#side-note

Owen, who has been rubbing his hands almost maniacally against the legs of his stiff gray trousers in a gesture of restrained panic, says, “Right. Sure. And these people have known me my entire life. Who’s going to try to win a date with me?”

“We’ll be fine,” Dani assures him, almost believing it herself. New girl in town. Nothing terribly interesting about her. Maybe she’ll get a pity donation from Owen’s elderly neighbor, Mr. McQueeny, securing herself a pleasant conversation partner until the man’s 7:30 bedtime.

these idiots

Winning, she suspects, is the goal. Not her, not anything to do with Dani Clayton herself. Just being able to say, Yes--that was me. I secured her for an evening. She was mine. 

well if that ain’t peter quint

“A whole night?” The woman is grinning, a teasing edge to her expression that turns Dani’s stomach to liquid warmth. “Blimey. Color me the lucky one.”

jamie the american is clearly overwhelmed. at least wait a minute before you start flirt with her

“I’m Dani,” she says, because she has never in her life been looked at the way this woman is looking at her. Not by a woman. Not by a woman with such a nice smile, with soft-looking hair and soft-looking skin, who is by all measures Dani’s type. Not that Dani knew she had a type before this very moment. Not that Dani should be entertaining such insanity, with a stranger who just paid a reckless sum of money for a single date.

okay maybe not then, damn

Hannah is barely concealing her amusement behind her hand; Jamie isn’t trying at all.

“Every girl,” she’s saying through laughter, “in the village is mad for him. Every last fuckin’ one. He’s never had the first bastard clue, poor twat, but, uh--”

“He does now,” Dani observes. Jamie releases another choked burst of laughter, watching the women of Bly elbowing one another to announce their bids. 

“Incredible,” she snorts as the numbers skyrocket to one-fifty and beyond. “Truly, some things never change.”

ah.. owen not knowing he’s a Hot Commodity in their little town. but everyone else does. and everyone else evidently had Plans. good for them! good for him too!

“Why the fuck would I do that?”

ah jamie. i love you.

“I bid,” Jamie says patiently, “because it pains me to watch grown men dog-fighting over a woman like they’re owed her time. These things don’t sit right, the idea of buying somebody’s evening. But...if you’d like to go out, for dinner, or a drink--genuinely, I mean--I wouldn’t say no.”

“I’d like that,” Dani says, too quickly. There’s nothing smooth about the goofy smile pulling across her face, particularly when Jamie reaches up to brush a lock of hair behind her ear, fingers barely grazing Dani’s skin. 

these two are efficient i’ll tell you that. ninety seconds in each others comapany and theyre planing a date already. productive little fuckers the two of them.

“Jamie doesn’t date,” he says, looking as bewildered as he had with twenty women fighting for a few hours of his time. “Jamie doesn’t date ever. It’s in her code or something.”

“Perhaps,” Hannah says gently, “she’s been waiting for someone special to come along.”

musical bed-frames, huh

Jamie vaults the counter without a word, moving like she does this sort of thing every day. Dani, mental faculties still stunned into submission by her unexpected appearance, manages to take an elderly man’s money and coffee order without further incident. 

okay vaulting the counter? jamie on her way to help her friends an impress a cute girl:

“First round,” she repeats, poking a finger in Dani’s direction. “On my fuckin’ life.”

Dani nearly trips rushing over, hardly aware of herself resting a hand on Jamie’s hip to lean around. The image through the window is clear as day: Hannah, pressing Owen back against a table, the two of them quite obviously not baking. 

“Jesus,” she mutters. “It didn’t even take a day.”

✨aw look at them getting their shit together i love that for them ✨

“Good to see you, Rebecca,” she tells the woman waiting on a blueberry muffin and a hot tea. “Proprietors’ll say the same, they ever finish, ah. Their chemistry back there.”

“Is that,” the woman says politely, “anything like your little demonstration just now?”

“Can’t possibly dignify that with a response,” Jamie says, her tone light as air. She glances back, meets Dani’s gaze. “See you at seven. First round, remember.”

“Of many,” Dani replies. Jamie grins. Rebecca looks faintly amused by the whole display.

ah look at rebecca being all alive! and happy! i love that for HER!

they’re all so happy and healthy and no one almost dies, this is a great time all round for them. and a really really entertaining read for me. going through and pulling these quotes is my.. third(?) read of eligible and its probably one of my favourites you’ve done purely because of how silly and almost nonsensical the whole thing was. like the basis was just a fun little story and i loved it. i mean i would have loved it even if i had end read any of your stuff before but i probably wouldn’t of enjoyed it to the degree i do, if i hadn’t read all your other bly stuff and gotten to know these characters through you. man, it was just overall a really great read. i actually feel kinda refreshed after reading it, so thanks for this lovely refresher. :)