Searching for Mr. Darcy

Scene Thirty-Seven

Maisie didn't wear a watch, and she didn't want to get her phone out to check the time - worried it would seem rude - but it felt late.  Yet, the streets still hummed with energy as people dashed into bars, clubs, and the closest subway entrances.  Caleb was half a step behind her as she stepped away from the bar and into the middle of the sidewalk.

"Do you want to walk, or get a cab?" he asked.

"It's only a couple of blocks," Maisie responded, even though her borrowed shoes were digging into her toes.  She needed the extra few minutes the walk would provide to clear her head a little.  She'd just invited a man she barely knew back to her hotel and all that implied!

Her opinion of Caleb had certainly changed over the course of the evening.  She didn't feel sorry for him, exactly, but she did feel for him.  To lose his wife so soon after his daughters were born - to have no preparation for that kind of upheaval - and then to be pushed back into the dating pool by people who had his best interests at heart but could never understand what he was going through... it was unimaginable.  She would have begun the evening rudely, too, in his place.

He took a step in the direction of her hotel, then turned back and extended his hand to her.  It was so simple, but sweet, and when her fingers slid into his and they began walking side-by-side through the crowd, she was overwhelmed by how natural it all felt.

After a block of easy silence, she asked, "What is it that you do, Caleb? We never actually got to that part."

He laughed.  "I guess we did skip the pleasantries, huh?  I'm a history teacher."

"Any period in particular?"

"I teach high school, so I cover a couple of different subjects: early-North American history, British colonization, and a special honors course on South American history.  In the summer, I usually pick up a course or two at the local community college, and those vary."

"That must be so fascinating.  I have to admit, history was always my worst subject in high school, but I'm trying to learn more now."

"Why didn't you like it in school?" he asked.

She shrugged.  "Boring teachers, maybe? I don't know."

"You wouldn't have been bored in my class."

She paused, causing him to stop as well, and a middle-aged couple nearly walked right into them.  "No, I don't think I would have been."

As they continued their trek to the hotel, Caleb asked about her job and Maisie did her best to make new home sales sound like a cool job, but in the end, the best she could say was, "I make pretty good money, and that has to be enough for now."

He nodded thoughtfully, and as they walked into the lobby of the hotel said, "How long is now?"

"I don't know," Maisie admitted.  She knew she was good at her job.  Sales had always come fairly naturally to her, which made Momma Frampton positively twisted with confusion as to why she couldn't sell herself to a man.  And she liked her job, usually.  But she couldn't really put her finger on what it was she liked about it.  Was that really enough?

Another couple got on the elevator with them and punched the button for the third floor.  Maisie hit the fifteenth.  When the others got off, and they were left alone, Maisie laid it all on the table.  "We can just talk in my room, if that's what you want.  But... well, it's been a long time since I've slept with anyone."

Caleb sputtered and began, "I-"

She cut him off, "It's been a long time, and I want to change that.  I don't know your whole situation, obviously, but I thought maybe you would understand, and we could help each other out.  No expectations.  No strings.  We never have to see or talk to each other again."

The elevator stopped and the doors opened.  Caleb looked shell-shocked, and Maisie hurried out.  "I'm sorry if that was weird," she said.  The doors began to close, and Caleb hadn't gotten off yet.  He thrust his arm out and stopped them, rushing out.

"It was a little weird," he said, a grin breaking out.  Then, he leaned in and kissed her.