Page 39 of Third Time is the Charm (Passion and Perseverance #3)

“I’m sorry I had to leave so early yesterday.

I wish I could have stayed to help you move that stuff for Jane, but you know how it’s been lately.

There are still a million people – sponsors that I have to meet with this week and schmooze,” he sighed.

“Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy it, but I enjoy being with you more. ”

“It’s ok, Col, actually—”

“No, it’s not ok,” he interjected. “Which is why I’m taking you to dinner on Friday.”

Beth stared blankly at him.

“Alright, that’s not quite the truth. I need to go taste the food that’s going to be served at the after party at the hotel. It’s the only night I had free this week which is why I wanted to spend it with you. So, I told them that the both of us would be there – I hope that’s ok.”

Crap. It was personal, but it was still work; she couldn’t turn him down.

“I… ahh… yeah, that’s fine. I have no plans,” she stuttered, finishing with a smile to make her hesitancy less obvious.

It might actually be a good thing because then she could talk to him outside the workplace about what was happening – or not happening – between them.

Then she would also have time to figure out how to let him down easily with the least amount of risk to their friendship – something that she still highly valued and wanted to keep.

“Perfect!” he exclaimed, shooting her his movie-star smile before taking a sip of his coffee. “So how did everyone fare after the wedding?”

Everyone? Fine. Her? Remained to be seen.

“Good, I think,” she responded hesitantly. “I didn’t get to see Jane the following morning before they left. I was up pretty early just to make sure I got everything done and cleaned out of the apartment before I had to get to the airport.”

“Ahh, gotcha. She looked like she was having a wonderful time. I’m so happy for them.

” Beth felt her heart clench at Col’s genuine happiness for people and the touch of hopefulness that resounded in his voice; her heart clenched harder knowing she was going to crush that hope for him… at least when it came to her.

“I think she did, too,” Beth agreed with a small smile.

“I saw the rest of my family – mostly my dad and Lydia for a little bit before I had to leave and then my mom got home just as I was about to walk out the door. So, it was nice to see them for a little after all the craziness of the weekend was over.”

“Your dad is such a great guy,” Col enthused.

“I mean, I know you’ve told me that about him before, but to finally meet him – what a pleasure.

And he really loves you. I talked to him for a few minutes at the reception and man, all he wanted to hear about was you and how you were liking your new job. ”

His words brought a smile to her face. “He really is. I miss him a lot.”

“I think he wondered who I was and what the heck I was doing there.” He paused to chuckle. “But your mom took care of asking me those questions so he was spared.”

Beth raised her palm to her forehead. “I’m sure she did; I’m sorry about that. She’s so nosey.”

“Hey, she’s a mom; I think it’s in their job description.”

“If what she does is written in a job description, I think it’s a few levels promoted up from ‘mom,’” Beth retorted in jest as they both chuckled. “I guess I miss her, too, though. It’s always just been harder for us to be as close as my dad and I, but I love her.”

“I could tell how much she loves you, too,” Col reassured her.

His eyebrows raised, feeling his cell vibrate in his back pocket.

“One sec, sorry,” he apologized to her before answering the call.

“Hello?” “Yeah, no that’s not what I wanted.

” “I understand, but this is the first year that we are doing this and I’m not leaving anything to chance.

” “I’ll come down there now.” “Yup, bye.”

Beth stared at him, waiting for the explanation; the call clearly had to do with the Contest Ball which was not this weekend, but next.

“Sorry. The events coordinator is struggling with seating for the guests of honor and the speakers so I’m going to head down there. I need to stop in at City Hall anyway and confirm that all the right roads are being blocked off.” He sighed. “Can’t have that fiasco happen again…”

“Do you need me to do anything? I can go talk to her if you want,” Beth offered.

“No, don’t worry about it,” he assured her. “I know you have a lot on your plate to get ready for next weekend and I think you should take the morning easy. As enjoyable as the weekend was, I know it was hard to see your family again after so many months.”

‘ And hard to see Darcy again’ was the part of his sentence that went unsaid.

“Thanks,” she murmured, her whole body tensing as he approached her again to say good-bye. Thankfully, this time he reached for her hand and kissed the back of it, a grin spreading over his face.

“I’ll talk to you later,” he promised, heading for the door.

“Let me know how it goes and if you want me to follow up with them at the end of this week,” she offered again as he opened her office door.

“I will,” he said before he walked out and headed for the entrance to the building.

Beth sighed and dropped into her desk chair, sagging into the back of it.

Pull yourself together, Beth; this isn’t the end of the world.

It’s not like she hadn’t had to let guys down before – ok, maybe not that many of them, but still.

She’d done it before, she could do it again.

It was just that she still wanted to be friends with Col and she was afraid that telling him there was no chance of anything more would hurt him too much for that to be possible.

And…

And she was even more afraid for how he would react when she told him that it was just that there was nothing between them, but that it was because she still had feelings for Darcy after everything that had happened; after Col had seen what losing Darcy had done to her, she couldn’t imagine any world where he would be supportive of that relationship again, and she couldn’t blame him.

Her own brain was struggling to support her feelings.

Darcy was right.

She wasn’t really running from him this time, she was trying to outrun her feelings – feelings that became infinitely stronger when she was around him. Putting distance between them gave her rational thoughts a fighting chance of succeeding.

But for how long?

How long would she be able to ignore how she felt about Darcy? It had been manageable the past five months, but as soon as Col wanted to take their relationship to the next level… forget it; it became crystal clear that any attempt to access romantic feelings only led her right back to Darcy.

Pulling herself up, she grabbed her laptop out of her bag and opened up her email.

There was a lot to do this week for the Contest – which meant a lot to keep her mind off of her relationship challenges, at least for a few hours until she had to confront Darcy again.

Beth took a sip of her coffee trying to wash down the butterflies that tried to escape from her stomach at the thought.

She powered through the entire day, barely stopping to leave the building and grab herself some lunch.

There was a degree of comfort in the stress that she was dealing with.

It kept her mind intently focused on the immediate tasks and the urgency of completing them; it made her feel like she was accomplishing things in at least one area of her life.

Here, she knew what had to be done and how to efficiently and effectively accomplish it; personally, she knew neither of those things and it was the not knowing that produced the bad kind of stress.

Before she knew it, it was five-thirty and time for her to face the music. Closing her computer, she had no doubt that Darcy was waiting for her back at her apartment. And if she did have any doubt, it was erased when she checked her phone and saw a message from him.

- I have dinner.

As if trying to prove its point that with him is where she belonged, her stomach grumbled at the word ‘food’. Packing up her stuff, she looked around the room one more time waiting for… something. An answer? Direction? An easy way out?

It was never that simple.

Walking out of her office, she headed home hoping that what she would find there would be more answers than questions.