Page 68 of Second Chances
“What did you just call her?” he said, sounding as though he couldn’t breathe.
“The CB? It’s ahh… a nickname I made up because I got tired of referring to her as your ex. So, now I call her CB; it stands for Crazy Bitch,” Beth responded, coloring, slightly embarrassed to have let that small personal satisfaction unknowingly escape her lips.
“Oh…I see…” he said, exhaling deeply, the color returning to his face, tension visibly draining from his body. “What did the email say? Did you save it?”
“Yes, I have it. I figured I…you…might need it to show to the police,” Beth responded meekly.
“What did it say?” Darcy asked again, his eyes burning straight through her.
“Well, like I said, she wrote about wanting to talk to me but didn’t because of Jason and Andrew. Then, she wrote that she really liked my sweater, that the color was one of your favorites…on her,” Beth paused, swallowing hard as Darcy’s fist flexed at her words. “Then, basically the same thing as this note, that you loved her, that you two belonged together.”
“I’m sorry, Beth,” Darcy said, “you shouldn’t…God…”
His voice cut off as his hand came up to run over his mouth and jaw again, anger and agony playing over his face.
“You should have told me, especially after we specifically talked about going to the police; you did have proof.”
He wasn’t yelling at her anymore, but he couldn’t hold back his frustration that she had tried to deal with this on her own, especially after assuring her that he would file a restraining order if that’s what it came down to. Shaking his head, he walked back slowly to her, placing his knuckles underneath her chin, tilting her face up to gently claim her mouth.
“I know, I’m sorry; I was an idiot and I let my fear get the best of me. It’s going to be ok, Darcy,” Beth whispered against his lips. “We’re going to be ok.”
“It’s me that she wants;why can’t she just come after me? I could handle her.” His controlling harshness entered back into his tone.
“Because, she knows how much you care about me, and how little you care about her. It’s easier to try to force me to sever our relationship than it is to try and affect you.”
“I just want you to be safe,” he replied, his face hardening at the reminder that she wasn’t safe, that he hadn’t been able to keep her safe. “I want to get you out of the city and away from her. What do you have this weekend? Can someone else handle it?”
“No, it’s Jane’s shower this weekend,” Beth responded sympathetically, wishing she could leave with him to alleviate his fears,and hers, if she were honest.“I can’t miss her shower; you know that I can’t.”
His mouth formed a thin line as he gave a curt nod acknowledging and acquiescing to her point.
“I’ll need you to print out that email so I can take it to the police and I’ll need to keep this note as well.”
“Ok, but won’t they want to talk to me?”
“I don’t know. I’m going to find out. I don’t want you involved in this any more than necessary and if you are being followed, I don’t want her to escalate things if she sees you going to the police.Please.”
“Ok,” Beth agreed, tired of arguing.
“I need a drink,” he announced stiffly. “You’ve had a long day, why don’t you shower and I’ll order us up some food.”
Beth folded her arms over her chest, nodding slightly. She wanted to comfort him more, but aside from leaving town with him right now, there was nothing else that she could do. She walked over, gently placing a kiss on the harsh line of his mouth, before heading into the bathroom.
It was going to be a long weekend - and not the kind that she had been dreaming about.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Beth!There you are! What took you so long?”
Her mother’s shrill voice greeted her as Irene opened the door to Caroline’s three-story townhouse. Beth’s brief, first impression of the house, as she awkwardly made her way up the front stairs, was that the architecture was beautifully executed, but the exterior had been painted gray, giving it a very bleak appearance -at least to her.
“I’m sorry, there was traffic and then it took longer than I thought to pick up the flowers, I don’t want to talk about it,” Beth insisted as she pushed through the ornate doorway, past her mother, her arms straining to support the giant cardboard box she was carrying with all of the flowers in it.
“Caroline picked Jane up almost an hour ago and the guests should be arriving any minute!”
After stopping in the entryway, Beth found herself staring past the stairway to the second floor, down the long hallway of dark hardwood floor, a sitting room to her right and what looked like Caro’s office to her left, closed off behind glass doors.
“Where is the kitchen?” Beth asked, ignoring the huffiness in her mother’s voice, having too much to do.
