I couldn't remember the last time I'd been involved in a conversation that didn't revolve around money, social status, or who had the latest designer something.
As much as I wanted to sit and speak with Beth privately, I couldn't help but be caught up in her world. Her friends were engaging, and Bill spoke with genuine affection when he told his stories. The love story of Cassidy and Oliver was one I could have listened to a hundred times over without being bored. That they had been apart for so long and had reunited gave me some renewed hope for my love story, should Beth ever consent to be a part of it.
I couldn't help but steal glances at her, wondering if perhaps we'd known one another as children, things might have been different between us. For all I knew, we had met as infants on this very beach and simply hadn't known it.
It was strange, but for all the things that I wished I'd done differently during our acquaintance, I didn't know that I would change a single one.
We'd fought at every turn. I'd said terrible things to her, kissed her, hurt her friend and insulted her family. They were all things that I regretted to my very core, and I was certain that I would spend the rest of my life doing so, but had things been different, then we wouldn't be where or who we were at that moment.
I wouldn't have been surrounded by her bright, witty, energetic friends who had almost immediately accepted me as one of their own.
I wouldn't have seen her in her natural, comfortable environment being the truest version of herself that I'd seen to date.
I wouldn't have seen how well she got along with my sister while they whispered conspiratorially.
I wouldn't have loved her half as well as I did at that moment.
I couldn't change the events of the past, but I could make a vow to myself and to her that I would never repeat them. I didn't want to be that version of William Darcy ever again. I wanted to be the person that she'd forced me to become.
The best version of Will Darcy.
The person that Beth deserved.
Something Mandy said made her laugh. It was such a beautiful sound that I couldn't help but meet her eyes. Her joy was contagious. It warmed my heart just to be near her when she was in a state of joy.
Sadly, Beth still wasn't at ease with me and immediately asked, 'What're you looking at?'
'I can't remember the last time I heard you laugh,' I said.
'Now you're making me sound like a miserable cow,' she huffed. 'And I'm totally not.'
'I didn't mean it like that,' I explained quickly. 'I suppose that there wasn't much to laugh about the last time we met.'
Not that I blamed her for that at all.
Okay, I blamed her a little for kissing Freddie, but I wasn't about to say that in front of her or her friends.
Beth may not have revealed anything about the events of our shared Christmas in Paris to anyone else. I wasn't about to recite the incident for everyone to hear. Neither of us would come out of it looking good, and her friends might throw me into the sea for the terrible things that I'd said and done.
Sensing my unease, Mandy broke the tense silence by announcing, 'Good news! Beth said she's coming to dinner with us tonight.'
This must have been news to Beth because she almost choked on her drink. I hid just how much my stomach had flipped in excitement and kept my expression as neutral as I was able.
'Do I have to wear a dress? Because I don't own one. Well, I do, but...'
The last time I'd seen her in a dress, she'd said that Freddie had dressed her in it.
It was my greatest hope that she'd burned said dress the moment she got home.
'Just don't wear jeans,' I said.
My mother wasn't a stickler for formality when dining amongst friends in a casual setting, but I didn't want to give Chantelle an opening to make Beth uncomfortable. If she wore jeans or something too worn out then it could lead to an argument. I wanted my mother to approve of Beth just as much as Mandy seemed to, and a spat at the dinner table wasn't going to help with that.
'No, totally wear jeans,' Mandy countered, 'then I can, too. Come in casual clothes. It's fine. We don't dress in formal wear for a family dinner.'
'Seriously?' Beth asked.
'Yeah! You're perfect as you are. Right, Will?'
My heart almost stopped.
Mandy knew that she was putting me on the spot, how I felt about her, and just how much my opinion of Beth had improved. It was typical of my sibling, my most trusted friend, to want to provoke some kind of a reaction in me. Even Charlie was glancing my way to gauge my reaction.
Gently, I cleared mythroat, heat rising to my cheeks when I admitted, 'I've always thought so.'