Page 10 of It's You
She let the question in her head linger for a second, relieved when she didn’t hear an answer in Jack’s voice.
He topped off her champagne glass and turned over an empty glass, filling it for himself. Righting the bottle, he looked at the label. “This is decent stuff. We should toast.”
“To Honoria and Bob?”
Jack smirked.
“To…” She held up her glass.
He lifted his, and she heard the pleasantpingof glass barely touching.
“To Darcy and Jack,” he said.
She didn’t raise her drink, and he paused, his glass resting against the pillow of his lower lip.
“There is no Darcy and Jack,” she said, unable to keep the slightest bit of bitterness out of her tone.You left before that could happen.
He stared at her for a moment, motionless except for the embers which crackled and leaped savagely in his eyes. Then he tilted the glass back and swallowed the champagne in a single gulp, never taking his eyes off her.
Willow returned shortlyafter to find Darcy and Jack sitting in prickly silence, facing away from one another.
“Well, this is quite the happy little reunion.”
Darcy raised her eyebrows. “Jack Beauloup, this is Willow Broussard. Willow, Jack.”
Willow put out her hand, shaking Jack’s before taking the seat between them. “Good to meet you. Amory’s at the bar.”
“Guess I’ll join him there.” Jack stood up gracefully, leaving the women alone.
Darcy pushed her sunglasses back up on her head. She watched Jack move away from her toward the bar and felt a queer pulling in her heart, like she wanted to jump up and run after him. Stay as close to him as possible. Not let him out of her sight now that he was returned to her.
Willow missed none of this high emotion. “After all these years, it’s still like that, huh?”
“What is?” Darcy turned to her friend.
Willow raised her eyebrows at Darcy. “Darcy and Jack.”
“I wish people would stop saying that,” she mumbled.
Darcy looked beyond Willow to the edge of the church clearing and Proctor Woods beyond. She could smell the pine on the breeze, and Darcy wished she could leave the wedding behind and clear her head with a walk in the woods.
“How long before the cake do you think?”
Willow shrugged. “They’ll probably let everyone get good and liquored up. Then dancing, then food, then dancing again, then cake. A few hours. You’ve got time. What happens at the cake?”
Darcy made a sour face. “Pictures.”
“And you, the very picture of a happy bridesmaid.”
“I have to clear my head.”
Willow nodded. Anyone who knew Darcy knew there was no place as soothing to her as the woods. “Do you have shoes?”
“In my car. I’m gonna grab them. If anyone asks, I’ll be back soon.”
She looked at Darcy thoughtfully. “You want to talk about it?”
Darcy shook her head, standing up. “I wouldn’t even know where to start.”
