Falling Like Snow

Four | The Visit

[Janna] Are you coming for lunch?

[Lizzie] Am I invited to come for lunch?

[Lizzie] I had planned to arrive around the mid afternoon

[Janna] Of course you're invited for lunch

[Janna] William really needs to get better at this whole social nonsense

[Lizzie] You're one to talk! Miss Reading-An-Off-Phone-Screen

[Janna] Very funny

[Janna] Come for twelve? We eat at one

[Lizzie] I'll be there

"Jane?" Lizzie followed the sound of voices into the living room that they usually used, relieved to have found her. In a house like this, there were countless places she could have been forced to look, so it was a relief to have located her so quickly. "I'm going over to Janna's for lunch." Jane smiled at the response, glad that the two had become such good friends in such a short amount of time. There were a plethora of reasons why: it stopped Lizzie from feeling too abandoned by Charlotte; it might entice Lizzie to stay with her and Charles permanently; and because, from what she understood, Georgiana could do with a friend, particularly one as outgoing as Lizzie. Privately, she hoped that a few visits to Pemberly might expose her to time with William - she and Charles had discussed how perfect the two would be for each other more than once. She knew better than to push the subject onto her perverse and contrary sister, though, leaving Luck to do what it would.

Mary frowned. "Is Edwin - I mean Colonel Fitzwilliam - still staying with the Darcys?"

"I guess I'll find out," Lizzie replied with a raised eyebrow that warned Mary against inviting herself along. As much as she loved spending time with her sister, she selfishly wanted Janna, and Pemberly, all to herself today.

Jane huffed in mock offence, and threw a cushion in Mary's general direction. That it hit her was an entire accident, but Mary, with a good natured shriek, grabbed a cushion of her own and prepared to throw it. Laughing, she lowered it, her warning evident as she stuck out her tongue. Wearing a smug expression, Jane taunted, "Throw it and see if I still take you out to Gardiner's later."

"Gardiner's?" Lizzie couldn't help but inquire. It rung a bell, but she couldn't quite place why.

"My favourite café." Jane glanced around playfully before whispering in a conspiratorial tone, "They also sell books. You can buy a recommendation in any genre with a drink or treat, and if you've already read it they'll swap it out for another."

Lizzie gasped. "No!" She clutched her heart, falling dramatically onto a sofa and pressing the back of her hand to her forehead. "How could you fail to tell me of the existence of a place like this? I've been betrayed! By my own sister!"

Charles entered at that moment, paused to survey Lizzie, then turned to Jane with a long-suffering but bemused expression. "What inspired the dramatics?"

"Jane has only just revealed the existence of this Gardiner's place to me!" Lizzie cried.

"Ah," was the response.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Lizzie really needed to get better at keeping, and managing time. Despite buzzing with excitement for all of yesterday's evening, and for all of the current day so far, she still lost track of the ticking minutes until it was a quarter to twelve. With a yelp, she leapt up from her seat in the living room, dashing to her bedroom to retrieve her keys. She rushed to her car, skidding uncontrollably over the loose gravel.