Page 3 of First Impressions (Passion and Perseverance #1)

Chapter Two

A call, a voicemail, and a text message the following morning informed the sisters that Charles Bingley would be at the Bar Association Gala that evening.

Even though Jane and Beth weren’t lawyers, Mr. Bennet invited them to the gala every year as his personal guests.

Now that she was older, Beth had a feeling their mother had a little something to do with their yearly invitation; there was always a high concentration of single, wealthy lawyers attending that Irene made sure didn’t go unnoticed.

All other intentions aside, the Gala was a good party.

Jane fit in a little more amongst that crowd since she worked in the law field, but Beth enjoyed it nonetheless since some of the attendees were Gardiner clients or represented Gardiner clients and she used the opportunity to foster valuable professional connections.

Also, one of her best friends, Char Lucas, was an associate at her own father’s law firm and always attended.

With Beth’s crazy work schedule, she hadn’t seen Char in a few months and was looking forward to reconnecting.

She was grateful, for her father’s sake, that the Gala was tonight because she was sure that her mother had not stopped her barrage of questions and suppositions about Mr. Bingley when they left the other evening.

Not to mention that no matter how many details her father knew, it would be an unsatisfactory amount to quench her mother’s thirst for information; tonight, Irene would meet him for herself and put all of her inquiries to rest.

With the potential DeBourgh account acquisition, Beth had been super crazy at work this past week trying to get ahead on her other projects so that she would have time to dedicate to learning about her new client.

She was glad to finally have the weekend off for the Gala, to relax and let loose for a little bit .

As she walked to pick up her morning Starbucks, she realized that she had completely forgotten to get a dress for tonight.

When she got to the coffee shop, she sat down with her iced ristretto vanilla latte at one of the tables and began browsing the Rent the Runway app for a last-minute wardrobe rental.

Since she needed the dress delivered today, her choices were limited.

Thankfully, they had a Nicole Miller dress available in her size.

She never liked blending in with the crowd so she chose a form-fitting, crimson, silk chemise gown; she’d rented something similar from that designer before, so she was confident that it would fit well.

Beth liked the Starbucks on Chambers Street because it never got too crowded at this time of the morning.

She could sit and sip her coffee, read a book, or just people watch for a few minutes before heading out.

Since she usually didn’t head into her office until nine-thirty on weekdays, she would get here after the morning commute rush when the majority of the customers were non-working moms, purchasing their fuel to get through the day.

She couldn’t imagine doing that - being at home with kids all day and not working.

She could barely relax at home by herself without feeling the need to do something productive.

Jane always joked that she should have taken a course in college on relaxation so that maybe she would practice it more.

In contrast, she had double-majored in Public Relations she couldn’t help that she threw herself completely into whatever goal she was pursuing.

In her opinion, it was that focused dedication that made her so successful at whatever she did.

Today, since it was the weekend, there was a mélange of customers moseying in and out of the café.

Most of them were younger couples grabbing a morning drink before, she imagined, spending the day together enjoying the city.

That was the one thing she regretted about her life so far, not that she would ever admit it, especially to her mother; she’d put off dating and trying to find a boyfriend all through college and graduate school, and once she’d gotten her job, she’d gone out with a couple of guys but they either weren’t as ambitious as she was, or they were successful and expected her not to be as ambitious as she was.

If she had looked for a boyfriend earlier, maybe someone who had been in similar programs to hers, she might have found someone who was equally passionate about his goals as he was about challenging her to pursue hers.

Now, she felt like she had missed the boat; her requirements too specific and her time too sparse for Mr. Perfect to find his way into her life.

Beth felt her phone buzz, drawing her from her thoughts.

- Hey, can you bring me back a chai tea latte? Jane had messaged her.

~ Sure. Be home soon. Beth typed back as she got up and got back in line to order her sister’s drink.

She was back at her apartment ten minutes later, met by a sister eager for her morning tea.

“Thanks so much for grabbing this for me. I needed a treat this morning, mom’s been texting me about tonight - what I’m wearing, what I should say, how I should act, if I’ve googled what Charles Bingley looks like; she’s starting to make me nervous. ”

“Well, that’s mom. Just tell her what she wants to hear and forget about it - you’ll be fine.” Beth plopped down on their couch and opened up her laptop to check her email.

“Do you know anything about him? Charles Bingley?” Jane asked hesitantly as she followed Beth into their living room, trying not to give away that she might have gotten her hopes up about meeting him.

“Really not a whole lot, I’m sorry.” Looking up from her computer she gave Jane an apologetic face.

“Since he’s lived in Boston until now he hasn’t really entered into my work world.

I know that they asked him to be on the Bachelor a couple of months ago and he turned it down to focus on his career.

There was some speculation that maybe he was already in a relationship and that’s why he didn’t accept, but I don’t think they had any clue about who he might be dating. ”

“Oh. Ok… That’s all?”

“Pretty much, sorry. I’m sure he’s available and if dad was impressed by him then I’m doubly sure that he is worth your interest. Not that I actually enjoy agreeing with mom but why don’t you google him? Wikipedia will probably be able to give you more information than I can.”

“I already did.” Even though she only said it to her sister, Jane blushed at her admission before lamenting, “I don’t know why but I feel like I’ve gotten my hopes up about him for no particular reason; it’s probably mom’s fault.”

“Well, it makes sense that meeting him is weighing more on you since dad really liked the first impression he got of Charles – and you know dad is much more discerning of someone’s character than most people.

Plus, top that off with the fact that he might be taking over our family’s firm…

that’s also probably why mom’s hopes are unrealistically high; I mean, it would basically be right out of a storybook if you ended up together.

” Seeing her sister’s anxiety building, she closed her computer, stood up and put her hands on her sister’s shoulders.

“Don’t let mom pressure you into anything; it’s YOUR life and he is just one guy.

If he’s as smart as they say, though, he’ll realize that you’re the best thing that could happen to him. ”

“If you say so,” Jane reluctantly agreed.

Beth gave her a small smile as she headed down the hall to the bathroom to shower.