How did he get roped into bringing Munchkin along with him? Lewis started his car and made his way around the circular drive. In a way, it felt familiar having Darcy tag along. But it had always been Brooks and him telling her to go home or to leave them alone. And when they were older, and were able to drive, she'd always found a way to finagle a ride from them, even though she'd always been relegated to the back seat.
But here she was, in the front seat. And she wasn't a little girl anymore, that was for sure. It had given him pause, placing her in the hallway. He knew it had to be Darcy. What other girl would be in the Bennett's hallway? In fact, he'd quickly computed the statistics that a random woman had found her way into their home. But then, if you added in things like having the same coloring as Darcy and being approximately the same age (though that had fooled Lewis for a moment because for some reason, he always seemed to think of Darcy as fifteen), the odds just became too great.
But it wasn't any Darcy he'd seen before.
"Did you come home for the party last year?" he asked, trying to conclude why he'd been stumped.
"Yes. Why?"
He turned out of the Bennetts' neighborhood-his old neighborhood-and started through town. "I just couldn't remember."
"We danced together," she said.
"Did we?"
"Twice."
"Hmm." Nope, it wasn't coming to him. Nothing. He only remembered dancing with Grace. "So, how's Beantown, Munchkin?"
"Darcy. It's great. You should have stayed, it's a great place to live."
He nodded. "Yeah, I know. But it made sense to make the move. For the company."
"Well, New York's just a train ride away. I go down all the time."
"Do you?"
She didn't answer right away. "Well, not all the time. But I've gone down quite a bit."
"Hmmm," he said while his mind turned to a new app idea. Wouldn't be cool if you could-
"You just missed the turn to the Club," he heard from afar.
"Hmmm?"
"Lewis? You just missed the turn."
He came out of coding in his head to realize that, yep, he'd gone a half-mile past the turnoff to the Club. So many times he'd be walking through Manhattan and realize he'd gone five blocks past his office. That's the app he needed-a warning on his watch or something for when he walked past his building. Something like a Garmin, but tiny and wearable.
"Unless you'd like to go somewhere else..." Darcy said beside him, jolting him out of his app nap.
He looked over at her as he pulled the car to the side of the road to turn around. "What? Where else would I want to go?"
She was looking at him like he should know something. He got that look a lot from women. She shook her head (again, something he got a lot) and turned her head toward her window. "Nothing. Never mind."
The parking lot at the Club was filling up fast, even though the party was just beginning. You didn't arrive fashionably late for this event. You sucked every minute out of this night.
What if there was an app where you could rate the party you were at and your entire social network could see it, rate theirs, and you could all move to the best one? As he parked the car, he reached for his digital recorder to get the idea down, then paused.
You could kind of do that already on Facebook. Damn Zuckerberg. (This was a sentiment Lewis thought daily.)
"Are you ready?" Darcy asked.
He looked at the Club, lit up with not only from the inside, but also the tasteful holiday lighting along the outside of the building. Grace was in there. His future started now.
"I'm ready," he answered and got out of the car.
Darcy watched as Lewis rounded the car to open her door. She knew what he was thinking. She always knew what he was thinking-which wasn't easy with a mind like his. He was thinking about Grace and their kiss. Maybe even something along the lines of it going differently this year.
Oh, it was going to go differently, if she had anything to do with it. She just hadn't worked out the logistics of it yet. But she'd designed many games, and you always started with the goal and worked backward.
But was Lewis kissing her at midnight the goal, or just him not kissing Grace?
"Coming?" he asked as he held out his hand for her.
She took his hand and felt a tiny spark as his cool, smooth hand enveloped her small, warm one. She looked up at him to see if he felt what she did and saw him stare at their joined hands. Will his head turn? That would mean he was trying to figure something out. Turn. Turn. And then, ever so slowly, and ever so subtly, his head tilted as he rotated their hands just a fraction.
She pressed her palm deeper into his, loving how big and protective his felt, and watched as his brow furrowed just the tiniest bit. She stepped out of the car, and was greeted with a blast of cool air, from more than Lewis letting go of her hand as soon as she was standing.
"Wow. It must have dropped ten degrees in the time it took to drive over."
Lewis looked up at the dark sky. "No stars. Must be heavy cloud cover. Could be a storm."
Great. No way was she going to let these perfectly executed curls get caught in the rain, even though she'd pictured a stolen moment with Lewis on the terrace. Guess she'd just have to find an alternate private nook, indoors.
Lewis started through the parking lot and Darcy hurried to catch up to him. She wanted to enter with him, and let people think what they would. "Lewis," she called. "Slow down. These shoes are really hard to run in."
He stopped and waited for her, noticing her shoes. "Wow," he said and she felt total justification in the money spent. "Those are going to be killing you by the end of the night." And then, total frustration.
"I know," she grudgingly admitted. "But I like how they make my legs look." He looked at her legs and she struck a pose, flexing her calf and shifting so the slit up the side of her dress fell open.
"Hmmm," he said and turned to hold the entrance door for her. She went through and nodded to the girls set up at the coat check station. She handed them her wrap, took the ticket they gave her, put it in her tiny clutch (also beaded!) and hurried down the hallway to catch up to Lewis, who had no coat to check.
"Lewis, wait," she called and he turned, looking as if he'd forgotten she was with him. Not that she was with him, but, still. He stood at the entrance doors to the party and did as she commanded-waited. One thing about Lewis: his self-awareness about being so absent-minded had made him good at taking orders.
"Lewis, stay," she added, not wanting him to go through the doors and make a mad dash, at least attention-wise, to wherever Grace may be. Maybe she'd get lucky and Grace wouldn't be there yet, and Darcy would have a few more minutes of Lewis's attention, such as it was.
When she reached him, she took a deep breath, preparing to enter the room where she'd spend the first night of the Rest of Her Life. He held the door for her and she walked into the already crowded room.
"Wow," she said, taking in all the gorgeous gowns and dazzling tuxes.
"Wow," Lewis said and Darcy didn't need to follow his gaze, but she did anyway.
There stood Grace Devine, looking like she never had before, in a beautiful gown that Darcy suspected belonged to Annabelle, talking with a handsome man Darcy had never seen.
And just like that, all the work Darcy had done in the last year in preparation for this night-the Lasik, growing out her hair, the highlights, the ridiculous amount of money she'd spent on her dress and shoes-didn't seem nearly enough to compete with the way Lewis looked at Grace Devine.
Something inside Darcy snapped. And then, something outside her did, and she felt herself falling off her glass slippers. Her last thought before she hit the ground was of turning into a pumpkin.