Chapter 2
“Well, here goes nothing, Charlie.”
The tortoiseshell cat watched from his favourite position on the back of the lounge.
One of the biggest hardships for her great-aunt moving to the nursing home was that Aunty Marion’s cat wasn’t allowed.
EJ had promised to take good care of him, and she enjoyed the company when Charlie so deigned to grace her with his presence.
He was something of a communal cat, with various other residents in the flats taking turns looking after him.
But somehow he always knew when EJ might need a cuddle—or at least a visit and reassurance from a fellow living creature, even with his at-times unblinking stare.
Her two younger sisters said hello—whimsical Katie and artistic Elinor, whose blue-streaked hair was now dyed dark purple but cut in an asymmetric style like you might get from a funky Newtown hairdresser. “Mum’s just coming.”
“How’s Dad?” EJ asked. Their father had suffered a heart attack at Christmas last year, which had led to an immediate flight home for Liv. For once EJ had been glad she only lived two hours away, not in New York like she’d dreamed of doing one day.
“He’s doing okay. The doctor has him on new heart meds. He’s hoping to join the chat.”
Katie nodded. “He’s running late because he wanted to get some baking prepped for tomorrow.”
“I thought the doctor told him he needed to give that up.”
“He’s as much of a workaholic as you,” Elinor said.
Hmm. True. When her father had been forced to resign from the police due to stress, he’d thrown himself straight into Mum’s pet dream of running a quaint café, which meant he could show off his baking skills.
An anomaly, they all knew, but she didn’t mind returning from Wattle Vale laden with baking samples, even if later that week the scales weren’t so kind.
The Silver Teapot Café was an institution in their small town, right there on the main street near the primary school, the café’s famous English silver teapot in pride of place on the faux mantelpiece.
Mum’s mum—their grandmother, Veronica Hastings—had given her the teapot when she’d moved to Australia thirtysomething years ago.
The computer screen buffered then split to show another image, then another.
Her mum was in a different screen box to both of EJ’s younger sisters, Elinor and Katie, the background images suggesting they were both in their respective bedrooms of the family home.
Liv looked to be in the dining room at Gran’s place, complete with Laura Ashley wallpaper in the background.
“Hi there!” Liv beamed.
Was her accent sounding more British by the day? “Hey you.” EJ saluted.
“Hey, sweetie!” Mum waved, but to which daughter, EJ couldn’t tell. Probably Liv, though, as the two of them began to chat like the rest of them didn’t exist.
Since Liv had found herself a titled boyfriend—like, for real—it was as if she could do no wrong.
Which was awesome, as Liv totally deserved it, and Liam was pretty cool.
EJ had offered to put Liv in her dating app and see what the algorithms could come up with, but to be honest, EJ couldn’t have chosen better herself.
Liam was Liv’s perfect dream match, even if Liv had managed to find him all on her own.
Although, from some of the hints their grandmother dropped, perhaps some of the villagers had helped the romance along too.
Regardless, Liv was deliriously happy. It was good to see, and the fact that she was happy made Mum happy.
Which—honest talk—was not that strange anyway, as Liv had always been the golden child of the family.
And Mum, with all her pride in her Elizabeth Bennett name and girls, had always been eager to see her daughters achieve respectable marriages.
Not that Liv and Liam were engaged, but from the way Liam always seemed to be hovering near Liv, they all suspected it was only a matter of time before he popped the question.
It was surprising he wasn’t on this call yet.
“How are you, EJ?” Katie, her youngest sister, finally asked.
“Good, thanks.” She coughed to clear the gruffness in her throat.
Katie had always possessed a soft heart and a soft spot for those who might feel on the outside.
EJ, who had always been more business minded than tenderhearted, had often wondered what kind of career Katie would end up in.
With only a few more months of university studies, Katie still didn’t seem to know, which was a worry.
Surely by now she should have some idea, but no.
All she seemed to think about was boys, and just who might be a potential boyfriend.
She’d even overheard Katie joke about being a gold digger, wanting a rich husband, which left EJ conflicted.
She knew—well, hoped—that Katie was joking, as that attitude seemed like ten steps back for women’s lib and girl power and smashing the glass ceiling.
Given the slim pickings of their small-town, Katie seemed destined for disappointment, and EJ had offered to help Katie find a man via Dream Match, but even Katie refused to use EJ’s dating app, saying “it just takes all the romance out of romance.”
Which, to be honest, was not the first time she’d heard such things.
Apparently some people seemed to trust mystical Cupids shooting arrows of love rather than solid psychology, math, and probability that had seen thousands of solid relationships formed over the years and resulted in hundreds of marriages.
But hey, if people preferred to try to find love themselves, good luck to them.
They’d need it. How anyone could dispute the success of Dream Match was beyond her, but then, the longer she’d been in this business, the more she understood that people were weird.
Case in point: their mother, with her singular obsession to see her girls settle down.
Not for her contentment in careers. Oh no.
She was all about finding what she called “eligible gentlemen” for her daughters.
And considering that Katie was as romance minded as Mum, EJ shouldn’t be surprised that she was so weirdly focused on finding her Mr. Right.
Not that EJ could throw stones, given the years she’d invested in developing this app that literally—technically—meant she was as heavily invested in love and relationships as her mum and sister.
If not more. Which was why she really needed that bonus to come through to keep the bank manager happy.
Soon the conversation was buzzing as they all talked over and across each other as was usual in these female Bennett video get-togethers.
“Oh, before I forget, I need to change the time of next week’s video call. Liam is taking me on a date.” Liv smiled. “Oh, and Gran says hello. She’s got a meeting with Tobias about the church hall, so she’s not here today.”
“Is she well?”
Liv nodded, then reported that Gran was very well, and still leading tours around Hartbury Hall, Liam’s centuries-old family home.
“And how are things going with Liam?” Mum asked quickly.
“Fine. He’s happy. Things are now finally settled with the trust, so he’s not feeling hamstrung by them anymore.”
“That’s good,” Elinor said.
Their mother kept on about Liam and Hartbury Hall, as expected.
Most of Mum’s conversations these days managed to mention wonderful Liam or his wonderful title or his wonderful English manor.
And while EJ loved her sister and was genuinely happy for her, she wondered if others appreciated the constant references to all these wonderful things on the other side of the world and whether Mrs. Bennett found anything wonderful closer to home.
“Hey, how are things going with you, Ellie? Have you found a fulltime job yet?” Liv asked.
Elinor’s nose wrinkled as she shook her head. “I knew when I graduated that it would take a while to find something that would fit my skills, but this feels like it’s been taking forever.”
“Keep trusting God,” Liv encouraged.
Hmm. And that comment was why Liv truly was the best sister, the good one who remembered to say things like that.
EJ spent so much time in her own head she barely had time for others, let alone what God might say.
She still believed in God, but He seemed pretty removed from her normal thoughts and actions.
She frowned. Which probably wasn’t exactly what a Christian should do, come to think of it, and something both Great-Aunt Marion and Jordan had commented on before …
“You okay there, EJ?” Mum asked now.
So she was now finally getting a scrap of attention. “Yep.”
“How is work?” Katie asked.
“So-so.” So boring. And so frustrating. Why was she still working there?
Maybe she should just hand in her notice, once and for all.
Except if she did that, she’d miss out on the bonus, and it’d be really helpful to be in a position where she could afford to be choosy about who signed on as a potential investor.
Some days she really wished she didn’t have this burning desire to prove herself and could just let the app keep ticking along.
It’d be nice not to have any more investors, even despite this being what Maurice, her business lawyer, had advised to see the app take the next leap forward.
The conversation quickly veered back to Katie, who was finally finishing her last university subjects and hoping to graduate in a few months’ time.
And yes, Katie might be nearing twenty-five, but it had felt like forever before she’d finally settled on a study path.
Unlike Katie, EJ had earned a double degree in business and computer science, culminating in an MBA at twenty-three.
Elinor was now talking about her graphic design job, and Liv was encouraging her to put her skills to use on Etsy, saying, “People just love the map you designed for Hartbury Hall.”
“I’ll give it some thought.”