Elizabeth of East Hampton (For the Love of Austen #2)

Chapter 11

CHAPTER 11

“This place looks like something out of a horror movie,” Lydia murmured.

Lizzy wanted to tell her sister she was being melodramatic, but as she looked around the basement of Bennet Bakery, she had to admit that Lydia wasn’t too far off. It was bad enough that two inches of murky water covered the ground, seeping into the bags of flour they had stored along the walls, but the power was still out, so the entire mess was lit only by their flashlights and a few battery-powered lanterns from their dad’s boat.

“An extreme weather event caused by the ravages of global warming is a real-life horror movie,” Mary said from where she stood perched on the stairs, arms crossed over her chest.

“Thanks for the perspective, Mary.” Lizzy pushed a strand of red hair away from her sweat-soaked brow. In addition to being flooded, the basement felt like a sauna.

To be fair, it could have been much worse. A tree fell down on the Prada boutique around the corner and, ironically, the Brazilian blowout salon across the street had its windows literally blown out, so hairbrushes and bottles of leave-in conditioner littered the sidewalk.

But unlike so many other shops downtown, this wasn’t the Bennet Bakery’s first storm. Lizzy and her father had prepped the space just as they had a dozen times before. It should have worked. But they hadn’t taken into account that the hardware store next door would forget to close the window to their basement, which also happened to share a wall with theirs.

Now it was noon, and while all the other shops had cleaned up and were open for business, the bakery was closed. Mr. Bennet was on hold with the insurance company at home, so Lizzy had been tasked with assessing the damage, along with Mary and Lydia. Meanwhile, Kitty and Jane were helping their mother dry out three hundred pairs of leggings that had until that morning been stored in the basement’s far corner.

Lizzy looked down at the water sloshing around her rain boots. The numbers were already starting to tally in her head: 108 pounds of flour, 82 pounds of sugar, 27 pounds of yeast… then there was everything in the refrigerator. With the power out, they’d have to throw away the butter and eggs and milk… she almost choked as the math began to add up.

Even with insurance, it could be weeks before they saw any reimbursement. In the meantime, if they wanted to get Bennet Bakery back up and running, they would need to put thousands on credit cards, which would mean calling to beg for their limit to be raised again.

She let out a deep breath. If they hadn’t already been at a breaking point, there was no doubt they were now.

“So…” Lydia said, poking at a sodden cardboard box nearby. “When you got to Charlie’s this morning, what was everyone wearing?”

Lizzy blinked up at her. “What?”

“Like, was Jane in her clothes, or did it look like she borrowed Charlie’s?”

“Why does that matter?”

“Because I’m trying to figure out if they slept together or, like, slept together.” Lydia waggled her eyebrows.

“Why don’t you ask her,” Mary said bluntly.

“I did, but she’s not giving me anything, so I need some clues. Was she wearing his T-shirt? Maybe a robe?”

Huh . Lizzy hadn’t thought to look at anyone’s clothing when she strolled up from the beach unannounced. In fact, she couldn’t even remember what anyone had been wearing.

Well, that wasn’t completely true. She remembered what Will Darcy was wearing. Black sweatpants that hung low on his hips, a gray T-shirt that was just on the right side of tight. His blond hair had been a mess, sticking out in every direction as he sipped his coffee, watching her walk toward him on the beach, like he was expecting her.

Lizzy shook her head, jostling the thought away. Maybe that urban runoff from this morning was affecting her brain.

“I think we have bigger things to worry about right now, Lydia,” she said, leaning down to fish a submerged bag of walnuts from the floor.

“I don’t know. Jane finally getting laid seems like a pretty big thing.”

“And so is the industrial-sized fridge that’s been without power for twelve hours.” Lizzy handed her an empty trash bag. “You two go in there and start throwing stuff out. I need to go upstairs to the fuse box and turn off the main.”

Lydia rolled her eyes. “Why would you turn off the power if we already don’t have power?”

“Because I don’t want to die in a pool of standing water when it finally comes back on.”

Lydia huffed but didn’t argue.

The bakery was dark when Lizzy emerged from the basement. She had propped open the front door earlier with the hopes of airing out the stale smell and bringing in some sunshine, but the plywood was still nailed up over the windows and clouds still lingered in the sky, so the room was filled with an eerie half-light. It sent shadows across the room, and Lizzy was so busy ignoring them that she almost missed the tall man standing in the doorway.

“Hello.”

Lizzy jumped and let out a strangled shout. The man stilled, then took a step forward, his head of dark hair suddenly visible.

“You okay?”

Lord Magnus . Her stomach did an odd flop, but she ignored it, ready to offer a reply. Before she could open her mouth, though, Lydia and Mary appeared behind her.

“What’s wrong with… oh.” Lydia’s tone changed the minute she saw Tristan. “Hello there.”

The man’s smile broadened a bit. “Hi.”

“I’m Lydia,” she said, somehow making her name sound suggestive.

Tristan walked forward, offering her his hand. “Tristan Cole.”

Lydia took it, smiling wide.

Then he extended his hand to Mary. She didn’t move, only stared at him from over Lizzy’s shoulder. “I know who you are.”

He nodded, unfazed.

“Tristan… what are you doing here?” Lizzy asked. Why was her voice so high?

“I drove out this morning. Hank wants us to check on Gretna Island. If there’s any storm damage, we could use it to help get our permits for HamptonFest through,” he replied. “And since I was in the neighborhood, I thought I’d see how you weathered everything.”

Mary’s lips curled into a sharp smile. “I guess capitalism never sleeps, huh?”

Tristan didn’t seem offended. He just chuckled as if she had somehow complimented him. “It’s a good thing I don’t mind staying up all night.”

Lydia’s eyes widened, like she had stumbled upon a unicorn. “Wow.”

“So, how bad is it?” Tristan continued, his gaze traveling down to Lizzy’s rain boots.

“Oh, it’s fine.” Lizzy pushed some hair away from her face, suddenly much more aware of her sodden overalls and old Stone Roses T-shirt. “Just the basement. And some electrical work. And our fridge.”

“Do you need any help? I could pitch in.”

Lydia made a strangled sound, something between a laugh and a prayer to heaven.

“No, we’ve got it under control,” Lizzy said, forcing a smile. “Thanks, though.”

“Sure,” he replied. It was that tone again, like he had read some hidden subtext in the conversation. Then he took a step back toward the door. “Well, when you’re done, I was going to head over to Donato Lodge tonight. Apparently they didn’t have any damage, so Hank’s throwing a ‘Survived the Storm’ party. Maybe I’ll see you there?”

Lizzy opened her mouth to answer, but Lydia beat her to it again.

“Oh, you definitely will,” she purred.

“See you tonight, then,” he replied with a smile.

Lizzy’s cheeks flushed as she watched him saunter through the door and out of view.

“Parasite,” Mary murmured.

Donato Lodge was already bursting when they arrived later that night. With Mary still banned and Kitty at home working on her business plan, it was just Lizzy, Jane, and Lydia who faced the thumping beats of tonight’s band. The dance floor was packed, but thankfully the bar wasn’t as mobbed, so Lizzy and Jane found seats, while Lydia disappeared into the crowd.

“You’re late!” Piper exclaimed from behind the bar, already placing their usual drinks in front of them.

“You’re lucky we made it at all,” Lizzy moaned.

“The basement at the bakery flooded,” Jane explained.

Piper winced. “Is it bad?”

Lizzy pushed a few strands of wet hair from her face. She had taken a long shower when she got home and washed her hair twice, but she felt like she could still use another one. “Well, I just spent the past eight hours covered in flour and rainwater. Possibly raw sewage. So it’s not great.”

“We saved Mom’s leggings, though,” Jane said, her voice heavy with forced optimism. “And Dad thinks we should be back up and running in a couple of days.”

Lizzy took a sip of her beer to avoid offering her own opinion, which was that they’d be closed longer than that. But those realities could wait until tomorrow. For right now, she had beer and Tater Tots and a very intense guitar solo being performed onstage.

She turned to stare at the band, which seemed to include guitars, drums, bagpipes, and a lead singer dressed in a football jersey and oversized sunglasses.

“What’s going on up there exactly?”

Piper pointed to a poster behind her emblazoned with the word Korndogg .

Jane looked confused, while Lizzy asked, “Do I want to know?”

“Korn meets Snoop Dogg.”

Lizzy laughed, but the sound was lost in the music. She was about to ask her friend how her dad found these acts, but stopped when she suddenly felt someone looming at her side. She turned and found Tristan there, smiling down at her.

“Hello there,” he said. His gaze slid down her old Duran Duran T-shirt to her jeans and back up again as a wry grin pulled at one corner of his mouth.

She smiled back. “Hi.”

“I was starting to think I missed you.”

“I don’t think you can miss someone you’ve only met twice.”

“Then I’m glad we made it three times.”

She laughed again, not so much at his words but at the fact that her cheeks heated with them, leaving her feeling flushed, off-balance. God, blushing twice in one day? What was going on?

“Tristan! I’m glad my dad finally got you to stop by!” Piper announced, practically leaning over the entire width of the bar to insert herself between them. “Do you two know each other?”

“Her sister threw a paint-filled balloon at me a few weeks ago,” Tristan said with a smile.

Lizzy rolled her eyes playfully. “To be fair, I think you were just collateral damage.”

“Nothing a long, hot shower couldn’t fix,” he replied.

Jane instantly melted, a smile on her lips. “Hi, I’m Lizzy’s sister Jane.”

“Tristan,” he said, taking her hand.

“It’s nice to meet you.”

“My dad won’t shut up about you,” Piper said, her chin resting in her hand. “I haven’t seen him this excited about HamptonFest since he came up with the idea. You’ve set the bar high.”

“Well, I hope I exceed your expectations.”

Piper smiled dreamily.

Lizzy wasn’t sure she had ever seen Piper swoon over a man before, especially since she’d been in a serious long-distance relationship with her girlfriend, Sasha, for the past three years, but right now it looked like she was pretty close.

Over a basket of fresh Tater Tots, the three of them listened as Tristan talked about his plans for the inaugural HamptonFest next summer, how everyone from Bono to Beyoncé was just a DM away. He had stories of partying with Leo, attending Art Basel with the painter Max Betrug—his contacts were seemingly endless.

He was in the middle of detailing his plan to get the permits required for Gretna Island when something at the front of the bar caught Jane’s eye and she lit up. They all turned to see Charlie and Will enter. Charlie’s eyes scanned the room, and when he found Jane’s, he lit up, too. Will noticed their group at the same time, his gaze lingering on Lizzy before landing on Tristan. Something fiery and raw flashed across his expression, but then it was gone, replaced by his usual frown as he leaned over to whisper something to Charlie.

Tristan turned, swallowing down the rest of his beer. His expression was altered, too, but Lizzy had a hard time reading it. Still, she knew enough that whatever passed between him and Will wasn’t good.

“Want to go grab some fresh air?” she asked him.

A bit of relief softened his features, and he nodded. “I’d like that.”

Lizzy grabbed her beer and another one for Tristan, then dragged him away from the bar before the two other men arrived. They avoided the dance floor, weaving their way around the crowd until they reached the Irish Goodbye Door.

The air outside was humid and thick, so the music seemed to still vibrate around them even after the door closed. It helped fill the silence as she took a sip of her beer and leaned back against the building’s shingle siding.

Tristan settled across from her by the railing of the small porch.

“So,” he said.

She smiled. “So.”

“Are those two guys friends of yours?”

“Which one, specifically.”

“Will Darcy.”

“No,” she said, shaking her head once. “Not a friend.”

He nodded and took a sip of his drink.

It suddenly felt like a game, extracting information from each other without making it too obvious.

“Is he a friend of yours?” she asked.

A moment, then he sighed. “He used to be.”

“Used to be?”

“We were friends in high school.”

Lizzy didn’t even try to mask her shock. “Really?”

“All four years.”

“Wow.”

“Is that surprising?”

“No. I just assumed he emerged from a lab, fully formed and void of all human emotion.”

Tristan chuckled. It was a deep sound, and Lizzy enjoyed how it cleared away some of the clouds that had settled over him. “No. He grew up in the city. Upper West Side. You know, old money.”

“Old money?”

Tristan’s easy smile faltered, and his gaze dropped to his feet. “Yeah. Very old.”

“What happened?”

He looked up. “What do you mean?”

“Well, you’re clearly not friends anymore,” she said, nodding to the door that led back into the bar.

“Right,” Tristan said, his wry grin returning. “Sorry to disappoint you, but it’s not very original. He has money and I don’t.”

Lizzy blinked. “Are you serious?”

He took a sip of his drink before shrugging.

Lizzy opened her mouth again, ready to argue the opposite, but she couldn’t. She knew all too well how social standing worked for people in the upper echelons of society, how the numbers in your bank account mattered more than your character. It was a lesson imbibed from birth out here.

His gaze shifted to the darkness beyond the porch, as if taking a moment to remember. “My dad was head of maintenance at this private school in the city. Really prestigious. In a normal world I could never afford to go, but thanks to my dad’s job, I attended for free. It was great, don’t get me wrong, but it put a target on my back, too. Will didn’t seem to care, though. We became friends. It was the first time I didn’t feel like I was… less. It was the best four years of my life.” Tristan paused. “Then we graduated, and Will went to Columbia.”

Lizzy blinked. She hadn’t known Will went to Columbia. The information left an odd weight in her belly, another connection to a man she didn’t want any connection with at all.

“What did you do?” she asked.

“I got into a bunch of schools but tuition was just too high, and I couldn’t make it work. If I saved for a few years, really buckled down, maybe I could do it, but that required a job that paid well. I knew Will’s family ran an investment firm in the city, so I reached out. He agreed to help but warned me that it would probably be tough. His dad came through, though. Took me under his wing. Suddenly I had a good job, was making good money at entry level, even without a degree. I learned a lot.”

“And then?”

Tristan let out a long breath. “Will’s parents died. Horrible car accident. It was like my world got turned upside down. Will obviously took over for the estate, and one of the first orders of business was to get me fired.”

Lizzy was struck dumb for a moment. “No.”

Tristan nodded once, his gaze locked with his pint glass as he tipped it back and forth.

“But… why?”

Another shrug. “He never reached out to explain. To be honest, I wasn’t surprised. His dad had always wanted him to join his company, but Will took a different track. So the fact that I was on the path his father had always wanted him to follow…”

The realization hit Lizzy hard. “He was jealous.”

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

Lizzy was stunned. Will Darcy wasn’t exactly her favorite person, but sabotaging someone’s career? A person he had called a friend? They had to construct an all-new level of asshole for that.

“I’m sorry,” Tristan said, shaking his head.

“What do you have to be sorry for? He should be the one apologizing.”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to get in the middle of whatever’s going on between you two.”

Lizzy’s nose scrunched up. “There’s nothing going on between me and Will Darcy.”

Tristan smiled like he wasn’t convinced. “Are you sure? I saw the way he looked at you in there.”

“You mean the barely concealed loathing? I’m pretty sure he gives that look to everyone.”

He chuckled as he pushed off the porch railing to start toward her. “Interesting.”

“Not really,” she said with a shrug. “It’s like you said. He has money and I don’t.”

Tristan stopped in front of her, studying her face before raising his beer to clink against hers. “Well, cheers to that.”

She bit back a smile. “Cheers.”

Lizzy had no idea how much time passed. She had been too busy listening to Tristan talk about his plans, where he had hoped to be and how he had to work twice as hard for it now. She was so entranced that she almost missed the sound of cheering erupt from inside, the telltale sign that the band had finished their set.

Her heart dropped. “What time is it?”

Tristan pulled out his phone. “Almost midnight.”

“Crap,” she murmured. “I should head home.”

“Everything okay?”

“Yeah, I just have to be at work early. The repair guy’s coming by to fix the fridge, then I have a whole pantry’s worth of supplies to replace…” She let out a deep sigh and pushed her hair from her face.

“Do you want a ride?”

She shook her head. “No, it’s all right; I live close by. I’m used to walking.”

He nodded. “Okay.”

Neither of them moved. In the stillness, Lizzy was suddenly aware of just how close they were standing, the intensity of his stare.

Then, slowly, Tristan leaned forward, just enough for his mouth to hover over hers. Her brain was still registering the move when his hand came up to cradle her jaw, tilting her head just so, and forcing her eyes to meet his.

Oh, she had missed this. Tristan hadn’t even kissed her yet, but the warmth and the comfort of another body so close to hers was enough to send a steady hum through her bloodstream. Suddenly she couldn’t remember why she hadn’t hooked up with anyone in months. A travesty that needed to be remedied at the earliest convenience.

But then the Irish Goodbye Door opened, and the boisterous sounds of the bar cut through the haze around them.

That’s when Will Darcy emerged.

He didn’t see Lizzy and Tristan immediately, just walked out and stopped on the porch. He took a deep breath, letting his head fall back so the lights in the parking lot highlighted his profile. The arch of his nose, the severe line of his brow.

Tristan cleared his throat.

Will’s attention snapped to them. His body was like stone as he took in the scene: Lizzy pressed up against the side of the building, Tristan’s body caging her in. There was no doubt what was happening. Still, Will did a slow audit, as if trying to decipher the details, until his gaze finally came up to meet Lizzy’s. His blue eyes were partially hidden under the shadow of his brow, but it didn’t matter. She could see them locked on her, clear and hard.

“Hello, Will,” Tristan said. “Can we help you with something?”

Will looked over to Tristan. Whatever had been burning behind his expression went out. A moment passed, then he turned, walking down the steps and into the parking lot.

Lizzy’s heart was racing, and she didn’t know why. Who cared if Will Darcy caught her with a guy? If anything, she should have enjoyed the look on his face. Still, her skin had cooled as she let out a shaky breath.

“I should get going.”

Tristan’s attention returned to her, seemingly unfazed. “Are you sure?”

She nodded.

“All right,” Tristan murmured, but he didn’t move. “What are you doing next weekend?”

“Working,” she said, then remembered what day it would be. “Oh, and going to this big Fourth of July party on the beach here. I would invite you, but it’s being hosted by one of Will’s friends, and that probably means he’ll be there, so…”

She let the words hang, knowing she didn’t have to explain further.

“Right,” he said, smiling to himself. “What are you doing after?”

“After the party?” She let out a dry laugh. “Probably going to bed. Why?”

“I have a thing in the city that day, but I’m driving back out here after. We should get together when I get in. Grab a drink or something.”

Oh. Oh . Lizzy knew exactly what “or something” meant, and she was not the least bit opposed to it.

“Sure,” she said with a shrug, as if her pulse wasn’t currently tripping through her veins.

“Cool. I’ll text you when I’m heading out.” He reached back and pulled his phone from his pocket. “What’s your number?”

She rattled it off and he typed away on his screen. A moment later, her phone pinged in her back pocket.

“And now you have mine,” he said.

She bit back a smile. “So I do.”

He sighed, letting his head fall forward like he had to take a moment to collect himself. “You really don’t want to come back inside? I can give you a ride later. To your place, or you can come hang out at mine. I have a hotel room tonight in Bridgehampton.”

“Oh.” Her skin felt hot again, and a forgotten part of her wanted to say yes, wanted to jump into the passenger seat of his car and just go. But then another part of her roared to life, one that tugged on her attention. And she hated how it looked a lot like Will Darcy.

“Not sure that will make an early start tomorrow any easier,” she said with a smile.

“No. But I promise it will be more fun.”

She laughed softly but left the suggestion untouched. “I’ll see you next weekend.”

“I’m looking forward to it.”

He shot her one last grin, then turned toward the door and disappeared back inside.