Chapter 8: The Game of Life

Both Jane and Lizzy watched with trepidation as their mother marched over to the dining room table and presented the box that contained her selection for Game Night: The Game of Life. Exchanging glances, there was no need to vocalize their mutual thought, Dear god no…How in the world?

"Mom," Jane cautiously began, "since when do we own this one?" There was an ulterior motive to this question, as both Jane and Lizzy knew perfectly well that the Bennets had owned this game once before; that is, until Jane and Lizzy had found a new home for it weighted with stones at the bottom of their local lake. The "drowning" had been cathartic for both sisters; an attempt to claim independence from the practiced cookie cutter life their mother had forced them to play out every time they spun that wretched clacking wheel. In fact, the negative association was so desperate, that to this day Lizzy took to biting her cuticles, and Jane was prone to a nervous and uncontrollable twitch in her leg if either sister heard something that sounded remotely like that spinner.

"Since Friday," Fran Bennet stated proudly. "My Amazon Prime membership made sure that it got here in time. I looked for our old one but couldn't find it anywhere. I knew you both were always so fond of it that I wanted to surprise you. Aren't you excited?" Her squeal of delight could easily be heard as far away as the Hamptons, although the Bennets only lived on the Queens/Nassau border.

"I'm sure the girls have long outgrown your favorite teaching tool for adult life," Mr. Bennet disinterestedly commented, still nose deep in the Sunday Times.

"Of course they haven't my dear! It is the perfect reminder of what they should be focusing on at this point in their lives, and fun at the same time! Come girls and pick your car colors."

Lizzy looked desperately at Jane and then over to her father. There had to be some way out of this awful scenario without ruffling Fran's feathers too drastically. Think Lizzy.

"Ooo, and as we play maybe Jane can tell us more about the," Kitty deepened her voice for effect and shook her shoulders playfully, "'handsome Mr. Bingley' she met at Lizzy's work event."

And nope. No way out.

"You met someone!?" Mrs. Bennet cried just as Mr. Bennet queried, "What work event?"

"How do you know about Mr. Bingley?" Lizzy exclaimed, eyes wide.

For a moment after, there was silence.

"Kitty, you promised you wouldn't say anything," Jane whispered for no apparent reason, a pained expression on her face.

"Oh, I cannot wait to hear what you have to tell me Jane! Here is the orange car, your favorite. Mr. Bennet, put that paper down and get over here this instant. Our daughter has something to tell us."

Mr. Bennet caught Lizzy's glance before following the orders he had been given.

Once everyone's game pieces had been settled, Mrs. Bennet looked expectantly at Jane. "Well?"

"Mom, there really isn't much to say. I only met him Friday."

"Kitty seems to think there is plenty to say. How exactly did you meet him?"

Lizzy attempted to distract the attention away from her beleaguered sister, "I didn't get to tell you guys yet. My marketing team was selected for a really important ad campaign."

"That's wonderful news Lizzy," her father commended, pride emanating from his eyes. "What will you be working on?"

"Never mind what Lizzy is working on, what is this about Mr. Bingley?" Mrs. Bennet's eligible bachelor radar was definitely up, and no other topic would be permissible until she was satisfied.

Lizzy grimaced as Kitty spun the spinner for her turn. Whether it was due to her mother or the sound of the spinner she couldn't be sure.

"Mr. Bingley is a really nice guy I met on Friday, that's all," Jane replied.

"Is he rich?"

Jane's voice grew smaller, "I don't see why that's important but if you must know, yes, he is. His family comes from money and he is the founder of a few popular British social networking sites."

"He's British? Oh well! Is he very handsome Jane?"

"Yes mom, he's 'very handsome'. And he's really nice, and pretty funny, and seems like he has a big heart." Jane took on the dreamy far-away look that Lizzy had noticed the day before and blushed. "He also sounds really sexy on the phone."

"Oh my dear. He sounds wonderful!" She glanced down at the game board for a moment, just as Lizzy was beginning her turn. "Lizzy, why are you going to college? How many times do I have to tell you that a man will feel intimidated if you are smarter than him?"

Kitty snorted and tried to hide it with a cough.

"Mom, really? Can I just take my turn?" Turning to Jane, "You didn't tell me you spoke to him. When?"

"Last night. And then he called me this afternoon to invite me to dinner on Tuesday at Del Posto, Mario Batali's restaurant. He wants me to meet his sister."

Fran Bennet simply could not contain herself. She pushed herself away from the table, threw her hands in their air, and joyfully did a bouncing victory lap up and down the room, gleefully tittering as she went.

When she finally had the presence of mind to be seated again, she turned to her middle child, "So, Lizzy my dear, did you happen to be lucky enough to meet someone too?"

Not missing a beat, Lizzy replied, "Only my new boss."

Lizzy knew that anything having to do with work had nothing to do with Fran Bennet. She would simply leave it at that.

The only eyes staring at her on this Monday morning were the steel grey ones sitting in the main floor conference room.

Elizabeth rounded the corner, saw those eyes, and marched right past them into her office. Throwing her purse and jacket onto her chair more aggressively than necessary, she could not believe that he was already here to start working on the campaign details. She had hoped to get a few days reprieve, if for no other reason than to settle her anger regarding his denigrating words, but obviously this would just have to be gotten over with. She straightened her blazer, smoothed her hair and walked with purpose out of her office and into that conference room.

"Good morning Miss Bennet." He stood to shake her hand.

"Good morning, Mr. Darcy. I must admit that I did not expect you quite so soon."

"Like I said Friday, I am eager to get started. I bought you some coffee as I believe this will be a long morning." Speaking with a level of gravity equal to that of a judge, he slid a Starbucks cup in her direction. She reached for it, and for the barest of moments, their fingers connected; the resulting thrill that shot up her arm and into her heart left her breathless. Startled, she glanced up to see if he had felt it also, but found him looking down at some paperwork. Of course he didn't feel that Lizzy. Look at the man - everything about him is designed to let you know that this is strictly business. Take the memo.

Tasting a sip to calm her nerves, Elizabeth realized it contained some fancy frapp-a-macchiato something or other and set it back on the table. She drank her coffee black. And of course, he would presume to know my taste in coffee. That's the Mr. Darcy I know – the one who just got 'over-confident' added to his fast growing list of stellar character traits. If she got really thirsty she would drink it, but otherwise it just tasted like one big mouthful of sugar.

After half an hour of focusing intently on business, which mostly helped Elizabeth to understand the scale Mr. Darcy envisioned for the campaign, Elizabeth began to feel uncomfortable with the unrelenting stare that continued to meet her across the table. His eyes rarely wavered from her own. Must he always be so pointedly intense? Maybe he is trying to figure out how long before he can make his escape? It must be unbearable for a prince to have to tolerate the company of an 'ugly stepsister' for an extended period of time…I bet he's afraid he'll turn into a pumpkin or something from exposure!

This thought made a smile tug strongly at the corners of her mouth, and she quickly glanced down so that he wouldn't notice.

Another two hours passed before the impromptu conference came to an end. Elizabeth left the meeting with a treasure trove of information: contacts to media outlets throughout England, the timeline for the projected release of the Longbourn, and a detailed understanding of exactly what was expected of her and her team. A television commercial, two radio advertisements, the print ad and a variety of social media placements were all to be coordinated under the overarching campaign.

More pressing on her mind, however, was the complete cool and aloofness that had met her in the form of an undeniably attractive man across the table. He was the consummate professional, but there was an unnecessary layer of rigidity and harshness of manner that Elizabeth could not relate to. Would it kill the man to attempt to be friendly? My sister is going on a date with your best friend for goodness sake! A normal person would at least acknowledge that we share a mutual connection. But no...as a result of his unparalleled social skills, being with mom at a wedding expo would be more tolerable than that meeting was.

Mr. Darcy had been right – it was a long morning, especially with all of the thoughts racing in her mind – and at the end of it Elizabeth wanted nothing more than a very large, very strong, black coffee.

A/N

A very, very special shout out goes to Whosepride, who in my first ever story review provided the suggestion that the next Bennet family game night include the Game of Life; an idea that served as the inspiration for the entire first section of this chapter. I hope you enjoyed it. :)