Book I: Burnt Bliss [BoyxBoy]

Chapter 15: Counting on You

"Violet says I need more patience." Lily grumbled, fussing with her knotted sampler.

She and Will sat in the Drawing room together. Will was going back and forth between reading The New Atlantis and working on yet another accounting assignment. Maybe he had just a few more minutes to write...

The New Atlantis has proved quite an interesting read! While I am not very fond of religion and various parts of the Christian faythe, Francis Bacon has written a splendid fiction version of how well it works or rather, how well it could work. I just don't know how we can use it in real life, tho. Like Utopia, it has a goode message, but how to live our real lives by it? With sins like the greed of my parents and the treatment of the poor by the rich as Àugustus has told me, how can we possibly emulate the 'Son of Peace'? Has there ever been a real society that has citizens who are so goodly to each other? If so, how can we ever hope to--

"I haven't got time for every little stitch!"

Will looked up and chuckled when Lily tossed her sampler over her shoulder onto the floor, and grabbed a book instead. He was amused by his sister's stubborn disregard for such ladylike activities. He pushed his journal aside, and returned to his dull work.

"How are this month's numbers going?" She asked, walking up to him, book in hand.

"As boring as ever." Will sighed, squeezing his eyes shut to avoid a headache.

"They're not boring." She countered as she sat on the edge of the desk. "Numbers are easy. No complex emotions, or thoughtful reflections to be found anywhere."

"Oh, you and your precious numbers." He teased, fluffing her nose with his quill.

"Let me guess," he continued, tapping his finger against his chin. "You want to see if I..."

"...needed any help?" She brightly finished for him, hopping off the desk.

"How ever did you guess?" He teased with a smile.

She chuckled and leaned over, taking his quill from him.

He sighed. "God, I can't do this." He put his head in his hand. He'd been doing this back-and-forth between something he was supposed to do and something he wanted to do for the past forty minutes. Words and numbers simply didn't mix.

"How fortuitous I just happened to be here." She replied, pulling the papers toward her.

They shared a smile, and she took his inkwell.

~*~

But a few days later, Will had to be very careful. The fact that he had no idea how to do any of their accounting work was starting to show. The pressure was on because they were going to have a quarterly meeting with a new client who were considering working with them. It was coming up in just three days.

"All you need to do," Francis insisted to Will during dinner, scrawling on the page at the table, "is add this account to the months records. They just bought £18 of goods! That and their taxes of 5.35% need to be factored in to their overall balance of--"

"I can't do this." Will complained. "Can't Lily just put it on the--"

"No, Lily can't do it. You can, and you're resisting just to spite me!" He coughed heavily and sipped his red wine, as a current replacement of ale. It was 'a medicinal course', per Margaret's assessment of a head cold.

"I'm not spiting you!" Will snapped slamming down his fork, aggrieved. "I'm just not good at this."

Lily glared at Francis. "If I am able, I should be allowed to--"