First Impressions: A Modern Pride and Prejudice Adaptation

Chapter 20

It was snowing. A quarter of the way to a blizzard, wind whipped through the trees outside, brushing the flakes against the windows and the side of the building. A thin skin of ice had formed just on the bottom edge of Liz's window.

"I guess we're not running outside this morning, huh?"

Charlotte raised her eyebrows. "We? No. You can, if you like." As if to accentuate her point, a few branches scrapped against one of the windows, squeaking sharply. "But I'm certainly not going out there."

"I wasn't planning on it," Liz said with a laugh. She lay her jacket—the same team cross country jacket from high school—over the back of a chair and held out one bare arm. "I was thinking about hitting the gym Bill showed Mariah and me when we first got here."

"Mmm," Charlotte replied through a mouthful of breakfast. She swallowed. "Like I said, you can do what you want."

"You're not coming?"

"I've got work to do, Lizzie. My break's over. I did work it out, though, I won't be full time while you're here, but there are some new accounts opening at the end of the month and I need to make sure I get their down payment paperwork sorted away."

"Oh." She wasn't really sure what she had been expecting—that Charlotte could just drop everything while she was there? Possibly. She cleared her throat and picked up her empty water bottle from the table. "That's fine. I can make myself scarce for a couple hours if you need me to!"

"Nah, you're fine." Charlotte took another spoonful of cereal. "The inside gym is pretty good, so you should be all right there. Hopefully the snow will calm down and they're good about shoveling, so you can head outside again in a couple days probably."

"Great!" Liz said with more cheer than she felt. She fiddled with the zipper on her jacket, pulling it up and down along the teeth so it made a metallic scraping sound. "Great," she said again, her voice fading. She slipped the jacket on over her tank top and slid her phone and headphones into the pocket and stepped into the kitchen, filling her bottle from the cold tap. "I guess I'll be back in a bit."

Charlotte nodded, not looking up from her breakfast. "Yep, see you later! I'll try not to work too late today; don't think it will be a problem."

As she walked down the hallway, she swung her water bottle in one hand and continuing to play with her zipper with the other. While she really had come to spend time with Charlotte at least a small part of her—probably larger than Liz was willing to admit—had come to see if Charlotte really was as happy with her new life as she said she was. And Charlotte really did seem happy with her work—happy enough to dive into it on a Monday morning. Her apartment was nice—a comfortable size for a single woman. Hunsford, while not exactly lively, was larger than Meryton and it seemed a little realer; less tourist-fake and more lifelike. She seemed perfectly equal to the task of handling both Lady Catherine and Bill, and was at the advantage that when they were in a room together seemed content to speak to no one else.

It was just... When Liz left for college, she could always count on Charlotte being there. Like her parents and the Longbourne, she was a staple of Meryton. Even when Liz moved forward in her life, there was always a safe place to return to. The safe place was still there, but it felt a little bit smaller without Charlotte in it. It's just something new to get used to. And she'd be back at school before she knew it! It didn't matter how small Meryton was then.

She dropped her hand from her jacket zipper and pushed open the door to the little gym. She was pleased to find it empty. Maybe it came from using the high school gym at the same time as the boys on the football and basketball teams, but she always felt at least a little performative when there was another person there. Like she had to earn her place through perfect form and impressive weight lifting and—