Chapter Two

May 17th

Worst day of my life. Period.

May 17th

I have officially decided that saucy women are my favorite flavor. Especially brunettes with ridiculous taste in shoes.

"Oh, Lizzy. You are in serious trouble. Where have you been? Mr. Lucas is furious, and he had to send Denny to take your place. I hope you have a good excuse."

Elizabeth sighed and shook her head as the stream of babble flowed from her sister Jane's mouth into her ear at supersonic speed. She wasn't surprised by Jane's stressed monologue. In the five years they had worked together at JP Morgan Chase, Jane had always been the Queen of Affability and Harmony. Elizabeth was sure her poor sister was about to blow a gasket with worry over keeping her tardy behind out of trouble. But it was not to be, for as the two women strode hastily from the elevators, around the corner and into the main office area, they were halted by their red faced boss.

"Bennet! Do you know what time it is?" Mr. William Lucas growled, his eyes glaring out at them from under a large shelf of bushy grey brows.

"Yes, Mr. Lucas. I'm sorry." Elizabeth's words had all the semblance of a proper apology but her bearing and expression told him loud and clear that if he didn't like it he could bite her. Jane sensed the tension in the room go up to 11, and she demurely dipped her eyes and hurried away to her desk. Tittering and whispering could be heard behind the maze of cubicles.

"It is 9:45. Opening bell is 9:30. Explain to me how you earned me money this morning, Bennet, when an intern has been down on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange for the last fifteen minutes in your place. And while you are at it, explain to me why I should keep you on when you probably cost us millions already."

"Because I'm the best," Elizabeth smiled at him cockily.

"Fat lot of good that does me when you are here and not on the floor," he huffed.

"And you know damn well that I would never have been late if it had not been an emergency. So why don't you go in and take your heart pill before you fall over, and I will make this all right," she continued saucily before giving his arm an affectionate squeeze. She knew she had him, because he could never stay angry for long. Elizabeth was indeed his best broker, and her work ethic was phenomenal.

Mr. Lucas huffed once more for posterity, and turned back toward his office, momentarily appeased. But mid-stride memory struck and he spun back and paced back to Elizabeth, coming to whisper in her ear.

"I'll let it all go if you brought my paper today, Elizabeth," he raised his ample brows in anticipation of some good news.

And here Elizabeth truly felt remorse. She had no gossip rag to hand him. She had brought him one every morning for the past year, shoved discretely between the pages of the daily news. It was his guilty pleasure, and one he did not want to make common knowledge, because through the pages of those inane gossip magazines William Lucas could follow the jet-setting life of his long lost paramour. Outside of the attentions of his only daughter/secretary, Charlotte, he was a lonely widower. And it made Elizabeth sad to have deprived him of his little daily happiness.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Lucas. That is part of the whole major calamity this morning has become. I will send out for one immediately," she offered.

"No, no. Its alright…" he started.

"Miss Bennet," a deep, rich voice broke into their conversation. It might have been considered a sexy voice, as was attested to by the sudden appearance of several female faces above the cubicle walls. But to Elizabeth, this voice was the kiss of death. Her stomach knotted, and she pondered moving off to her own cubicle as though she hadn't heard him. Mr. Lucas made this entirely impossible for her, though.

"Mr. Darcy! So wonderful to see you. Are you here visiting Mr. Bingley? It is wonderful to have him about. We truly hope to keep him on. What do you think of our fine offices? They are nothing to those in London, I'm sure, but we do try," Mr. Lucas gushed, leaving Elizabeth to wonder why the evil Darcy had followed her here and even more so why Mr. Lucas would be kissing his well tailored back-side. There was nothing for it, she was forced to turn and confront her nemesis.

"Ah, yes, well. I've brought you this," Darcy spoke hesitantly, ignoring, for the most part, Mr. Lucas' gushing tribute to brown-nosery and handing Elizabeth a magazine, folded in such a way that the front cover was invisible to the meddlesome eye.

Elizabeth was at a loss for words, for she immediately recognized the bundle of paper for what it was. The gossip rag she had promised her lovelorn boss.

"Thank you," she finally managed after a very uncomfortable pause.

"You're welcome. I know you said it wasn't for you personally, but truly, you shouldn't read such filth. It kills brain cells," he quipped, uncomfortable and ready to escape now that he had delivered his package.

"Well, Mr. Darcy- and please don't take this the wrong way- my reading habits are my own business. I do thank you for the gift, and apologize for the horror it must have caused you to be seen purchasing 'such filth'. But as it is your fault that I am late for opening bell on the floor of the Exchange, I will take this as your promised apology," she tossed back, hand firmly planted upon hip. This guy was really too much.

"The Exchange?" he asked, momentarily thrown off balance. She was a broker?

"Yes, the New York Stock Exchange, where I buy and sell stocks with the big boys," she tossed at him.

"Well, okay then. I guess I should be going, and leave you to it," he muttered, uncomfortable again. And with no further word he turned and left.

Mr. Lucas stepped up beside Elizabeth and gently slid the magazine from her hand.

"Well, dear, if he is the reason you are late, you are more than forgiven. Excellent choice by the way, excellent choice indeed!" Mr. Lucas beamed at her and gave her a quick hug before turning happily back to his office.

"What? NO! Its not like that. He just…" she protested to the retreating back of her boss, but was met with only a snappy wave of his hand as he continued on. Seconds later she was surrounded by a bevy of giggling office girls, her sister and best friend, the afore-mentioned Charlotte Lucas, included in the group.

"Lizzy! He's dreamy. How could you keep him secret."

"Oh, Lizzy. Where did you pick him up? And where can I find one just like him?"

The questions buzzed around her head until she was forced to cover her ears to keep her sanity.

"Its not like that, I swear! Please, curb the hormones, ladies," she shouted above the noise.

"Come on, Lizzy," Charlotte asked as the group of women finally calmed itself, "when a man the likes of that comes to see you and is bearing gifts- well, you can't blame us for wanting to know more."

"I met him at the new stand on my block. Oh, I thought he was gorgeous at first. I even wore 'the shoes'. But, ladies, let me sum it up for you with a visual." Elizabeth leaned down and slipped her feet from the much abused Manolos and held them up for her friends to see the damage. A collective gasp of horror went up amongst the group.

"No! I was going to borrow those tonight," Jane choked.

"How could you break them?" Charlotte scolded, devastated by this horrendous act of treachery.

"Me?" Elizabeth snapped. "I didn't do it. He did, his very presence cursed them. And could you all be more selfish? Think of me. I'm never getting laid again. That man has some seriously bad ju-ju!"

As one the women turned their eyes to the spot that the bad luck boy had so recently occupied.

"Morning, Lizzy."

Elizabeth looked up from the memorial service for her dearly departed shoes at the sound of yet another male voice. This one, as well as the three other men who had just joined the ring of mourning women, she was happy to see.

"Good morning, Mark," she replied.

"What's the water cooler topic for today, ladies?" another named Matt asked.

"Lizzy broke the lucky shoes," Charlotte sighed heavily.

"Oh, no! Grave news indeed," Luke chimed in.

"What are 'the lucky shoes'" John whispered to Luke.

"Legend has it that those shoes have special powers to ensnare men," Luke responded.

"I don't get it," John said, looking doubtfully at the damaged footwear that were now cradled softly in Jane's hands.

"Lizzy got a date with Steven Tyler once in those shoes." Charlotte said mournfully.

"It wasn't a date, really. More like a backstage pass," Elizabeth tried to clarify.

"I doubt it was the shoes," Matt whispered to Mark.

"So, Jane borrowed them the next weekend and got a date with Daniel in accounting," Charlotte continued.

Jane blushed as everyone's eyes turned to her. "I thought he was cute."

"Several of us have borrowed them whenever we happen to have our eye on a certain man, and they had yet to fail. Until today," Charlotte concluded.

John looked at his male companions in confusion.

"They are the Blessed Shoes of +10 Dating," Mark offered helpfully.

"Oh!" John exclaimed, finally getting it.

With a vast wealth of empathy, Luke said "Lizzy, all set for the gig this weekend?"

"Yes, everything is ready. I'll meet you all at the club two hours before show time," she confirmed.

"Alright then, ladies. We will leave you to it," Matt said as the men headed back to their cubicles.

Knowing they had to get back to work themselves, the ladies disbanded and headed back to their own desks with heavy hearts.

Jane paused next to her sister for a moment once they were alone.

"You know, Lizzy, there might be a more positive meaning behind this."

"And what might that be," Elizabeth raised a brow at her eternally optimistic sister.

"The shoes might have broken because you don't need them anymore," Jane said softly, looking at her sister intently.

"Oh? And why might that be? Do you see a convent in my future?" Elizabeth laughed.

"No. Something far more simple. He might be 'the one'." And with that Jane strode back to her cubicle leaving her sister to remove her jaw from the floor alone.