Page 17 of Third Time is the Charm
“Yeah, sorry for leaving you alone to deal with all that,” Beth chuckled. “I hope you kept her in her place though and didn’t let her bully you into anything.”
“No… of course not. She’s just so excited so, I try to take her thoughts into consideration of course…” Jane trailed off. Her denial emphasizing what Beth already knew to be true – that Jane had caved to their mother’s wishes on some things even if it wasn’t what she wanted.
“Oh, Jane. What am I going to do with you?”
“It’s fine, Beth. It was just little stuff with seating and guests and whatnot. None of it mattered to me; as long as Charles and I are married by the end of the day, I don’t care about anything else,” Jane said wistfully, sitting on the bed as Beth rummaged through her old clothes, pulling out a pair of yoga pants and a tee to wear.
“So, what’s the plan for the rest of the night? I’m hungry,” Beth said as she pulled the shirt over her head.
“I was just thinking we could stay in and relax, talk, get some Chinese food like old times,” Jane smiled. “Hard to believe that next week this won’t be my home anymore…”
“Aww, Jane, but you’re moving on—” Beth stopped abruptly halfway through pulling the yoga pants up over her hips when the sensation immediately brought her back to that day in the kitchen; Darcy delivering the flowers and note for Jane… pushing her up against the wall, kissing her, touching her; it was like it was happening all over again.
“Beth?” Jane’s distinct, high-pitch of concern cut through the veil of the memory. “Are you ok?”
Her face flushed, and she looked down, grabbing her towel off the floor and beginning to fold it as some sort of excuse for not looking Jane in the eye. “Yes, sorry, just remembered something I have to do,” she mumbled. “Anyway, what was I saying? Oh, right – you’re moving on to more exciting things – a new life.” Her rambling was starting to sound frantic, her voice eerily raised with the emotion that she was trying to hold back. “Hey, do you think you can grab me the menu for the Chinese place? It’s been so long, I forget what they have there anymore.” She gave Jane a sheepish smile to accompany her weak excuse for a moment alone.
It had only been four months. They’d eaten Chinese from the same place for years – there was no way four months would make her forget what was on the menu.
“I… um… sure. I think I still have one in the kitchen…” Jane replied, startled by the request, but too gullible to question the truth of Beth’s request. “I’ll be right back.”
As soon as Jane was out the door, Beth sat on the bed, gulping in air with her head in her hands.
How was she ever going to make it through the weekend? She couldn’t even remember being with Darcy without feeling overwhelmed. What was going to happen when she ACTUALLY had to be around him?
“Here you go… Beth! Seriously, what’s wrong?” Jane exclaimed, re-entering the room much quicker than Beth was expecting.
Only when she felt Jane’s arm around her shoulders did she realize that she was shaking with sadness. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m ok. There are just a lot of memories here, a lot of things that I’ve buried and avoided in Boston that I’m now having to face; it’s a lot.”
“Alright, well why don’t you just talk to me about it? I know you’ve been trying to be strong on your own and all, but it’s not working, Beth. You have to talk to me – even if you don’t want my help or my opinion; you have to open up about something,” Jane pleaded.
Beth nodded, swallowing over the lump in her throat.
“I’m going to order our usual for dinner and have it delivered. Then, I’m going to pour us both a glass of wine, which I thankfully have a whole cupboard full since mom insisted that we try each one to be served at the reception. By that point, I expect you to be on the couch and prepared to talk to me.”
Beth nodded again. “Thank you,” she said quietly as Jane released her to go back out into the kitchen to order their dinner.
Where would she even begin?
Honestly, the only thing she wanted to talk to Jane about was where their conversation had been cut off at the other day; she wanted to know more about howhehad been in these four months.
Beth stood and looked around her old room absent-mindedly, feeling like she was missing something, but knowing there was nothing there for her to find. When she heard the wine pouring into their glasses, Beth tossed her phone onto the bed and padded out into the living room.
“I’m sorry, Jane. I didn’t want to dump all of this on you again,” Beth began, crossing her legs underneath her as she watched her sister recork the wine and pick up the two generously filled glasses.
Jane rolled her eyes, “Just talk to me, B.”
“Where do I start?”
“Well, maybe with what happened that morning?” Jane suggested, passing Beth her glass.
Beth took a sip, needing that moment before she let those words pass through her mouth; it still wasn’t enough. Instead, she started with, “Do you know anything? Did he say anything to Charles and then Charles to you?”
Jane sighed, looking into her wine glass. “No, not really. We actually fought about it. I think it was our first fight, although I’m sure it’s not what you would consider a fight, but for us it was.” She laughed a little here before explaining. “Of course, I was a mess after you left, especially not knowing what had happened; you’d always come to me before…”Shit.“But, anyway… so, Charles could see how upset that I was and so I asked him if he’d talked to Darcy or if he knew what was going on. He told me that he’d talked to him; that Darcy had confided in him about a lot of things, was upset about a lot of things. I could tell that he was holding back something, and so I kept asking about it, but he couldn’t – or wouldn’t, tell me anything else; he just kept saying that their discussion really wasn’t about you.” Jane paused to take a sip of her wine. “I know there is more to it, but he couldn’t tell me and he, honestly, looked shocked to hear that you had left, but that’s all I know.”
Beth nodded, sure that Darcy had talked to him about Caroline – how could he not? Ignoring the burning sensation from her chest, she recited the words, the description of events that had happened that day, that she’d carefully boiled the trauma down to. “I went over to talk to him, to apologize. And when I got there, Caroline was there so, I left. He’d clearly moved on already.”
Beth watched her sister’s eyes widen and her mouth fall open in complete befuddlement.
