Searching for Mr. Darcy

Scene Four

An accident on I-40 completely ruined Maisie's plans to arrive on time to the brunch.  When she finally did park on the street in front of her sister's house, there was barely room to squeeze in between the BMWs of Anabeth's work colleagues. 

"You decided to come, after all?" Her mother greeted her with a tight hug and condescending smile.

"I told you I was coming."  Maisie handed over the gift she'd spent weeks picking out, though she knew no matter what she purchased, it wouldn't be the 'right' thing.  If she spent a lot, her mother would say she didn't need to waste her money.  If she went economical, her mother would complain that she wasn't worth a nice present.

"Yes, well, the party did start thirty minutes ago."

"Traffic."

"Of course."  Her mother's simpering smile revealed she didn't believe Maisie at all, but Maisie was too exhausted - and slightly hungover - to bother arguing. 

Luckily, Momma Frampton was too busy hamming it up as the guest of honor to pay too much attention to her second daughter, and Maisie managed to walk away without further comment.  She passed through the living room to the kitchen, hoping to find a large batch of Anabeth's famous Bellinis.  She was in luck.  A pitcher sat unattended on the counter.  No doubt this was the "staging area" and Maisie wasn't supposed to be there.  She poured a large portion into a crystal glass and took a huge gulp.

A muffled ping came from her purse; she fished out her phone and saw a text from George: "That sangria must have been made by the devil, because I feel like hell this morning."

She responded: "You and me, both, but I bet my day's worse than yours.  We can compare notes tomorrow."

She set her phone on the counter and took another sip of Bellini while waiting to see if he responded.  After a few seconds, her stomach growled, so she opened the fridge and stole a few small wedges of cheese from the platter her sister was saving for later.

"Auntie Maze!" Sweet Sailor ran into the kitchen wearing in a cherry blossom sundress and hugged Maisie around the knees.  

She bent down to kiss the girl on top of her head.  "Hey!  I missed you!"

"You never come over anymore," the five-year old pouted.

"I know, I'm sorry.  Why don't I talk to your mommy and plan a special Auntie Maze, Sailor, and Fisher day?"

"No Fisher!"

"Why not?"

"No boys allowed."

Maisie laughed, but also wondered when that attitude began.  Sailor and Fisher had always been close.  She couldn't remember a time when they did anything separately.  Maybe that's the problem, she thought.  "Okay, how about an Auntie Maze and Sailor day, and an Auntie Maze and Fisher day?  You can pick out whatever you want to do, just me and you, and then Fisher can do the same?"

Sailor thought about it for a few seconds, her cute little nose and mouth scrunched up, before dramatically nodding.  "Okay!"

"Great!  Let's go find Fisher and Mommy and tell them."  Maisie made sure to grab her glass on their way out of the kitchen and onto the patio, where dozens of Anabeth and Sean's friends were lounging on wicker furniture.

"Oh, Maisie, you're here," Anabeth said.  She smiled and kissed her sister disinterestedly on the cheek.  Maisie returned the gesture just as passively.

"Hi, Maisie."  Her brother-in-law's greeting was much friendlier.  Sean beamed his bright white smile in her direction and hugged her jovially.  "Good to see you."

"You, too.  Sailor and I were just talking about a special aunt and niece day sometime soon.  Is there a Saturday coming up that I could take her for the day?"

Sean grinned.  "I'm sure we could work something out."

"And a Fisher day, too!" Sailor hopped up and down, pulling on her mother's arm.

Anabeth looked down, gave her daughter a stern look which immediately ended the hopping, and said, "Of course you can take the kids for a day if you'd like."  Then she turned to the gentleman beside her and continued a conversation about advances in angioplasty.

Someone tapped on Maisie's shoulder.  She spun around and was immediately engulfed in a bear hug, her Bellini spilling down the unfortunate hugger's back.  Only one person in her life had ever been that happy to see her.  "Clay!"

Her childhood friend relinquished his hold and turned his head to look over his shoulder.  "You got me all wet."

Before he could say anything else, Maisie exclaimed, "That's what she said!"

He chuckled.  "Walked right into that, didn't I?"

Maisie nodded.  "The drink down your back is your fault, too.  You should always check to make sure the person you're ambushing isn't holding anything liquid."

"I'll remember that for the future."  He gestured for her to follow him off the patio and away from the majority of guests.  "I'm glad you're here.  When Anabeth invited me, she made it sound like it would just be your family and a few close friends."

"But you know as well as I do that Mary Poppins and Momma Frampton don't do anything that doesn't allow them to show off how amazing and successful they are at life."

Before Talia came into her life, Clay had been Maisie's number one go-to when it came to her family driving her crazy.  They went to elementary and middle school together.  Unfortunately, her mother had moved them across town right before Maisie started high school, but they'd still hung out on weekends and found ways to prank each other.  Like most childhood friendships, things started to drift in college.  At separate schools, with separate concerns, it became easy to let their friendship fall through the cracks.  After graduation, Clay went to law school out-of-state, and Maisie began working right away, and life went on.

"So, what are you doing here?  How did Anabeth invite you?"

"I'm in town to take the NC bar exam and my mother told your mother, who told Anabeth to invite me for the party.  My parents are here, too, somewhere."

"You knew you were going to be in town and you didn't tell me?" Maisie was surprised by how much this hurt her.  Yes, they'd grown apart, but they were still Facebook friends and she kept up with the goings on in his life.  She thought he'd done the same.

"I was planning on it, but then I heard from Anabeth and thought it would be more fun to surprise you."  He cast his gaze downwards. "I guess not."

"I'm so excited to see you, but if I'd known you were here, I would have invited you to my way-more-fun game night last night.  We could have gotten drunk together like the good old days."

"We still can."  He waggled his eyebrows.  "Shall I fetch you another drink?"

"Make it two."

He laughed.  "Coming right up."

She followed him back into the house, stopping outside the kitchen to say hello to a few of her mother's friends.  Amidst the pleasantries, a realization came to her.  Clay reapproached, handing her a new glass, and she asked, "Why are you taking the NC bar?"

"Because I've accepted an offer with a firm in Cary."

"You're moving back here?"

He smiled and nodded.  Maisie squealed, involuntarily, and immediately felt the blush rising in her cheeks as guests turned to stare at her.

"Sorry about that.  I don't usually sound like a mouse.  I'm just so excited you're going to be around again!"  She threw her arms around his neck, spilling her second drink, but he just laughed.

"I'm glad, too."