Page 35 of Third Time is the Charm (Passion and Perseverance #3)
She turned the key, opening the door to her old apartment to be met with an unfamiliar sight; almost complete emptiness save for the few packed boxes littered on the tabletop and stacked along the walls.
It no longer looked at all like the place she’d once thought of as home.
Most of Jane’s stuff had been moved, but she had asked Beth if she could take the last remaining boxes over to her and Charles’ new home on the Upper East Side.
Also, Beth had a few boxes of things that needed to be moved somewhere, and that somewhere was going to be her parent’s house for the time being.
Setting her stuff on the floor by the door, Beth began to walk slowly through the space, memories returning to her from when they’d both lived here. She felt her breath hitch with the sudden onslaught of nostalgia as she stepped further into the bare space.
She remembered the time they’d tried to make homemade Chinese food, both so intent on following the recipe and yet their dinner had still turned out awful; it was how they’d discovered their go-to Chinese take-out restaurant.
Her smile faded as the memory transformed to that of her and Darcy in the kitchen.
She didn’t know how not to…
Shaking her head, she walked further into the living room, intentionally searching for memories of her and Jane talking or playing games together, or drinking wine and watching movies. Or talking about Darcy.
She’d let her defenses crack for a moment last night and suddenly everything about him came rushing back in, begging for her attention.
The high, her hurt, the passion, the pain – she remembered every little thing.
Her phone buzzed twice in her pocket and Beth felt her heart stop.
Already?!
She’d assumed she’d have more time before he tried to contact her. No, actually she’d assumed that he would just somehow find her.
Swallowing over the lump in her throat, she pulled out her phone. Air rushed back into her lungs when she saw that the messages were from Colin.
Oh God, Col.
A wave of guilt washed over her, knowing that she’d led him to believe that they could work towards a new level in their relationship.
It wasn’t that she hadn’t wanted to, because she truly had.
Until she’d stepped into Darcy’s room last night and he’d erased any thought she’d had of ever trying to love another man.
The notion startled her; was Darcy really the only man that she ever wanted to love? Was that where all her ‘time to process’ was going to lead her?
She opened up Col’s messages.
- Morning sweetheart. Hope this doesn’t wake you but I’m just boarding my flight. I had a great time this weekend, thank you for inviting me ?
- P.S. – I can’t wait to see you…
Beth locked her phone; anguish burned through her at the thought of having to let him down.
He’d been such a good friend, such a rock to her over these past few months, and not only was she going to have to turn him down, but she would be doing it because of the man who had broken her heart, a heart that Col had helped her pick up the pieces of.
Not because of… but for; she would be doing it FOR the man who broke her heart because the stupid thing couldn’t learn from its mistakes.
She’d respond to him later; he assumed she was still sleeping anyway.
Beth called a cab and then managed to get the boxes downstairs in only two trips.
She had the cabbie stop at Jane and Charles’ new place first, entering the key-code and dropping off Jane’s stuff inside before asking the driver to take her to her parent’s house.
Staring silently out the window, she watched the achingly familiar scenery of the city pass by her.
She missed New York.
Boston was great, but it wasn’t her city.
The cab stopped in front of her parent’s home. Carefully balancing the boxes on top of one another, Beth made her way up the steps to the front door. Pulling out her keys, Beth let herself into her parent’s home.
“Hello?” she yelled into the hall, propping the door open with one foot while she bent over to pick up the three larger boxes containing what remained of her things from her old apartment.
Setting them back down inside, she let the door close behind her, hearing faint voices in the distance.
Someone was home, but it wasn’t her mother.
If Irene was here, she would have already set herself on Beth by now. She pulled out her phone to see that she had a missed call and a text from an unknown number; Darcy.
- You’re running, gorgeous.
Beth huffed, her heart speeding up as she typed back her response.
~ No, I just need space to think. I can’t focus around you.
- You weren’t complaining last night. In fact, I wanted to talk, you wanted me to do other things with my mouth; things I would have loved to wake you up again doing.
She clenched her teeth as her knees went weak, crossing her legs as she felt the traitorous part of her body come alive at his words.
~ Well, now I need to think and anything involving your mouth is not conducive to that.
Beth started as Lydia appeared at the end of the hall, walking out of the kitchen towards her. Well, more like waddling.
“Hey,” Beth said lightly. “Who all is here?”
“Just dad and I,” Lydia responded, knowing Beth was only concerned about their mother being home. “You were up and out of there early today, is everything ok?”
“Yeah,” Beth sighed. “I just… ah… needed some space to think about things.”
“Things or men?” Lydia asked astutely.
Beth just looked at her sister, her expression conveying her answer. “I also had to pick up a few things from the old apartment to take over to Jane’s new place and also some of my old stuff that I’m just going to store here for now.”
“Gotcha,” Lydia said as she reached down to pick up one of the boxes.
Beth quickly pulled it from her hands, holding it against her. “Don’t even think about it, you know you can’t be lifting things,” she scolded.
“Oh, please, it wasn’t that heavy.” Lydia rolled her eyes, both of them turning at the sound of their father’s footsteps approaching.
“Beth,” Mr. Bennet sighed, a weary smile crossing his face. “I didn’t know you were coming over today.” His arms came around her as he kissed her cheek.
“Yeah,” she said. “I was just telling Lydia that I need to store this stuff here just for the short term. I only brought a carry-on down and I don’t really need any of it, so I’d rather not take it back with me.”
“When do you leave?” her sister asked.
“Tonight.” She watched as her father’s eyes fell slightly at the news that she was leaving so soon.
“Let me just take these boxes upstairs and then we can sit and chat, maybe have a cup of tea like old times,” Beth suggested, trying to cheer him. Her father nodded, trying to put a smile on his face.
“I’ll be in my study.”
Beth reached down and grabbed the boxes, heading upstairs as Lydia trailed behind her.
“If you won’t let me help you carry them, I’m at least going to help you clear some space to store them,” Lydia muttered, her breathing heavy with the effort it took to move her and her baby up the steps.
“Just take them into my old room, I left so much stuff here mom won’t even notice that there is more of it now… ”
Beth didn’t respond, too focused on trying to get the boxes to the second floor and down the hallway without sending anything crashing to the floor. Lydia awkwardly reached around Beth and her cumbersome stomach to open the door to her old room.
Once in Lydia’s old room, Beth set the boxes down right inside the door with a sigh. Taking a look around the organized clutter that filled the room, she turned back to her sister. “Where should I put them?”
Lydia stepped around her, taking stock of the situation, before walking over to the closet and opening the doors.
“How about up there?” She pointed up to the only partially-filled shelf above the ladder rung.
Beth nodded, taking one box at a time and hoisting them up into the closet, closing the door when she was done.
“It looks like mom cleaned in here,” Lydia mused.
“Well, I’m sure she wanted it to be presentable… in case of guests.”
“Mmm.”
“When do you go back?” Beth asked, watching her sister look nostalgically over the room that had belonged to a very different girl.
“Tomorrow. I took Monday off because I have a doctor’s appointment in the afternoon anyway.”
“Are you going to tell mom before you go?” Beth asked quietly, wondering how long her sister was going to try to hide the fact that she was going to be a single mom.
“I just told dad,” Lydia responded, meeting Beth’s eyes. “I haven’t decided what to do about mom, if I should tell her or if maybe dad should, or if I should just wait.”
Beth walked up and put her arms around her sister, feeling the weight Lydia carried on her shoulders emanate from her.
“It will be ok,” Beth reassured her, pulling back from the hug to look her sister in the eyes. “I wish I could tell you with certainty that it’s better just to tell her and get it over with, but I’m afraid I wouldn’t be a good example at following my own advice.”
Lydia chuckled. “I know. I’m going to tell her; dad thinks I should, too.
I know how she’s going to respond, so I’m prepared; I’ll just remind her that at least she has Jane to fulfill her ‘perfect daughter plans.’” She sighed and Beth knew that even though she’d said it as a joke, Lydia felt like she was letting their mother down.
“But, this is my life, and I can’t continue to live with George the way things are.
I don’t know what’s going to happen; I can’t even think about getting a divorce from him right now.
Not that I plan on going on dates any time soon,” she paused, motioning to her growing stomach as the reason. “I just need to focus on the baby.”