A/N: I don't own it; it's all Jane's unless you don't recognize it. Then it's mine. And I'm sorry about the long wait. But school keeps me very busy.

Monday morning, I walked into work and saw a tall, skinny man with wavy dark brown hair with his back to me. He was talking to Lucas and looked vaguely familiar. He was wearing blue jeans, hiking boots, and a long-sleeved navy blue shirt. And then I coughed and he turned around. "Betsy!" he said. "How are you?"

"Jamie," I gasped. "James Anthony Malloy, what are you doing here? I thought you were in Ecuador."

"It's been twenty-seven months," he said. "The Peace Corps is done with me. I'm back in Ann Arbor looking for a job now."

"And we're going to hire him," Lucas said. "He's going to be our newest barista. And I'm going to let him live upstairs with me so he doesn't have to live with his parents."

I took a deep breath. "That's great. I can't believe you're back. It's been so long." I sighed and looked at him. "I've missed you, Jamie. I can't believe you're finally back."

"Twenty-seven months is a long time. We need to catch up. I've missed so much of your life. I can't believe you guys finally really got this place up and going."

"I told you about it in my emails."

"Yeah, well, emails aren't the same thing as seeing it for real. This is really impressive, Betsy."

I grinned. "I love it. And I'm glad you like it."

"It's so you," he said.

"Lucas and Carlye work here too," I reminded him.

"I know. And it's all great. But this is just so you. I go away for twenty-seven months and you suddenly do this. It's what you've always wanted. Damn, Betsy, you're amazing."

I grinned. "Jamie, you went to Ecuador to save the world and I'm sure that you've probably got a million little kids who are eternally grateful to you for everything you did there."

He laughed. "Yeah, there are a lot of kids who love me there. But I bet they'd like me more if I'd given less homework. We need to catch up. What are you doing tonight?"

I groaned. "My parents invited Justin Collins over for dinner and I have to be there."

"Is your mom still trying to marry you off to Justin?"

"She thinks it will look better at the university if one of my father's daughters marries Collin."

He laughed. "That's ridiculous. Justin's dad is the dean of LS&A but that doesn't mean that you have to marry him to protect your dad's job."

"Jamie, you don't live in my mom's mind."

"Thank God for that. Well, when are you free next? I want to talk to you and find out more than letters can tell me."

"I'm free on Saturday. I work most evenings except Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays."

"I don't have my schedule yet."

"That's because I write the schedule and I didn't know you'd been hired," I replied. "But I promise you I'll get you on there by the end of the day today and I'll call you with it. But you won't be on the schedule this week unless I give you some of Lucas's shifts or mine."

"You can give him some of my shifts," Lucas said. "I could use some time to do some reorganizing and prep around here. I need to reevaluate our stock of books and do inventory."

"Dude, you have to do inventory because it's the end of the month," I told him. "It is part of your freaking job every stinking month, just like it happens to be part of mine that I have to count skeins of yarn all week."

"Yeah but you're more organized than I am so your counting will be easier than mine will."

"I also work faster than you do because I'm not as lazy as you are."

"I don't like you anymore."

I sighed. "Lucas William Ormond, you sound like you're approximately six years old right now. Actually, this is surprisingly similar to the time in third grade when you told me you didn't want to be friends with me anymore because I wanted to draw a blue butterfly with the chalk while you wanted to the blue chalk to draw a blue dinosaur."

He stuck his tongue out at me. "You always got in the way."

"It was my chalk. I was being nice and sharing with you."

Jamie shook his head. "You two have always been ridiculous."

"He always broke my crayons!" I protested before heading over to the yarn shop to get some real work done.

That night, I arrived at my parents' house at five-thirty, to make sure that my mother couldn't yell at me for being late. I wasn't expected until six but I refuse to give my mother an excuse to yell "Elizabeth Bennet" at me. She loves it and I hate it. Unless we're filling our legal forms or something like that, my name is Betsy Bennet. Sure, it's alliterative but it's also not a direct reference to one of the most famous women in literature.

"Lizzy!" my mother cried running at me as soon as I came in the front door. "You're here. I'm so glad to see you. Your father and Justin aren't here yet but they should be here soon. Hang your coat up and come with me. I need you to set the table. Mabel is practicing the piano, Cam is working on a school project at the library, and I don't know where Lucy is."

"Mom, calm down," I told as I put my coat in the closet. "I'll set the table."

"I'm just nervous. I want everything to work out perfectly. I don't like seeing you all alone, Lizzy. It's not good for you. You need a man. You're lonely and unhappy and it's not just good for you or healthy."

"Mom, I'm fine. I promise. And can I point something out to you, please?"

She stopped in the doorway to the kitchen. "What?"

"His last name is Collins and my name is Elizabeth Bennet. I don't think I should marry him."

She looked at me and then her hands flew to her face. "Oh dear, I never thought about that. You really can't marry him. It would be all wrong. Does Justin annoy you like Mr. Collins in the book?"

I laughed. "He isn't that bad. But he isn't my type. Mom, he can't stand the fact that I own the Knit 'n' Lit."

"It is a little odd, sweetie."

"But it's what I love," I protested.

"Can't you at least try to give Justin a shot?" she asked, suddenly changing her position-yet again. "Ignore his last name. He's a nice guy."

"Yes but he's as boring as wallpaper," I told her.

"I know you think that but give him another try. Pretend his last name isn't Collins."

My mother has been trying to set me up with Justin since I was in tenth grade. We're getting nowhere. She still wants me to marry Justin. He still breathes through his mouth and rambles about Wilson's Fourteen Points from 1918. I'm sorry; I don't care much about World War I. It happened. They called it "The War to End All Wars." And then it wasn't the war to end all wars-at all. Twenty-one years later, they were right back at it again with World War II. And no matter how many times I tell Justin that, he still rambles about how Woodrow Wilson is his political hero. Well, bully, mine is Teddy Roosevelt because he's in Newsies.

"It's more than his last name, Mom," I persisted. "He isn't my type."

"How can you know that? Sure you dated Jamie but what do you know of men? You're young."

"I know what I'm looking for. I dated Jamie for two years. And I know that I want to marry a man with whom I can have an interesting conversation. I'm not interested in hearing about Woodrow Wilson for the rest of my life."

"But he's so smart."

I sighed. "No, Mom, he's just not for me. I'm too free-spirited for him."

"I don't understand you. You own that store and you just don't conform to what everyone else does."

"I love my store!" I told her.

"And you're always making your own clothes."

"Because I can and I enjoy it," I said. "People are always complimenting me on my clothes."

"Who?" my mother demanded.

I sighed. "Jenna, my customers, Carlye," I said.

"Carlye and your customers are just crazy hippies," she said. "And Jenna just says those things to be nice. You know how your sister is. She has to be nice to everyone."

"Do you tell her things like that?" I asked bitterly. Mom has never made a secret of her preference for Cam's and Lucy's ditziness. And since I was a little girl, she's been constantly telling me how Jenna is nicer than I am and prettier than I am. Thanks, Mom.

"Don't be ridiculous, Elizabeth. I always work to affirm and up build each of my daughters."

I tried not to roll my eyes but failed. And then I just looked at her. "I'll go set the table, Mom."

Justin Collins arrived at 6:13 PM-according the clock on my parents' oven. I was in the kitchen taking the crescent rolls out of said oven. My mom wanted me to appear domestic and gentle. I wanted to go home, put on pajamas, eat raspberry sorbet out of the carton, knit, and watching a chick flick. Unfortunately, I had agreed to coming over to dinner to placate my mother and to hopefully keep myself from being guilt-tripped into spending time with my family for a few weeks. I could only handle so much Bennet Family Drama in one month.

As I took the rolls out of the oven, my mother walked back into the kitchen and looked at me. "Is that what you're wearing?"

"No," I told her. "This is my Halloween costume."

She glared at me. "Don't give me any of your sass right now, Elizabeth Louise. I'm being serious. Look at yourself. What are you wearing?"

I was wearing a pair of dark blue skinny jeans, a long-sleeved navy blue shirt, and a sleeveless cream-colored tunic sweater that I'd knit the previous winter. And I'd accessorized with silver ballet flats, silver necklaces and earrings, and a navy scarf/headband in my long dark brown curls. "I think I look fine. I wore this at work all day."

"Elizabeth, it's clear to me that you don't realize that Justin Collins is interested in dating and then marrying a respectable young woman. You look like an eccentric artist right now."

I sighed. "Mother, maybe you haven't realized this recently. But that's exactly what I am. I'm eccentric. And if Justin doesn't like that, then he doesn't have to talk to me."

"I want to see married before I die."

"Will you be dying soon?" I asked.

"Stop being so sassy, Lizzy; I'm your mother and I don't have to take your lip."

I sighed. "Mom, I'm not getting changed. I'm twenty-four years old and I can wear what I want to wear. Justin and I are very different people."

"Your father and I are different."

Well, that's as obvious as your hand in front of your face. I'm getting much better at not saying every single thing that pops into my head when talking to my mother. So I just looked at her and shrugged. "Mom, I'll go out there and be nice at dinner. But stop insulting my clothes. I like the way I dress."

"Why can't you be more like Cam and Lucy?" she asked.

You want me to be a whore? "Mom," I said aloud. "I'm not like them. I have what Grandma Bennet always called 'an independent spirit.' I'm not going to conform to society just for kicks. I like doing things my way. I don't want to be just like everyone else."

"And what if you never get married, what will you do?"

"I'll still have the Knit 'n' Lit," I replied. "Now let's go eat dinner. It's not nice to keep Justin Collins waiting just because you don't like your daughter's clothes."

"I wasn't trying to keep him waiting," she whined, just like Lucy does whenever she doesn't get her way.

"No, you were just criticizing my wardrobe for the ninety-seventh time this month," I replied as we walked out into the living room.

"Justin, it's so good to have you here!" my mother beamed when we were in the living room. "How are you doing?"

"I am extremely busy," he replied from the couch. "Nina, you simply would not ever believe how busy I am. It is simply beyond belief."

My darling mother practically shoved me into a seat next to Justin on the couch. He barely looked at me. Justin is twenty-nine years old and has his master's degree in American history. He works at our local community college as a lecturer and is working on his PhD in history at Michigan State University. He is about the average height for a guy and a little bit overweight but it's not really serious or that noticeable. What is noticeable is his insistence in dressing in dark clothing at all times as if he is in mourning for something. And he always speaks in a very serious, solemn, stilted manner, which I find awkward and uncomfortable.

"I can imagine," my mom said. "I know that Joel finds the second half of every semester to be harder and busier than the first half."

My dad smiled at Justin before giving my mother a questioning look. There is an amazing difference between a department chair at a top-ranked university with three PhDs and a lecturer at a community college with a master's degree. I have nothing against community colleges. But they aren't exactly the same animal as the University of Michigan.

"It's so intense," Justin persisted. "My department head is just grinding at me. And there's this new professor, something-or-other Wick-McMahon, and he's so obnoxious and pretentious. He thinks he's too good for a community college. But I don't think he knows the value of community colleges for American society. Why, in her books, Dr. Claire Devereaux says that the modern student should always keep the community college as one of their options."

"That's so true," I agreed. "I've never read any of Dr. Devereaux's books but I know from my friends' experiences that it can be really good to go to a community college especially if you're not sure what you want to major in. And it's also a great, inexpensive way to get some of those obnoxious prerequisites out of the way."

"Thank you, Elizabeth," Justin said with a smile. "Dr. Deveraux also says that in her books although I don't think she uses that word obnoxious exactly."

"Dr. Devereaux was clearly never an English major sitting through basic chemistry," I replied.

"Oh, I loved chemistry," Justin said. "All that math and using your pen, I think Woodrow Wilson probably secretly loved chemistry. After all, he thought the pen was mightier than the sword, so therefore he must have loved any use of his pen."

"Yeah, I bet he loved writing grocery lists."

"I'm sure his wife wrote those for him," he protested. "Real men don't go grocery shopping."

Note to self: tell Lucas that he is not a real man. Also tell Jamie the same thing. Then make sure to hide while Lucas grabs his gun and just avoid Jamie in general.

My father, who does most of the grocery shopping in my parents' household, attempted to dissolve the situation by saying, "Nina, dear, where are Mabel, Cam, and Lucy?"

"I'm not entirely sure. I think they're all still upstairs getting ready. I can go check if you like."

My father nodded. He considers most of upstairs, aside from the master suite, to be "female territory" and therefore unsafe to him.

"Will Jenna not be joining us this evening?" Justin asked as my mother stood up.

"No," she replied. "Jenna is out on a date with her lovely boyfriend, Kevin Bingham. He's a new professor at the University. He's so talented and intelligent and handsome. And he's British. And he's independently wealthy. He's inherited money from his father who did something although I can't remember what exactly. But his father sold his business shortly before dying and now Kevin has half of the fortune and his dear, sweet sister has the other half. And they're both so kind and generous. I think that Kevin will make our Jenna a lovely husband."

"Oh, I wasn't aware that Jenna was dating anyone. She hasn't put it on her Facebook page yet. I thought she was still single."

Jenna's relationship status, according to Carlye, was simply unlisted. Carlye said that some people would view this as uncertainty about the relationship with Kevin or lack of commitment. I knew it was just my sister's natural reserve. She didn't admit something like that until she was really sure it was going to last forever. I don't think she's ever put "Jenna Bennet is in a relationship with Paul Beckett" on Facebook and they dated for at least a year.

"Jenna is definitely taken," my mother told Justin. "But Lizzy here is still single."

Justin turned and looked at me for the first time all evening. "Really, that's good to know."

And then my mother walked out of the room.

"So how is that little store-thing of yours doing these days?" Justin asked me.

"Booming actually," I replied. "Things are actually going so well that we've just hired another barista so that Lucas can spend more time dealing with the business side of things and less time steaming milk."

"I'm surprised," he said. "I didn't realize that knitting and that stuff were really a way to make money."

"People like having something to do with their hands. And it's an old, beautiful art and people like that."

"But it's just such a simple task. It has no function, no real product at the end."

"No real product at the end?" I asked. "You have a scarf or a sweater at the end. Justin, look at this sweater I'm wearing. I made this."

"Really?" he said, fingering the edge of the sweater. "I didn't know you could do things like that."

"That's what knitting is for. Sweaters are supposed to be knit. Scarves are supposed to be knit."

"I thought you just bought them at the store."

My dad sighed. "But they have to be made. And they are typically knit although not always by hand."

"But in my opinion handwork is prettier," I said. "I even make my own dishtowels."

"How?" Justin asked.

"I knit them," I replied.

"Do you have to knit?" he asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, let's say you marry some guy who doesn't like knitting or doesn't see the point."

"I wouldn't marry a guy who couldn't understand why I knit."

"But you could buy sweaters and dishtowels and scarves at the store and it would be easier."

"But they wouldn't be the same. The sweaters or whatever wouldn't have the same character or value if they were just mass-manufactured. They'd be nice and pretty and good. But it wouldn't be the same. And I wouldn't marry someone who would make me leave that part of my life behind."

"But what if you really loved the guy even though he didn't support your knitting?"

"I couldn't love someone who couldn't accept me, all of me, as I am!"

"But some times we have to change for the people we love," Justin retorted.

"I don't think so. I won't marry a man who won't accept me as I am and won't love me, all of me, as I am. I just said that. Don't you get it?"

"Isn't love supposed to be self-sacrificial?"

"I don't think that means giving up a part of your self like that. A man who really loves me wouldn't ask me to give up my favorite pastime and my job! Knitting has become my job. I love the store and I cannot and will not give it up."

"But it's the only thing about you that I cannot completely accept."

I looked at my dad who just shrugged as if to say "I don't know" and then suddenly left the room.

So I looked at Justin who was earnestly looking at me with a look that I couldn't understand and wasn't sure I wanted to understand. And then it occurred to me that since Jenna was unavailable, Justin meant to use my mother's fondness for him to his benefit and convince me to date him. He clearly had no interest in taking the time to realize that I wasn't interested in any sort of relationship with him. In fact, he kind of reminded me of a toad. And these references to this Dr. Claire Devereaux were beyond obnoxious.

"Look," I said. "I don't mean to be rude, but Justin, I wouldn't date a guy who couldn't or wouldn't live with my love of knitting and crocheting. Luke, Carlye, and I opened the Knit 'n' Lit because of how much we each love books, cafes, and crafting. I wouldn't give that up. It's a huge part of my life."

"But I don't understand it or like it. And I couldn't date you if you kept having all that stuff in your life."

"Who said anything about you dating me?"

"Your mother promised me that if I came to dinner tonight she would set me up with one of her daughters. Since Jenna is dating someone else, I assumed she must mean you."

"I'm sure she did. But my mother does not control my personal life and I'm not interested in you."

"She told me that you might try to play hard to get. But I'm a lion, Elizabeth. I'm not going to back down. I'll convince you of my desirability and attractiveness," he said, grabbing at my hands.

I yanked my hands away from him and stood up. "Rest assured, Justin, that I am not trying to be hard to get. I am hard to get. And you're not going to get me because I'm not for you and you're not right for me. I could never make you happy. And you would make me most unhappy. We would not be a good couple."

"But Dr. Claire Devereaux says that opposites attract and that compromise is an essential part of any marriage."

"I don't think that means changing my entire lifestyle. And I'm not willing to get involved in a relationship with someone who wants me to change my entire lifestyle."

"But Elizabeth, we'd be so perfect together if you'd just get rid of your dumb knitting crap."

"No thank you," I said, walking to the coat closet and grabbing my jacket. "Tell my mother I had to leave for moral reasons. And my name is Betsy, not Lizzy or Elizabeth. Oh and have a nice life."

And then I walked out the door and shut it behind me. I could hear my mother screaming and my cell phone ringing. But I ignored her calls and just drove home to find a bottle of wine waiting for me in the fridge.

A/N: Please review! I need the encouragement.