surely what you have to say to me can be said in the break room."

"I promised Jack I wouldn't tell anyone other than you about this, although why I should keep it to myself is beyond me."

"Is this gossip or truth?" Charlie asked.

"Truth."

"Well, then I can see why Jack doesn't want anyone around here knowing about it. They wouldn't recognize it as the truth and would probably make something up that sounded more interesting," Charlie quipped.

"This is serious, Charlotte!" Elisabeth glared at Charlie until the smile left her face.

"Okay, okay. What is it that's so top-secret only a select few can know about it?"

"Darcy told Chazz to break up with Jenna."

Charlie looked as though she was going to laugh at that. Instead, she said, "Don't be silly. Darcy isn't a saint, but he has yet to do anything I would consider malicious. And if he did, it certainly wouldn't be to Jenna. He has no reason to dislike Jenna----or Chazz, for that matter."

"Well, whatever his motive was, he told Chazz that it might be best if he broke up with Jenna."

"El, you can't seriously be believing this. If Darcy had done something like this when he first showed up, I might've believed it. But not now. Not since he's gotten to know everyone."

"Are you so sure that we know him as well as we think we do?" Elisabeth had had plenty of time to stew over the matter before Charlie had arrived, and had come to only one conclusion----that Jack was right, and Darcy had, for whatever reason, come between Chazz and Jenna.

"Yes," Charlie snapped. "For God's sake, I realize that we haven't known him as long as we've known each other, but I'd like to think that three months would be long enough for us to spot what a person's really like. It's not like he's Caroline, for God's sake."

"What if he's trying to come between Chazz and Jenna...for a reason?"

"Like what? Like wanting to go out with Jenna? He's never said anything to me."

"Just because he hasn't said it doesn't mean he hasn't thought of it. But Jack was very specific about what Darcy did. Chazz went to him for advice and Darcy told him to break up with her. It doesn't get any plainer than that. Jack wouldn't make something like that up. Not about something as important as this."

Charlie looked troubled. "I know that Jack's pretty honest. I didn't doubt that. I just...I can't believe it."

"I know. It took me a long time, too, but I had to face the facts. There's too much truth to everything. Chazz wouldn't have ended things with Jenna unless he had someone prodding him to do it. And that someone was Darcy."

Elisabeth was busy doing invoices when Caroline walked in. With a stifled groan, she smiled and said, "Hey, Caro. What's up?"

"Nothing much. Just here to pick up my paycheck."

Elisabeth glanced up at the clock. To her surprise, it was nearly two. "I guess it would be okay to give it to you," she said, bending down (no small feat anymore) and reaching into the safe for the manila envelope containing everyone's paycheck. She tossed it to Caroline and resumed her work.

"Ooh, paychecks!" Charlie exclaimed, rushing over to Caroline, who was leafing through the envelopes within the larger one. "If you come across mine, hand it over."

Caroline nodded absently. "Louisa May Hurst, Lucy K. Steele...hey, Elisabeth, can I take them their paychecks? They're at home right now."

"They have to sign for them, remember?"

"Oh, yeah. Elisabeth Cathleen Bennet." Caroline set that one next to Elisabeth's invoices. "James Patrick Thorpe. I didn't know that's what J.P. stood for. Where's Sean's paycheck, by the way?"

"He gets his separate from the rest of us so we don't know how much he makes," Charlie said. "That way we're not tempted to steal his check."

"Makes sense. Christopher D. Brandon...oh, here's Charlotte E.A. Lucas." Almost before the words were out of Caroline's mouth, Charlie had grabbed her paycheck.

"Thank you very much," Charlie told her.

"Quite welcome. Erin J. Jennings...Catherine S. Longbourn? I didn't know Kit's real name was Catherine."

"You learn something new every day," Charlie said, sticking around. "Is Jack's paycheck in there? Because he once let it slip that Jack isn't actually his first name."

"Wouldn't Jack be short for Jackson or something like that?" Caroline asked.

"It could be short for John," Elisabeth offered. She knew what Jack's real first name was, of course, and occasionally took a mean-spirited delight in knowing something the all-knowing Charlotte Lucas did not, for once in her life.

Charlie shook her head. "He told me that his middle name is John, which is where he got Jack from, but no amount of bribing will get him to tell me his first name. I'll bet it's something silly like Percival and he just doesn't want to admit it."

"Would you want to admit to having a name like Percival?" Elisabeth pointed out.

"Hey, it's bad enough that I have to admit to Charlotte Emily Anne."

"Maybe it's something boring, like Elliott or Earl," Caroline suggested. She held up an envelope. "His paycheck isn't going to be any help. It just says Jack Middleton on it."

"Even his name on the schedule is just J. Middleton," Charlie said. "Everyone else has first and middle initials, but not Jack. He must've paid Sean well for the privilege."

"Darcy A. Williamson. I wonder what the 'A' in Darcy's name stands for?" Caroline commented, her attention diverted since it appeared that Charlie had the answer to her mystery.

Charlie gave her an answer that sent Elisabeth's eyebrows skyrocketing, and would have shocked anyone else who had heard her say it, too.

Caroline was even more shocked, if that were possible. "What did you call him that for?" she demanded.

Charlie looked over at Elisabeth, who quickly buried her nose in the invoices once again. Elisabeth's position on the matter was that she had promised Jack she wouldn't tell anyone but Charlie. Jack hadn't made Charlie swear any such thing, but all the same, Elisabeth didn't feel good about it when Charlie told Caroline the story.

It took very little time for word to spread once Caroline was in possession of the facts. Caroline informed J.P. in what Elisabeth could only term a gleeful fashion. Obviously, even a hint of trouble between Charlie and Darcy delighted her. J.P. went on to tell Topher, and it would've ended there except that Topher just happened to mention it to Kit when she stopped by with her brother. Kit went on to mention it to Louisa, whom she ran into at Martin's IGA, and Louisa told Lucy, who had already heard it from Caroline.

Less than three hours after Charlie told Caroline about the truth behind the break-up, a very irritated Darcy stormed into the store to pick up his paycheck. All he had been told, from a somewhat mysterious Caroline, was that Chazz had turned up and had told his side of the story.

As far as Darcy was concerned, Chazz had no side, at least not one that could be defended. He'd never felt such anger in his life as he was feeling just then, because the thought of what a complete birdbrain Chazz Bingley was made him so mad that he wanted to hit something.

The moment he walked into the store, however, he knew something was seriously wrong----something more than the end of Chazz's relationship with Jenna Bennet. Caroline was giving him a sly look, which in and of itself was nothing new, as she was always giving him some sort of look. But when Charlie glared at him, Darcy's foul mood died quickly.

"Hi," he said to her.

"Yeah," she muttered before skirting around him.

Does she know about me and Elisabeth? How could she know? No one knows...do they? Surely not. If she knew, then everyone would've known and Caroline would've glared at me.

Darcy continued to walk through the store, passing Bubba, who frowned at him, and Jack, who glowered, which again was nothing new. He gave them cursory greetings before he reached the office, where Elisabeth was sitting, staring at the computer screen.

"Hello, stranger," he said, mustering up a smile. Which was why he wasn't expecting her to turn around and slap him across the face.

"You bastard," she hissed.

Darcy touched his jaw. Elisabeth might not look it, but she was pretty strong. His jaw was singing in pain. "What was that for?" he snapped.

"You know damn good and well what that was for. How could you tell Chazz to dump Jenna?"

Her words stunned Darcy more than her slap had. "What?" he gasped.

"Don't look at me like you don't have a clue as to what's going on. You told Chazz to dump Jenna, and now she's broken hearted."

"I never told him to dump Jenna! Is he saying I told him that? Because I didn't."

"Chazz told Jack that you'd talked to him."

A knot formed in Darcy's stomach. He had a bad feeling that the Planet Earth Pizza grapevine had just targeted him. "Who told you that I told Chazz to leave Jenna?" he asked.

"Why should that matter? You did it, didn't you?"

"No, I didn't. And I want to know because I always prefer to know who my accuser is."

"Jack told me everything. He said he talked to Chazz last night when he finally came slinking home and Chazz told him that you told him to dump her."

Darcy's mind reeled as he tried to think back to what he'd told Chazz the night he'd stopped by. For some reason, he was having trouble doing that. It was probably because that had also been the night of his first date with Elisabeth, but once he set that aside, his words came back to him.

"I never told him that," he repeated. "In fact, I think my exact words to Chazz were for him to do what he knew he would end up doing in the end."

"In other words----to dump Jenna."

"No! I meant for him to forgive her. I swear, that's what I meant."

"That's not the way it's sounding. It sounds like you wanted him to dump her. Why? What do you have against Jenna?"

"Nothing! I think your sister is a nice young woman. I would never tell Chazz to do something like that. I thought he would forgive her in the end. I didn't think he'd break up with her."

"So instead of saying, 'forgive her,' you say, 'do what you'd do in the end.'"

"It was a lousy choice of words, Elisabeth, but I didn't think Chazz was so slow that he needed me to spell it out for him."

"Now what do you have against Chazz!" Elisabeth's voice was raising.

"Why do I have to have anything against anyone? I didn't ask to be asked my opinion on the issue, for God's sake! And I don't think I should be the villain when all I did was give Chazz the advice he asked for, which he obviously misinterpreted! Didn't Chazz tell Jack what I told him?"

"According to Jack, yes."

"Then this whole thing going around is Jack's interpretation of events, and not Chazz's. No one other than Jack has heard Chazz's story."

Elisabeth frowned. "You're trying to make Jack the villain now."

"I'm not trying to make anyone the villain, except maybe Chazz for being a nitwit. I don't know what Chazz told Jack, but if he told him the truth, then he told Jack that I said for him to do what he knew he'd do in the end. If Chazz needed me to tell him that I meant for him to forgive Jenna, then I'm sorry for not saying it straight out. I honestly thought he knew what I meant." Darcy took a deep breath. "And as for Jack, I think you'd better look at his motives for misleading you."

"What possible motive could Jack have had for..." Elisabeth stopped speaking, remembering that Jack had a very good motive for blackening Darcy's name. "He wouldn't do a thing like that. Maybe people in New York would do things like that to each other, but Jack's not like that. Jack's a good guy."

"Jack lied to you," Darcy insisted. "And I think I should have the chance to talk to him, with you present, so that we can get this worked out. For that matter, Chazz should be here, and so should Jenna. Maybe if we could sit down and talk about this like mature adults, we'd get it straightened out and maybe Chazz and Jenna would...would go from there." Darcy waited a long minute, praying she would hear him out.

Elisabeth walked away from the office and called, "Jack! Could I talk to you outside for a minute!" She turned around, misgivings written all over her face. "Charlie, could you keep an eye on the register for three minutes?"

"Sure!" Charlie called. "Take all the time you need!"

Elisabeth walked outside, Darcy close behind. Fortunately the rain had stopped, or else privacy would've been impossible.

Jack took his time to show up. "Yeah?"

"Do you remember that blood oath you made me take earlier about not telling anyone about what Chazz told you?"

Jack nodded. "Didn't last long, though, did it?"

"No, it didn't. But this one has to last, because if it doesn't and it gets back to Charlie, I will personally ensure that you are unable to have children. What I'm about to tell you is something I absolutely do not want going around the store until I'm ready and I've told Charlie first."

Jack gave Darcy a confused but cold look. "Okay," he said slowly.

"Swear on your future children, Jack."

With a groan, Jack did so.

"Darcy is not going out with Charlie again. The date he had last week was with me. I'm the reason he couldn't go to Caroline's birthday party. Darcy and I are dating." Elisabeth looked at him intently. "I'm not making this up to ease things up between the two of you around here. I'm telling you this because it's true, and you can understand why I don't want Charlie to know."

Darcy had been staring at Jack much like Elisabeth had been. Jack didn't have the easiest of faces to read. "Okay," he finally said. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I want to know exactly what Chazz told you. Why did he break up with Jenna?"

And then Darcy saw it----a momentary flash of guilt in Jack's eyes. "I...uh..." Jack looked down at his shoes. "He said that he'd talked to Darcy and that Darcy had told him to do what he knew he'd do all along. Chazz said that he thought about it and that's when he 'knew' it wasn't meant to be for him and Jenna. I told him that..." Jack looked at Darcy. "I told him that you probably didn't mean it the way it sounded. I told you probably meant for him to get back together with her. I told him he was an idiot for misinterpreting your advice, but I could see where he did it. If I'd been as desperate as Chazz and I'd heard that, I might've thought the same thing."

"But that's not why you told me that Darcy advised Chazz to break up with Jenna," Elisabeth said quietly. "You did it because you thought Darcy was going out with Charlie again."

Jack's shoulders sagged. This time he looked at Elisabeth and asked, "Have I become that obvious?"

"No. It didn't occur to me until a couple of days ago, but when I realized what your problem was, it made sense."

"Why did you think of it in the first place?"

"Darcy asked me if I knew why you were mad at him." Elisabeth put a hand on his shoulder. "If it makes you feel any better, I didn't even consciously know it. It was just there, something I couldn't put my hand on until it came out."

"No, it doesn't. Not really."

Elisabeth regarded Jack with a cool eye. "Why don't you just ask Charlie out? You're acting almost as bad as Chazz did with Jenna."

"Perhaps not the best example to be using at the moment," Darcy muttered under his breath.

"I did," Jack said quietly. "And she wasn't interested."

"Whaaat?!" Elisabeth exclaimed. "You asked Charlie out? When?"

Jack shrugged. "Right around the time she found out about...you know, the cancer. I thought at the very least I could cheer her up, but she said she didn't need anyone's pity. She was nice about it, though, which made it clear to me that she just wasn't interested."

Charlotte Lucas, you are a complete nitwit, Elisabeth thought.

"Darcy...I'm sorry about what I said," Jack said. "It was completely wrong of me to do, and I...uh, well, there's really no excuse. I'm sorry, man."

Darcy sighed. "It's all right," he said sincerely. "Lord knows, I've probably done enough of the same thing in my life, though not for the same reason you did, obviously. It was some sort of twisted justice that I experience the other side of it for once." He held his hand out, which Jack shook quickly.

"I...uh, I gotta get back inside. There's probably half a dozen orders waiting for me to make." He turned and made his way back to the building.

"I'll be back in there in a minute!" Elisabeth called to his retreating back. "Oh, God," she murmured. "I'm sorry. I...I believed what he told me. I thought you'd..."

Darcy was relieved that Jack had admitted to manipulating the truth, but his residual anger was still there. "Didn't you know me better than that, Elisabeth? I mean, I know we've only been on two dates and you've only known me three months, but what possible reason would I have had to Chazz to break up with Jenna?"

"I...I don't know. I just heard that you were the culprit and I reacted. Jenna's my sister and I thought you'd hurt her and..."

"You didn't even listen to my side of the situation before slapping me." Darcy subconsciously raised a hand to his sore cheek, which even now had a red mark in the shape of Elisabeth's hand.

"How would you have reacted if it had been your sister?" Elisabeth asked. "If someone had hurt her so badly you wondered if she would ever recover, wouldn't you want to hurt the person who had hurt her?"

Darcy's anger died in its' tracks. Elisabeth couldn't have said anything better than that to excuse her actions, although she still didn't know it. Wasn't he here, inadvertently, because someone had hurt Ginger? Didn't he lay awake at night, wondering whether or not she would ever really recover from the hideous deception that jerk had played on her?

"Maybe in the same way," he admitted. "But I'd like to believe that I would at least give the other person a chance to explain."

Elisabeth winced. "I guess I deserved that."

"Yes, you did."

"Okay, you can stop with the 'I told you so' nonsense. I get enough of that crap from my mother...when I talk to my mother, that is."

Darcy smiled ruefully and wished they had a bit more privacy than being outside. They were too close to the store. "Do you think Chazz will reconsider his decision because of what Jack said to him?"

Elisabeth was thoughtful. "I don't know. Maybe. Jack's usually good at talking some sense into Chazz without resorting to violence. I'm not saying Chazz is an idiot...well, he is in this case, but usually he's not...but he listens to Jack. Maybe he'll listen this time, too, and go back to Jenna."

"Let's hope so, for everyone's sake."

"Yeah." Elisabeth started to walk back to the building. "You do realize that everyone thinks you broke them up, don't you?"

"I figured as much when I received the cold shoulder from anyone who crossed my path."

"It's probably going to take a couple of days before word gets around about what you really said. Bad news travels fast, but good news..."

"Takes forever, I know. All that matters to me is that you know the truth." Darcy smiled and followed after her.

Continued In Next Section