THE CINCINNATI AIRPORT, while indeed an airport, was not actually in Cincinnati; rather, it was located across the river in Hebron, Kentucky, and this was where Liz picked up Jasper Wick just before noon. He’d texted her after his plane landed, as she was pulling off the highway, and by the time he emerged from the terminal, Liz was waiting by the curb. She climbed from the car to wave, and when Jasper smiled, he looked exceptionally handsome.
His curly blond hair was thinner than it had once been but still abundant enough to be windblown, and his brown eyes remained mirthful. He kissed her on the mouth—this was a bolder display of affection than they partook of in New York and that even in Cincinnati did not feel risk-free—and Liz said, “Welcome to the ’Nati.”
“You didn’t tell me the airport’s a ghost town. I think a tumbleweed just blew by.”
“It used to be a Delta hub, but that was a while ago.” Jasper set his suitcase in the trunk, which Liz closed. Inside the Cadillac, she said, “Should we eat first or just go straight to your hotel?” In case her meaning wasn’t clear, she wiggled her eyebrows exaggeratedly.
“Actually, I need you to drop me at Avis. You know where that is?”
Liz looked at him in confusion. “Why did I pick you up if you’re renting a car?”
“I didn’t know if this was one of those airports where the rentals are a million miles from the terminal. Plus—” He smiled at her. “I wanted to see you.”
“Jasper, I could have been working.”
“I thought we were about to go have a nooner. Don’t be mad, Nin. I didn’t rent the car till yesterday because I didn’t realize how far apart my hotel and the sports mall are.”
Sighing, she started the car and followed the signs to Avis, which was under a mile from the terminal. As Jasper stepped from the car, he said, “I’ll text you my room number when I check in.”
She shook her head. “Let’s just go get lunch. Meet me at the Skyline Chili on Madison Road in Oakley.”
Jasper laughed. “Making me work for it now, huh?” he said. “Okay. I’ll play.”
“BIG NEWS,” JASPER said as the waitress at Skyline set down their dishes of oyster crackers. “I had a drink with Brett Yankowitz yesterday.” This was, Liz knew, a powerful literary agent, though she had never met him. “He digs my book idea about that Idaho fly-fishing family,” Jasper continued. “If he sells it, I’ll take a leave in the spring.”
“Will Sporty let you?” Contrary to the rumors Jasper had previously shared with Liz, no announcement had occurred about the firing of the editor in chief of Dude.
Jasper said, “If they want to keep me, they will. How long you think it’d take me to write a book—three months? Four?”
“Don’t you need to finish the first fifty pages for Yankowitz to sell it?”
“Presumably.”
“So keep track of your average daily word count. I bet you—” At that moment, Liz glanced at a person passing her and Jasper’s table and was startled to make eye contact with Fitzwilliam Darcy. He was approaching from the rear of the restaurant and was no more than three feet away; to pretend she hadn’t noticed him would be preposterous.
“You really are a regular here,” she said, and Darcy said, “I’m a man of my word.”
“Wait a second,” Liz said. “You guys know each other.”
If she hadn’t been aware of Jasper and Darcy’s mutual antipathy, she’d have immediately intuited it; Jasper did not stand to greet his former college classmate. Instead, coolly, Jasper said, “Fitzwilliam Darcy. It’s been a while.”
Equally coolly, Darcy said, “It has.”
Liz wondered if he’d eaten alone again.
“I wouldn’t have expected you to wash up in Cincinnati,” Jasper said. To Liz, he added, “No offense.”
“I’m a physician at a stroke center here,” Darcy said.
“I’m in town from New York to write about squash for Sporty, where I’m a senior editor. Also about to sign a contract for a book about the royal family of American fly-fishing.”
“Congratulations,” Darcy said, and surely the word had never been uttered with less enthusiasm. Darcy looked between her and Jasper. “I won’t keep you.” He nodded. “Liz.”
When he’d moved on, Liz said, “Remember Chip, the Eligible guy Jane was dating? Darcy’s good friends with him. Oh my God, have I not told you that Jane’s pregnant?”
“No shit—from the mail-order sperm or the old-fashioned way?”
“The sperm, which seems to have sent Chip running. He didn’t know she’d been trying to get pregnant on her own, so I get that it’s shocking, but still—he’s fled all the way back to L.A. to be on an Eligible reunion. Don’t mention any of this when we have dinner with Jane.”
Jasper looked intently at Liz. “You’re not banging Darcy, are you?”
“Are you kidding?”
“I could swear he was giving off a territorial vibe.”
Liz made an expression of distaste. “You’re imagining things. Anyway, I’m pretty sure he’s going out with Chip’s sister.”
“Is Eligible the one where the dude kisses the girl on the cheek when he wants to kick her to the curb?”
“You don’t need to pretend you’re unfamiliar with it, Jasper. We watched the entire first season together.”
Jasper smiled then, and in spite of certain contraindications, Liz had always found his boyish smile irresistible. “We did, didn’t we?” he said. “Okay, busted. But I haven’t seen it since.”
Liz smiled back at him. “A likely story.”