“Funny.” She closed her eyes and sighed. She knew how the story went. After they’d sorted out their mix-up, Elizabeth realizes she was too quick to judge Darcy without all the facts. Then the happily ever after ensues. But hearing whatever lame excuse Nick came up with wouldn’t change the fact that they just didn’t want the same things and were never meant to be.
Stupid tears burned her eyes again.
Her happily ever after wasn’t coming anytime soon, so she settled in, determined to take her mind off Nick and enjoy the movie. It was one of her favorites.
After a half hour, she couldn’t stand it any longer. Darn Jo for making the reference between Nick and Mr. Darcy. Every time Darcy came on screen, her mind filled with images of Nick, all annoyingly handsome and perfect. “I’m gonna hit the hay. See you in the morning.”
Jo smiled. “Sweet dreams . . . Miss Bennet.”
“Ha-ha. If you weren’t my best friend, I’d . . .” She was pathetic. She was such a sad-sack she couldn’t even muster a decent comeback.
Crawling under her covers, she squeezed her eyes shut and counted from one thousand backward, praying it’d block all the thoughts of Nick and Mr. Darcy bouncing around in her head.
***
Shelby hitched up the strap of the bag of books on her shoulder and shifted Emily’s gift to her other hand. She could handle a simple birthday party for a kid. She opened the glass door and entered . . . mayhem. The loud, happy screeches of kids playing video games blended with the electronic bleeps and blips. Six-foot-tall furry woodland characters mingled and took pictures with the children.
The scent of sugar and greasy pizza body-slammed her. The noise and the smell weren’t going to help the stress headache that gripped the base of her skull like a vise.
She forced her feet to venture farther inside, wading through smiling kids running around with fists filled with tickets. There must’ve been four or five parties going on at the same time. There were people everywhere. The place was packed.
After finally spotting Lori and her parents at the rear, Shelby headed their way.
She added to the pile of gifts on the table marked with Emily’s name then sucked in a deep breath for courage before turning to greet everyone. Before she could say hello, Nick’s mom stood and held her arms wide for a hug. “Hi, Shelby, thank you so much for coming.” Linda wrapped her arms around Shelby and whispered, “I know it’s not easy for you to be here. Nick told us what a dope he’d been. But we’re all so happy you decided to come.”
Relieved, because she’d fear they’d all take his side, she finally smiled. “Emily’s my favorite fan. I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”
Lori said, “Come sit and visit with us for a minute while the kids are playing games. It may be the only chance we have at some semblance of peace for the rest of the afternoon.”
Shelby waved to Nick’s dad, who was busy assembling a toy, then slid on the bench next to Lori. “I’m sorry about the other day—”
“Nope.” Lori held up her hand. “I understand. Beth purposely made it sound like she and Nick were going on a date, of course you were upset. I was mad at Nick too, until I calmed down a bit and thought about it. Nick was just being . . . Nick. He can be kinda clueless sometimes, but he actually meant well with the spying.”
Meant well? Was she pulling an Elizabeth Bennet on Nick? Jo said there might be more to the story.
Didn’t matter. Nick wasn’t the right guy, as much as her heart kept telling her so, she needed to listen to her sensible brain.
Emily ran toward her with her arms spread wide. “Hi, Shelby.”
She lifted Emily up and gave her a tight hug. “Hi, Em. Happy birthday! Are you having fun?”
Emily nodded “Yeah. But I miss Uncle Nick.”
“I know, kiddo. But hey”—Shelby lifted her bag of books—“wanna pick out which books to give to your friends and then I’ll sign them?”
“Okay.” A big smile formed on Em’s face as she dug through the bag. Lori wrangled all the little girls and managed to organize a line.
Em, seated on Shelby’s lap and excited to help, held the book open to the right page for her to sign. Emily’s hair smelled like Johnson’s baby shampoo and something sweet, a little like . . . cake. Shelby drew a deep breath and imprinted the memory. She hated that she probably wouldn’t see Em much anymore.
Just as she signed the last book, Emily pointed and screeched, “Look. It’s Chester!”
When Shelby spotted the six-foot-tall monkey carrying a present, she smiled. She hadn’t seen that character when she’d come in. Must be part of the birthday package Nick paid for. It was nice he thought to get Emily a monkey that looked so much like Chester.