He shook his head. "I should get some reading done tonight."

"Ugh, reading? On a Saturday night?"

I tried to not laugh as I got up and cleared my place. "Please let me help you with the dishes, Henry," I said once I got back to the kitchen. "Don't make me go back out there." I nodded toward the dining room.

He shook his head. "My dear, you have no idea how long I've had to put up with Miss Bingley. Why do you think I don't use the dishwasher?" He gestured toward the stainless-steel industrial dishwasher to his right as he filled up the sink to manually do the dishes. He gave me a wink as I headed to the living room.

Caroline was mindlessly flipping through the channels on the large flat screen against the wall while Darcy was busy on his laptop. I curled up on the chaise longue and tried to read. As much as I enjoyed Chaucer, the Caroline Bingley Show was much more entertaining.

She leaned over to watch Darcy type. "Tell Georgiana I say hello."

"I already did -- do you want me to tell her again?" Darcy didn't even look up from the screen.

Caroline placed her hand on Darcy's shoulder. "Well, I just think it is so sweet of you to check up on your sister as much as you do."

Darcy didn't respond and kept typing.

"Hmmm." Caroline yawned exaggeratedly. "What an amazing day on the slopes." She got up and began stretching in front of Darcy. She took a deep breath as she reached her arms up to the ceiling, a motion that exposed her midriff conveniently at Darcy's eye level. She continued stretching, bending over to the side and letting out a loud sigh.

Darcy closed his laptop, much to Caroline's delight. But then he went over to the couch beside me and picked up his book, not giving Caroline a second glance.

Caroline slouched down on the couch beside him. Darcy was entrenched in his book. "Ooh," Caroline cooed. "What a beautiful evening. Yes, I think it is a perfect evening to read." She bit her lip and went over to the bookshelf and selected a book at random.

She pretended to be interested in Great Expectations. But after ten minutes, her own expectations had clearly not been met, and she threw the book down.

"Lizzie," Caroline said to me. I was in such shock that she was addressing me directly I didn't respond right away. "Lizzie, do you want me to teach you some yoga moves?"

I didn't know how to react. I automatically assumed that she was setting me up for something.

Darcy set down his book and started studying me as Caroline began doing very complicated poses, obviously trying to impress him.

"Not your thing?" Darcy asked me.

I shrugged. "Yeah, I guess not."

Caroline, satisfied that she had outshined me, sat down on the floor facing us with her legs crossed. "Yoga isn't for everybody. I just really try to challenge myself physically, as well as intellectually, every day." I had to bite the inside of my cheeks to stop from laughing. "I have to admit that I'm not nearly the sibling to Charles as you are to Georgiana." Caroline reached over and touched Darcy on his knee.

"Do you have any brothers or sisters, Lizzie?" Darcy asked.

I shook my head.

"Your parents must be sad to have you so far away." He looked genuinely interested in my family life.

Before I could answer, Caroline kept prodding on. "I try my best to be a good sister, but I have a tendency to take on the big-sister role with so many of my friends. It's hard sometimes, when you put so many others first."

Darcy kept staring at me, and it was making me uncomfortable.

"Not that you have any faults, Darcy," Caroline continued. I couldn't tell whether she was serious or not.

Darcy turned his attention away for a second to look at her. "Nobody's perfect."

I let out a laugh. He looked over at me. "Do you think you're perfect?" he asked.

"No, no, not at all. Far from it. I'm just interested in hearing what you think your faults are." I found myself enjoying the conversation.

"Well." He paused. "Everybody has them, and I'm certainly not an exception. I can sometimes have a bit of a short fuse. I'm not the most forgiving of people. And I'm sure I would be bad at yoga." He looked at me. "Would you care to jump in?"

I tried to be polite. "I haven't known you for that long."

"But I'm sure you have something to say on the subject?" I didn't need to be asked twice.

"I guess the fact that you seem to hate everybody and everything could be considered a weakness."

"And I guess your ability to wildly misunderstand people is yours."

Caroline jumped to her feet and turned on the TV. She sat back down next to Darcy and started droning on and on about what movie to order. Neither Darcy nor I expressed any opinion, but Caroline didn't seem to notice or care.

As long as Darcy wasn't talking to me, she was happy.

9.

THE RIDE BACK TO SCHOOL THE NEXT DAY WAS UNEVENTFUL.

Charles and Jane were in front laughing and enjoying themselves. Caroline continued relentlessly dropping the P-word (sixty-eight times) to Darcy, who spent the entire trip staring out the window. He ignored me the entire way home, which made me very happy.

I had switched my shift at work for the trip, so I had to work on that Sunday night. I preferred Sunday afternoons since it was always busy, so the time just flew. And we got more tips.

"What are you doing here?" I asked Tara when I arrived.