Darcy didn’t seem shocked, and Liz was reminded of his general disapproval of her family. That the Bennets would find themselves in further turmoil appeared to be no more or less than he expected. He said, “You want me to take you to the airport now?”
“I just think—it sounds like I’m needed at home.”
“Why?”
It was a surprisingly difficult question to answer. Haltingly, Liz said, “This isn’t the kind of news my parents will respond to well, especially my mom.”
“Isn’t that their problem? It doesn’t seem like Lydia or her boyfriend did anything wrong.” Darcy’s abruptly condescending tone reminded Liz of when they’d first met.
“Do I think my parents will figure out a way to deal with this if I’m not there?” Liz said. “Of course.” She could hear her voice turn wobbly as she said, “But you know what? I didn’t really involve myself with stuff at home for twenty years, and during that time, a lot of things went off the rails.”
“You think getting on a plane will retroactively assuage your guilt?”
“I’m not trying to convince you I’m right,” Liz said. “I just want to know if you’ll take me to the airport or if I should call a cab.”
Darcy shut his menu. “Fine.” But in the same gesture with which he agreed to help her, some goodwill between them officially dissolved; their ST was no longer a fireball threatening to engulf Northern California.
“You won’t be dining with us today?” a waiter said as they walked toward the front of the restaurant, and Darcy said brusquely, “No.”
“Another time,” Liz added with fake brightness.
Back in the car, Darcy was quiet, and so was she. It occurred to her to ask him to simply go straight to the airport, and to have Charlotte send on her belongings, except that Liz didn’t wish to risk separation from the digital recorders she’d used to interview Kathy de Bourgh.
She hadn’t realized she’d been rehearsing concise explanations of the situation to offer Charlotte and Cousin Willie until she entered the house and found their bedroom door still closed. Liz stuffed her clothes and toiletries into her suitcase and her digital recorders and notebook into her purse and was wondering if she should at least leave a note for her hosts when, passing again by their closed door, she heard female gasps that were unmistakably sexual in nature. She hurried out.
Darcy had never turned off the engine, and after her suitcase was stowed in the backseat, even before she’d fastened her seatbelt, he began driving again. After a prolonged silence, she said, “If you’d told me Lydia had eloped with a cowboy she’d just met in a bar, or with the Bengals’ quarterback, sure. But this—I don’t know, I’ve never seen her as having a lot of sympathy for people outside the mainstream.”
Darcy said nothing.
“I wonder if my mom even knows what transgender means,” Liz added. “I guess she does now.”
Perhaps ten more minutes passed in silence, and Liz said, “Ham’s on the short side for a guy, but—I never would have guessed. He has a goatee, and he’s very muscular.”
“I’m sure he’s on a testosterone regimen.” Darcy spoke curtly.
“Have you ever had transgender patients?”
“Yes, but not because they were transgender. For that, they’d see an endocrinologist.”
The traffic on the 101 was light—it still was just eight-thirty on the Sunday morning of Labor Day weekend—and Darcy drove in a middle lane. Despite the urgency she felt, sadness billowed in Liz at the first sign for the airport. She could hear the uncertainty in her own voice as she said, “I’m not sure how long I’ll be in Cincinnati, but when do you get back?”
“Tuesday morning, but I go straight to work.”
“Well, depending on how long I’m in town, maybe I can make this up to you.”
Again, he said nothing, and when he pulled up in front of the terminal, she said, “Don’t get out. It’s faster if I just grab my stuff.”
He complied, and after she’d retrieved her suitcase from the backseat, she waved. “Thank you, Darcy.”
She’d been afraid he wouldn’t get out anyway, that he wouldn’t try to hug or kiss her, and that was why she’d told him to stay seated—because she hadn’t wanted his nonembrace to be the last thing that happened before she boarded a cross-country flight.