Page 52 of Third Time is the Charm
“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.
