Page 61 of Second Chances (Passion and Perseverance #2)

“A point that gets lost in the fact that I never ended up telling him about it; which makes it look like I was trying to keep it from him this whole time that I’ve been berating him for not being open with me.”

“Ok, but that’s not what happened. You didn’t purposefully keep it from him. Why wouldn’t he want to believe that? Why would he want to believe… whoever told him…over you? Who did tell him?”

“I don’t know. Probably Mrs. DeBourgh, but Caroline was part of the conversation too.

Of course, he wouldn’t want to believe them over me, but I’ve given him no choice.

It is true what they told him that I did.

He doesn’t want to know the whole story because he’s already been betrayed by a woman he didn’t love once, and now, to find out the woman he does…

did love betrayed him as well, by the very woman who hurt him in the first place…

it’s safer to just close all of us out; it’s easier to be alone than to subject himself further to the potential of being hurt,” Beth responded hopelessly .

“Oh, Beth. I’m sure that he doesn’t think that.

Ok, maybe he did last night, in the heat of the moment.

I’m sure it was shocking and hurtful to learn what happened from the people that he did, but that doesn’t mean that he doesn’t love you and that he doesn’t want to hear your side of the story.

Just think about how you have been these past weeks when he has done something to you that you initially felt was irredeemable; you felt angry and hopeless.

But, after some time to calm down, and think it through, or talk it through, you realize that it’s not that bad and I’m sure that is what he is realizing now. ”

Beth stared out at the wall in front of her bed.

Could what Jane said be true? Maybe he was regretting his rash words, just like she had done many times in the recent past. Maybe, this morning, he would listen to her - not to her excuses, but to her sincere apology.

“I have to go,” Beth said, moving swiftly out of her bed, almost knocking Jane over as she brushed past her into the hall, “I’m sorry, I have to see him. I have to know if this is really it.”

“Good luck!”

Beth barely heard her sister’s reply as she jetted out the door, climbing into the first cab that she saw. Her heart raced as the cab finally pulled up in front of the Plaza and she climbed out, running into the hotel.

When the elevator doors finally opened on the penthouse floor, she stepped out, stopping short at the door to the apartment. All at once the eagerness with which she had rushed over here transformed into fear: fear of the unknown.

No, fear of the potential known.

She didn’t knock; she just pulled out her key and inserted it, softly opening the door when it unlocked.

“Hello?” she said, cautiously.

Instead of a response, she thought she heard someone either say something or moan, she couldn’t tell which. Worried that Darcy had drunk himself to the point of alcohol poisoning, she quickly set her things down on the table and rushed to the bedroom .

There was no one in the bed. However, someone had been in it, the covers were completely messed, one pillow had fallen on the floor next to the bed - next to her side of the bed.

Walking into the room, she leaned down to pick it up and place it back on the bed.

As she did, she saw a black, lace thong hidden underneath and her heart stopped.

Was someone else here? With Darcy?

Nausea rolled through her at the possibility. Looking to her right to the bathroom door, she saw the rest of what was definitely a trail of female clothing leading into the bathroom. She walked over them, following their trail, even though she knew no one was in the bathroom.

As she stepped over and took note of each piece of clothing, the thought came unbidden to her and yet, turned her world upside down.

This is what Caroline was wearing last night.

At first her vision went almost completely black at the implication; it returned a second later, just in time for her to lean over the toilet and vomit into the bowl.

She had to get out of here.

Wiping her face, she practically ran out of the room back towards the front door when she heard the noise again. It was definitely a laugh this time - a female laugh, and she knew where it was coming from.

Walking around the entryway table, she peered down the hall leading to Darcy’s studio – the door to which was wide open. She took a few steps closer and then froze when she saw Caroline’s naked form pass by the doorway, her face smiling at something…someone…that Beth could not see.

She heard Caroline’s enticing laugh again, followed by the words, ‘Oh, Darcy!’

And then she was running.

Out the apartment door, out of the hotel, she ran and ran until she couldn’t breathe, and then kept running in the direction of Jane’s apartment .

Jane had been right, in the worst way; her betrayal had only proved to Darcy that relationships built on true feelings didn’t work, that they weren’t something he deserved, and that had pushed him back to the only thing he felt he did deserve - Caroline.

“Beth, what happened? Oh my God, you look like someone died!” Jane exclaimed as Beth entered the apartment.

“Someone did.”

“What? Who?”

“Me,” Beth replied.

There were no sobs, not even any tears. Darcy had been on to something here. Having no feelings made life a whole lot easier.

“What happened?”

“Nothing happened. It’s just over,” Beth said as she walked past her sister into her bedroom, opening her closet to pull out a bag.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m leaving. I can’t stay; I need to get away from here… and from him,” she explained.

“Where are you going? What am I going to tell mom? dad? everyone?”

“That I took a new job that requires me to travel. It won’t be forever, Jane, but just for now. I’m on the verge of breaking to a point where there is no coming back,” Beth pleaded with her sister.

“Ok… ok. What can I do? Can I do anything to help?”

“No, you’ve done so much already. Thank you,” she said, trying to give her sister a smile.

Beth zipped up her sparsely packed bag and walked over to hug her sister.

“I love you. I’ll get in touch when I get wherever it is I’m going.”

“Ok, but Beth, I just want you to know how worried I am about you right now; please take care of yourself. Promise me,” Jane said, blocking the doorway, refusing to let Beth leave the room without giving her word .

“I promise,” Beth answered hollowly, praying that she would be able to keep it.

As she walked out of her room and passed the couch in the living room, she slipped her phone between two of the couch cushions before grabbing her purse and laptop bag and walking out of the door.

Less than an hour later, she sat down on the bench in the trail station, waiting for her train to arrive. She pulled out her laptop and opened her email.

Time to tie up the rest of the loose ends.

Her first email was to Phil, apologizing for everything that had happened and for what she was about to do.

She told him that things weren’t right and she couldn’t continue to work for him until she had her life more under control; she told him her two assistants were more than capable of handling her existing clients and that when and if she returned, she did not expect her job to be waiting for her.

Second, she emailed her assistants thanking them for the pleasure that it had been to work with them, letting them know that they were more than capable of running the show on their own.

With her train arriving in two minutes, she opened up one last new email.

Hey Pat,

Sorry for the delay in response. It actually looks like I’m going to be in Boston for the foreseeable future. Any chance that the Dempsey Center needs an in-house PR person?

Beth and Darcy’s romance concludes in THIRD TIME IS THE CHARM .

Keep reading for the first chapter...