Matters of Chance

Chapter 29

Elizabeth's side of the room looked empty. She had packed all of the belongings she was bringing to San Francisco in boxes. Now all that was left were small things that she didn't need. Elizabeth was going to be catching a flight the next morning. She had quickly found a small apartment in San Francisco once she had gotten the email. In a few days, the lease was signed. A moving company was going to leave that night to deliver her boxes to her new place. Everything was official.

Ever since Lizzie announced that she was moving, her family began treating her like the VIP of the house. Her father would always ask what she wanted for dinner, her sisters offered to watch Jeopardy with her, and everybody made an effort to spend more time with her. Elizabeth would ordinarily be annoyed with never having alone time, but now, she wanted all of the family time she could get. She'd miss them.

Both Jane and her mom were prone to tearing up when they thought about Elizabeth leaving, and Elizabeth had to admit that she was feeling emotional as well. When she moved out for college, it still felt like she sort of lived at home. But now, she was going all the way to a different state to a place she could truly call her own. She'd miss her sisters and her parents, but she also knew this was best for her.

Elizabeth's suitcase was already packed. The only clothes she had left in her room were her pajamas for the night and the ones she was wearing on her flight the following day. Her room hadn't looked this clean since the day she was born, and it tugged at her heart a little to see everything so bare. It was bittersweet. San Francisco was going to be a new start for her. She was going to let go of everything that happened that summer and finally become fully independent.

She walked to the front of the house to look for her dad. She needed to confirm that he was going to drive her to the airport the next morning. As she looked around the house, she realized that nobody was around. There were no signs of any of her sisters or her parents. She knew that Jane was with Charles, but had no idea where the rest of her family was. She pulled her phone out of her pocket, only to see that she had missed text messages from over 20 minutes prior.

Kitty, 5:03 PM: Mom is bringing Lydia and I to Ulta. We ran out of eyeliner. We know it's not your thing. Mary came too. She agreed to let us test makeup on her. Text us if you want anything!

Kitty, 5:04 PM: Oh yeah, and Dad came with us. He needed something from the hardware store nearby.

Elizabeth put her phone back into her pocket. It would be a while until they got back. Her sisters and mom liked to take their time when shopping. She hoped Mary wouldn't suffer too bad. Elizabeth knew from experience that being Kitty and Lydia's test dummy was miserable.

Lizzie was ready to shuffle over to the TV and turn on a show when she heard the doorbell ring. Without much thought, she swung the front door open to whoever was knocking.

"Good eveni-" Elizabeth began. She froze mid-sentence as she looked at the person in front of her. Standing in her doorway, looking right at her, was Fitzwilliam Darcy. No more words came out of her mouth. She just stared, eyes wide, gaping like a fish.

Darcy cleared his throat. "Good evening, Elizabeth."

"Hey," Elizabeth said stupidly. She mentally slapped herself. "Do you wanna come in? Nobody is home."

Darcy nodded. Elizabeth stepped to the side and allowed him to walk into the house. She shut the door behind them.

Darcy looked around at the house. Both of them stood by the front door, looking at anywhere but each other. Lizzie looked at the ground. It had been over 30 seconds before Elizabeth forced herself to look up at the man across from her.