Page 71 of Third Time is the Charm
“I know,” he said quietly. Beth nodded in silence, her eyes falling to her mug that she held in both hands. He walked over, tipping her chin up so she could meet his gaze. “I’ll be back on Friday.”
She swallowed hard, not wanting to bring up that she had the work dinner with Col that night.
As if he could read her thoughts on her face, he finished softly, “I’ll see you after your dinner?” It wasn’t even a statement, it was a question.Hewas wondering if she wanted to see him then.
“Yes.” The word rushed from her lips. “Friday night. I’ll leave a key for you downstairs.” She said the last breathlessly as his lips touched hers again. One last second where the puzzle of her life – of their love – seemed to be fit into place.
And then he was gone, picking up his bags and striding out her door. His steps forcefully carrying him away from her before he convinced himself otherwise.
Beth knew he could stay if he wanted.And, she knew he wanted to; he only left to give her space.
She’d run back to Boston so quickly after the wedding – after her night with Darcy – to sort through her feelings about him and everything that she’d learned; he’d followed her to make sure that she knew where his feelings stood and what she meant to him –and that he wasn’t going to let her go again, unless she asked him to. Assured that she finally knew that, he again put the ball back in her court promising his return, but giving her some time to think through everything – alone – without the distraction of him. He had given her time to change her mind if this wasn’t really what she wanted.
If he wasn’t really what she wanted.
Beth felt her heart swell inside of her as she swirled her spoon in her yogurt. Glancing at the clock, she realized she needed to get going. Putting her bowl in the sink, she grabbed her stuff from where she’d set it down last night and left for work.
She could spend the next few days in debate with herself over whether it not risking her heart on Darcy for the third time would be worth it. She could dwell on the pain that he’d caused in the past, on who he was, or she could stop tormenting herself with the what-ifs when she knew deep down that he was her one. Being alone felt empty and trying to move on with Col who was textbook, perfect-boyfriend material left her feeling nothing; only Darcy was able to reach inside and awaken her heart.
So, she would take the time, the few days without him to think, to be rational, but only about their future. She wanted him to be a part of her life, she needed him to be.
She didn’t know how not to.
Chapter 21
Friday.
She’d woken up with her stomach in knots of excitement and anxiety; excitement because Darcy was coming back today and anxiety because she had to break the news to Col.
She hadn’t heard from either of the two men in her life hardly at all over the past two days, which had really given her the space that she needed to focus completely on her feelings without being preoccupied by external distractions, good or bad. Darcy texted her once or twice a day – nothing major, just checking on her; Beth had a feeling that he wished he could have left her respectfully and completely alone, but didn’t have that much restraint, not now after she’d told him that she was his.
Col she’d heard even less from which was even more strange. Maybe not texting, but she hadn’t seen him in the office at all since Monday. She’d stopped to grab her own coffee this morning since Col had been absent the past few days. Beth couldn’t decide whether that was a good or a bad thing. Part of her was relieved because she was struggling to decide on the best words to let him down easily without risking their friendship. The other part of her wished that he would just show up and force her hand – try to kiss her or something where she’d just have to suck it up and tell him what had happened; they maybe even dinner on Friday night wouldn’t be necessary.
Good or bad – at this point, it didn’t matter; she would see him later tonight.
Honestly, what had her more concerned about his absence was whether or not everything was ok for the Contest. The entire team had put in a ton of hours over the past few weeks to make sure that everything was ready to eliminate any last-minute scrambling; which mean that even though they would be super busy through next weekend, it shouldn’t be to the point where Col was missing for days.
He’d texted her yesterday confirming that they were still on for dinner tonight, to which she’d responded ‘yes,’ but then never heard back from him. Her head jerked up at the knock on her office door, expecting it to be Col, but instead it was Hannah, his personal assistant.
“Hey, Hannah. What’s up?” Beth asked with a smile on her face.
“Hi, Beth. I just wanted to let you know that the dinner tasting is at six tonight. Please tell me that Mr. Dempsey already talked to you about it.” Like Beth, Hannah knew of Col’s penchant for springing events on people on a relatively last-minute basis.
“Yes, he did,” Beth reassured her.
“Oh, good.” The woman smiled and turned to leave when Beth called out to her.
“Is everything ok? With Colin?” she asked. “I just haven’t seen or heard from him since Monday.”
“Oh, yeah. He’s been running around like crazy – something having to do with the permits for the street closing for the event. I’m not sure; he barely was able to tell me that before he had to run.”
“Oh. Ok,” Beth replied. “Thanks.”
At that, Hannah left and Beth wrinkled her brow wondering what had happened. She thought he’d gotten the permits sorted out last week.
Pulling out her laptop, she opened it up to check her email; the most recent unread message catching her eye. It was from Anne.
Or, at least, she thought it was from Anne.
