Page 36 of First Impressions (Passion and Perseverance #1)

Chapter Twenty-Four

Beth woke alone, again, in the giant bed in Darcy’s bedroom.

The impression of where he had lain with her was still evident on the covers next to her.

Well, at least I didn’t imagine that part.

At some point though he had gotten up before her.

Looking at the clock on his side of the bed, she saw it was almost noon and that she’d napped for almost an hour.

To be honest, she still felt completely drained. Who knew sex was so exhausting?

This time when she sat up in bed, she saw a complete outfit folded and set out on the chair by the door.

Draped over the back of the chair was a garment bag with her dress in it from the night that looked like it had been dry-cleaned.

Her shoes were sitting next to the chair along with her purse and a pair of flip flops.

She picked up the bra and underwear on the chair, examining them and wondering how Darcy had figured out her size.

She put them on and pulled on the jeans and a white t-shirt that was folded underneath.

Slipping her feet into the correctly sized Valentino flip flops, she deduced that Darcy had had all of her clothes taken and cleaned this morning which allowed him, or more likely someone who worked for him, to go out and get her an outfit and shoes.

Very sneaky. It still warmed her on the inside to know that he had gone through so much trouble when she had a change of clothes waiting in her room on the fifth floor.

Quickly stopping in the bathroom to pee again, she tossed her hair up in a messy bun since it had only semi-dried while she had napped.

Walking more confidently out of the bedroom this time, she glanced at the living room and into the dining room looking for Darcy.

Not seeing him, she stood in the main entryway and looked around.

To her left were two doors that were closed, to the right was another, shorter hallway.

She chose to explore that hall first, discovering first a private gym on the left, and the kitchen at the end of the hallway; neither contained the man she was looking for.

Moving back to the center of the apartment, she crossed the main hall and knocked on the set of closed double doors she had seen on the left - no response.

Finding the doors unlocked, she opened them to enter into Darcy’s office.

She was surprised to see a small mess of papers on the desk, whereas everything else was excessively organized; he must have left in a hurry.

Leaving the room, she closed the doors behind her, turning to the only door left.

It opened into a short extension of the hallway and contained three more closed doors: one on the left, one on the right, and one straight ahead.

The door on the left opened into a spare bedroom, seemingly untouched by Darcy.

The door on the right led back out to the main entrance to the suite.

The third door, at the end of the hall, however, was locked.

What was strange was that she noticed the doorknob could be locked from the outside; none of the other knobs in the suite were like that.

What are you hiding?

She heard a knock on the front door of the suite and quickly turned around not wanting to be caught snooping. She looked out of the peephole to see a room service cart sitting outside. Opening the door, she was greeted by an elderly woman in a hotel uniform.

“Good afternoon, m’dear,” she said, giving Beth a warm smile, “I’m Mrs. Grace. I’ve brought up some lunch for you. Mr. William said you might be hungry.”

“Oh. Ok, thank you.” Beth moved aside and opened the door wider allowing Mrs. Grace to push the cart into the suite. Surprised that the older woman called Darcy by his first name, she wondered if she knew what happened to him. “Do you know where Mr. Darcy is?”

“Oh, no I don’t, dear. He just gave a call a little earlier to make sure there was lunch brought up for his guest.” When she saw Beth’s face fall at the news she continued, “I’m sure he wouldn’t leave you here without an explanation.

He is a man, of course, so we can’t have too high of an expectation for him,” she paused here to chuckle at her joke which made Beth smile, “but I’ve known him for a long time and that’s not like Mr. William, always very courteous.

” She finished her thought with a reassuring smile for Beth. “Did you check for a note? ”

This woman clearly didn’t know Darcy that well, or she would know he was infamous for leaving without explanation.

“Ahh, no… I didn’t.”

“Well, I would do that. I’m sure he would have left something. Anyhow, dear, I’ve brought you up some iced tea and turkey and ham sandwiches. I wasn’t sure which you would like.” She uncovered the dishes as she spoke, unveiling two giant sandwiches; her stomach grumbled loudly at the sight.

“How long have you known him?” Beth inquired.

“Ahh, yes well, I’ve been his housekeeper these twenty-odd years now, whether he’s in an actual house, apartment, or hotel suite; I take care of it.

I used to work for his father at the family house and then when he passed, Mr. William asked if I would be willing to travel with him to keep everything in order.

So right now this lovely space is his home for the time being.

” Mrs. Grace smiled warmly at her, “Well, eat up! I’ll be back in a little while to take the tray and clean the suite.

Just hit the number one on the phone if you need anything before then, dear.

” Gathering the lids, she promptly left the room, closing the front door behind her.

She was really hungry; she hadn’t even realized how much until the food appeared.

Her hunger was only superseded by her annoyance with Darcy for disappearing again.

A note. She hadn’t even thought to look or check her phone.

Jogging back in the bedroom, she saw her phone still sitting on the nightstand with a white sheet of paper resting beside it. Picking up the paper she read his note.

Beth,

A friend called about an urgent matter that he needed my assistance with. I apologize for leaving, but I didn’t want to wake you.

I’m having my housekeeper make you some lunch.

I’ll see you when I get back,

Darc y

Not exactly a love note, but at least it was something. She picked up her phone sending a message to Jane and Char that she would call them soon. First, she needed food.

Grabbing the plate with the turkey sandwich, she went into the living room and sat down on the piano bench so she could look out the windows while she ate; the view of central park was breathtaking. It was no wonder this was where Darcy had chosen to stay while he was in the city.

She called Char while she ate, telling her that she had just ordered lunch to her hotel room and then was going to head home; Char seemed convinced, either that or preoccupied; it turned out to be preoccupied with some news that she’d been waiting to tell Beth.

“So, I’m sure you’re wondering what I’m all excited about,” Char began, allowing Beth to mumble her agreement.

“Well, I don’t know if you saw or heard, but I was dancing with Bill last night.

Now, before you say anything, I know this is Bill Collins we are talking about.

Don’t judge me, but we had such a good time together.

I mean we’ve been talking a lot recently at some of the major functions and I didn’t want to say anything to you because it’s Bill Collins, but last night he told me he wanted to be in a committed relationship with me; basically that he wanted to date me but you know how he’s so awkward about everything.

He even asked me out on our first official date. ”

What was the world coming to?! First, she slept with and gave her virginity to, Mr. Intolerable and now Char was falling for Bill freaking Collins.

“I ahh don’t know what to say.”

“I know, I know. He has a temper and is weird but he’s really nice to me and funny and who knows where it will go, but I think we both want something serious.” She started to sound like Jane did when she talked about Charles.

“I mean, I’m happy for you Char, really.

I want you to be happy, even if it is with Bill.

I’m sure he’s a good guy. I just don’t know him that well, and only from a work perspective and then with the whole transfer of the firm to Charles Bingley; which he definitely wasn’t happy about but that doesn’t matter as long as he treats you right. ”

“He really does. I just want this to work so badly. I mean, even my mother was pleased with the prospect, which is saying a lot because she never approves of anyone I date.”

Beth wasn’t sure that her mother’s approval was something Char should really be striving for but she didn’t say anything. She knew how much her friend wanted to please her parents, but even more than that, how much she wanted to be in a serious relationship with someone who appreciated her.

“I’m truly happy for you Char even if it still comes as a shock. So what did he say last night? Did he kiss you?” Beth prompted her to share her story of the night so that Beth could finish eating her lunch.

As she got to the end of her story where they left for the night, Char stopped and exclaimed, “Oh my God! I was totally distracted. What the hell happened between Mr. Darcy and George Wickham?”

Beth choked on the last bite of her sandwich, not sure what to tell her friend.

“I don’t know, really. George came up to me, very drunk, and said something inappropriate and Darcy punched him.”

“OH MY GOD BETH! I knew the man had the hots for you. Darcy, I mean, not George. George I think has the hots for anyone. I knew there was no way he would treat you like he did if he di—”

Beth’s other line started ringing and she saw that it was Jane.

Knowing that she needed to talk to her sister and sort everything out, not to mention the added benefit of avoiding a conversation about Darcy at the moment, she cut Char off, “Hey Jane is calling me so I gotta run. I’ll call you later.

Thanks, bye!” She hung up and switched lines before giving Char a chance to respond.

“Hello?”

“Hey.”

“I was just about to call you actually.” Not quite the truth but she had been thinking about it.

“Oh, are you still at Char’s?” Beth winced, reminded of her lie .

“No, I’m actually back at the hotel. I had to finish up a couple of things after last night.” Her response not far from the truth. “Are you home?”

“Yeah, I slept late and then Lydia called to talk to me about George. I guess something happened after we left. I’m not sure exactly.”

“Oh, interesting. Well, I’m on my way home now; if you’re going to be home when I get there we can talk. I want to hear all about your night!” Beth steered the conversation away from any discussion about what had happened with Wickham and Darcy.

“Yeah, I’ll be here. I have some stuff to tell you too.” Even though she was trying to hide it, Beth could hear the muffled excitement in her voice.

“Ok, I’ll be there soon. Bye.” Beth hung up and sat back on the couch for a minute. What was she going to do?

Should she leave Darcy a note? He clearly expected her to still be here when he returned but now, she had to go see Jane.

Plus, she wasn’t some little play thing that just needed to be provided with clothes and food and she would just stay put and accommodate him.

Although it felt really good accommodating him.

Shaking off that thought, she got up from the couch and went into the kitchen to wash off her plate.

She had to admit that she didn’t want to leave, and not just because she was wondering what other sexual fantasies he would fulfill, but because they still really hadn’t had a chance to talk about anything.

Granted, she felt a little more secure in how he felt about her, but that didn’t change anything that he had said or done in the past and she needed an explanation.

However, she was determined that she wouldn’t regret what happened last night.

Or this morning. Both times. Ugh. She wasn’t going to wait around for him to show back up, no matter how much she wanted to talk to him.

She had a life and other people that she had obligations to.

Not to mention that he could have, at least, left his cell phone number.

What if she hadn’t gotten that note? What if she needed to get ahold of him, for an emergency ?

Whatever. She needed to leave and he was just going to have to deal with it. Deciding to leave him a note in return, she grabbed a sheet of the hotel stationery off the desk in the office and left him a note in return.

Darcy,

I’m sorry for leaving, but you didn’t give me any other way to reach you and I had to go meet Jane.

Your housekeeper is lovely and lunch was delicious.

Since it didn’t seem to be a problem for you to find out anything and everything else about me, I’m confident that you’ll be able to source out my cell number if you want to reach me.

Beth

P.S. - Thank you for the perfectly-sized clothes, by the way.

Leaving the note on the table in the front entryway, Beth grabbed her stuff and made her way out of the suite.

Just before the door clicked behind her, she stopped to make sure that she had all of her belongings, realizing that once the door closed she had no way of getting back in unless, somehow, she found Mrs. Grace.

Cellphone. Purse. Shoes. Dress. That was it.

As the door clicked behind her, she felt like she had locked in everything about last night, everything that they had done, everything he had said; it was like they had been encased in a safe space where no one knew about them or could damage them.

Leaving the suite was like leaving a separate life, where it had just been she and Darcy, nothing else to complicate whatever was between them.

Now, as she rode the elevator down to the lobby, it almost seemed like a dream that couldn’t have possibly happened.

As she trekked through the city back to her apartment, she wondered if she should even tell Jane about last night; that would make it real, verbalizing everything to an outsider, even if that outsider was her sister and best friend.

What would Jane think? Should she tell her everything?

Should she leave out the part about losing her virginity?

Telling Jane everything would make what they had done concrete, it would allow her to be hurt again, publicly; keeping it to herself was the safer option in case it didn’t work out.

Except that left her not only to sort through her emotions on her own but meant she would have to continue to lie and keep things from Jane.