My Own Mr. Darcy (30 page)

“Oh.” Barely a pause. “Of
course. That’s no problem. We’ll probably be back at the house at about four.”

I congratulated myself for
saying no the same way an alcoholic congratulates herself for declining the
wine menu. Then I rolled my eyes at my melodrama. But all the way to the Keller’s’
home, I felt sorry for alcoholics.

I parked in front of the
house just before four. Chad’s car wasn’t in the driveway so I waited, my hands
a little clammy and my heart rate a little erratic. I knew I’d done a good job
but I so wanted them to love it.

A few minutes later, I saw
Chad’s car down the street. Chad waved and pulled into the driveway. I wiped my
hands on my jeans and got out of the car.

“Are you as excited as I
am?” Mrs. Keller asked.

“Excited and a little
nervous, to be honest,” I said.

“She’s got nothing to be
nervous about. She did a great job.” I returned Chad’s encouraging smile with a
weaker one of my own.

“You want to open the
trunk?” Mr. Keller asked Chad as he gave the trunk a knock knock.

Mrs. Keller grabbed his
hand and headed for the front door. “We can unload the car after we look at the
house,” she said.

“She’s the boss,” Mr.
Keller said as he shrugged and gave me a helpless look.

Chad fell into step beside
me. “Don’t worry. You killed it.”

“Thanks. I hope they think
so.”

Mr. and Mrs. Keller were
waiting just inside the door with their backs to the living room.

“Oh no,” I said. “Did I
forget to turn off the lights in here?” I hadn’t been here for a few days now.
They’d think I was terribly irresponsible.

“No. I stopped by on my
way to the airport and turned them on so they’d have a great first impression.”
I looked at Chad in surprise, but he didn’t look back at me.

“Can we go in now?” Mrs.
Keller asked.

“Of course,” I said.

Mr. and Mrs. Keller turned
around and faced the living room. “Oh my,” Mrs. Keller said quietly. They
walked into the room slowly, taking in everything around them. Mr. Keller bent
down and ran his hand over the rug. Mrs. Keller touched the silk drapes before
moving on and picking up a bright orange pillow and clutching it to her.

Mr. Keller walked over to
the oversized chair by the fireplace and sat down. “I think I’ve found my new
favorite place to sit,” he said and then before he’d settled in, he sprang back
up and examined the glass tile fireplace. “This is phenomenal,” he said. He
turned to me. “Did you do this?” I nodded. “It’s fantastic.”

Mrs. Keller had moved to
the dining room where she stood looking at the plates scattered on the wall
above the buffet. She still clutched the orange pillow in her hands. I walked
in and stood beside her.

“Oh Lizzie,” she said and
hugged me, the pillow between us. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. I
turned to see if Chad had seen his mother’s tears but Chad wasn’t there. I
stepped back into the living room. He wasn’t there either.

“I knew you had a good
plan,” Mr. Keller said, his hand on my shoulder. “But I’d be lying if I didn’t
say you exceeded all my expectations. This is extraordinary.”

“It is, isn’t it?” Mrs.
Keller said. “It’s so beautiful.”

“Did you see the rug?” Mr.
Keller asked his wife.

“No.”

“Well, come see it. It’s
something else.”

“Chad said that’s where
he’s going to sleep when he comes to visit,” I said.

“Well, I don’t blame him,”
Mr. Keller said. “He might have to shove me aside first.”

For the next ten minutes
the Kellers examined every detail of the rooms, gushing and admiring every new
discovery. They sat on each piece of furniture and pronounced them all
comfortable. They thanked me so many times I began to feel self-conscious.

At one point I saw Chad
carry in a couple of suitcases but I didn’t see him again. I waited a few
minutes longer than was comfortable so I could say goodbye to him, but when he
didn’t reappear, I finally gave up.

“I really should go. I’m
so glad you like it.” I shook Mr. Keller’s hand but when I put out my hand to
shake Mrs. Keller’s she pulled me into a warm embrace.

“You’re a talented girl,
Elizabeth. No wonder Chad thinks you’re so special.”

I felt the color rise in
my cheeks. I managed an embarrassed thank you before I left.

I was proud of what I’d
designed and glad they had liked it. So why did I feel like crying?

I FELT DIFFERENT
as I
walked up to The Pink Salamander. I’d decided if Matt was going to pay me like
a “real” job I was going to treat it like a real job. In my left hand was my
portfolio case and in my right hand was my sample board. I tucked the sample
board under my arm and opened the door.

Meg was standing behind
the counter. I hadn’t seen her for nearly two weeks and was surprised again at
how stunning she was. She smiled but it didn’t seem to reach her eyes. “Hi
Elizabeth.” Why did her voice sound so insincere? “Matt’s on the phone.”

“I think I’ll just head
back to the sun porch,” I said.

“Matt says we blew it when
we didn’t hire you to be our designer.”

There was no good answer
to that statement. “Well, I’m excited to do the Children’s Room. Will you tell
Matt I’m back there?” I walked past Matt’s closed office door and continued
back to the sun porch. A few minutes later, he joined me.

He laced his fingers in
front of him and smiled. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”

I showed him the floor
plan and began pointing out the features. There were six-foot wide shelves at
each end of the full wall. “I don’t want them to go all the way to the ceiling.
That would be intimidating to children. I thought we could leave about three
feet at the top. Look at these big blocks with letters and numbers.” I handed
Matt the picture. “They’re each a square foot, so we could stack them. The
colors are perfect with the rest of the design.” Matt nodded.

The shelves would continue
around the sides. Along the long wall of windows, the shelves would be broken
up every ten feet by low box seats for children to sit in. A low table and these
painted wooden chairs would be placed on one end of the room and an assortment
of beanbag chairs in the same colors would be scattered throughout the rest of
the room.

“Look at this great
carpet,” I said. “It’s bright without being obnoxious. I like how speckled it
looks. It’s really durable and it wouldn’t show everything, so you guys
wouldn’t have to be vacuuming it every night.”

“You’d go with carpet
instead of wood?” Matt asked.

“Yes. It will help keep
down noise and there’s less chance of a child being hurt on carpeting than on a
hard floor.”

“I hadn’t thought about
the sound.”

“I also like the colors in
this because I’d like to paint all the bookshelves these old-fashioned colors—
pistachio green, vermillion red, maize yellow, and then this cornflower blue.
They pick up all the specks in the carpet.”

“I like the colors.”

“Me too. They’re
child-friendly but they’re also sophisticated and a little more subdued than
something like primary colors would be.”

“What is your plan for
this empty wall?”

This was the part I was
most excited about. “We have two choices. We can either put more shelving or .
. .” I pulled out a rough sketch of the mural I’d discussed with Sam. It wasn’t
good. I’d drawn it myself and I was afraid Matt wouldn’t see what I was
envisioning. I held it up to my chest, hiding it from him. “Now promise you’re
not going to laugh at my bad artwork. I promise I wouldn’t be doing the mural.”

Matt was smiling at my
enthusiasm. “Now I’m really curious,” he said.

“I have a friend from
college who’s an amazing artist and I’d like to have him paint a mural on this
wall,” I said, still clutching the drawing.

“Are you going to show
me?” Matt asked.

I reluctantly handed over
the drawing, embarrassed at its sloppiness. “It’s five children in a row.
They’re all sitting cross-legged and holding a book in their laps. Adventures
are flying off the pages. For this boy, it’s airplanes. This girl could have
princesses dancing. This little girl would have Dr. Seuss characters. This girl
would have all kinds of animals and this boy would have a variety of Harry
Potter things. Like Harry on a quidditch broom or whatever. Really, the
adventures could be anything we want. The point is that reading takes us to new
places and lets us have all kinds of adventures.”

Matt was nodding. “And your
friend is better than this?”

I punched Matt in the arm.
“He’s amazing. But don’t make fun. It’s a good idea even if I’m not a great
artist.”

“I agree. I really like
the idea. How much does he charge?”

I cringed. “It’s not cheap,
but have you seen the mural on the side of the Tres Hombres Cantina?”

“I’ve seen it.”

“Sam did that. He’s really
good.” I told him the price Sam had quoted. “He said he could have it done in
time if he could start in the next couple of weeks.”

Matt continued looking at
my amateur picture and then nodded. “Let’s do it . . .”

“Really?” I asked.

“This whole plan is great.
I like it so much better than the Children’s Room in Seattle. Alan’s going to
be jealous.”

I threw my arms around
Matt. “I’m so excited.”

“It’s really good, Elizabeth.
But I’m not sure this reaction, or this hug, is very professional.” He laughed.
“And neither is this.” Then he kissed me. I’m sure it was a good kiss but I
could hardly think about it. My mind was already starting the job.

“Ahem.” I stepped away
from Matt. Meg was leaning against the doorframe looking way too sexy in her
tight, gray skirt and three-button-unbuttoned silk blouse. Did she really need
to look like a high-priced escort to work at a bookstore? Matt’s bookstore?

“Did you need something,
Meg?” Matt asked.

“I just wondered if you’d
talked to your mom since she got home,” Meg said.

“I’ll probably talk to her
later tonight,” Matt said. He suddenly seemed uncomfortable.

“Be sure to tell her
thanks for including me at dinner Saturday night. It’s always so nice to see
her.” Meg gave me a pointed look.

Saturday night? He’d had
meetings Saturday. Suddenly it dawned on me. Matt hadn’t ever said it was a
work meeting. He’d just said he was meeting with some people. Had those people
included his mother?

“I’ll tell her,” Matt
said. He turned back toward me, dismissing Meg.

“I’m so glad she could
come see my condo. Now she can tell my mom how great I’m doing here. Maybe my
mom will finally come and visit.”

Matt looked frustrated. Or
was it guilty? I’d been trying for weeks to arrange for Matt to meet my
parents. I assumed he’d want me to meet his family, but his mother had just
been in town and he hadn’t introduced me. But Meg had been invited and they’d
even taken a tour of Meg’s condo.

“Have you already closed
out the register?” Matt asked.