Page 122 of Beach Vibes

“I want to apologize,” Beth said quickly, before Jana couldleave. “Please, if you’d just let me do that. I know I don’t deserve your time, but I’m asking all the same.”

Jana nodded without speaking.

Beth hadn’t figured out what she was going to say, but she had a general idea of simply blurting out the truth and then dealing with the consequences.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you Rick was dating Galaxy. At first I had no idea. I thought he wasn’t seeing anyone but you. It never occurred to me he was the type of man to cheat.” She paused. “Honestly, I didn’t think he would know how. I was totally suckered by his act. These past few days, I’ve been thinking about how he’s different now. He’s not the kid I grew up with. I’m trying to figure out when it all changed, but he’s kept so much from me. I’ll probably never know, and I’m not sure my knowing makes any difference to you.”

“Probably not,” Jana murmured.

“Right. I need to get to the point. I saw him with Galaxy. Her father’s an astrophysicist, by the way. I guess that’s why she has that name, although honest to God, Galaxy?” She shook her head. “Sorry. Anyway, I saw them together, and I couldn’t believe it. I confronted Rick. He said she’d flirted with him, and he’d been shocked and caught up in being popular.”

As she spoke, she realized how ridiculous the words sounded. Yet she’d believed him.

“He said he’d been a fool and that you were the woman he wanted to be with. He promised to break things off with Galaxy, and I believed him.”

“Because you wanted to,” Jana said, her expression unreadable.

But the words were enough of a blow. Beth let her gaze fall as she nodded slowly.

“Yes, I wanted to keep the secret. I was dating Teddy, and I knew if I told you what had happened, I was risking our relationship as well. The two of you were so important to me.” She pressed her hands together, twisting her fingers. “I waswrong—I get that. And I don’t say any of this to justify what I did. It’s just everything was so perfect. You and I were getting close, and I desperately wanted that friendship to continue. At the same time, being with your brother was magical. I’d never felt like that before, so the thought of not seeing him again, of us not being together… I wasn’t strong enough.”

She felt her eyes burning, but blinked away the tears. “I hurt you. I hurt you so much. I was a terrible friend when you’ve been nothing but kind to me. You let me into your life. I got to meet Linnie and hang out, and that was so precious. I’m so sorry for repaying you with lies and betrayal.”

“You thought he’d broken up with Galaxy?” Jana asked.

“Yes. I swear, I believed they were done. More than once, Rick told me he was grateful I’d made him see what was important. That you were special and he wanted the relationship to go somewhere.”

Jana’s mouth twisted. “He’s good with a line, I’ll give him that.”

Beth’s throat tightened. “I don’t understand. I’ve been trying to figure out how he played me. How could I have been so wrong about my own brother? I thought I knew him, but I don’t at all. I keep remembering how when we were kids and our mom was off doing something dangerous, we’d take care of each other. I protected him from bullies and he helped me with my math homework. We were a team. But somehow that all became something else, and I didn’t notice.”

She squared her shoulders and drew in a breath. Now came the really hard part. “Last Saturday, Galaxy came to see me at the store. I thought they’d broken up, so I was shocked to see her. I thought maybe she wanted me to help her get Rick back, but according to her, all was well with them. I realized he hadn’t broken up with her at all. She told me they’d been together for nine months and they were in love.”

Jana looked away. “I wasn’t the one cheated on. I was the one he cheated with.”

“I didn’t know,” Beth said miserably. “I swear, I had no idea. She kept talking about how great things were with Rick, and I kept thinking about you and how wrong he was and how you were going to be hurt.”

She brushed away tears. “She was nice. I think that makes it worse. She works at the urgent care in his Santa Monica office building. He can’t even be bothered to go find the women he dates. He picks them up in the building.”

Seconds later, she realized that might have sounded bad. “I’m not blaming you.”

“I get that. He’s an asshole. I’m sorry to dis your brother, but he is. I don’t like hearing the truth, but it can’t touch me anymore.”

“You ended things?” Beth asked. “I’d wondered.”

Jana nodded. “He came by to try to—” She made air quotes. “Explain. I dumped him. In a way, his coming by clarified a lot of things for me. He was a mistake from the beginning. I was sucked in by a very practiced liar. I’m still working on not blaming myself, and that’s tough, but I’m getting better.” She looked at her. “Was there anything else?”

Her cool voice, the disinterested question, cut Beth down to her heart.

“I miss you,” she whispered. “So much. I regret losing our friendship.”

“How much of that is about me, and how much of it is that you lost Teddy, too?”

“It’s both. You were someone I cared about. I admire you and what you’re doing with your life. You’re an inspiration.”

Jana grimaced. “Hardly.”

“You are. You’re a great mom. Linnie is wonderful, and you’re so lucky to have her.” There were more tears, but Beth ignored them. “I know this can’t be fixed. I accept responsibility for my part in that and how I hurt you. I’m desperately sorry.”

---