Page 87 of Second Chances
Beth stared at her sister, taken aback by her ominous request.
If Jane was concerned about Caroline, then she was even more dangerous than Beth had thought.
“Of course. It’s just a few more days before I can really avoid her without issue; I’ll be ok,” Beth replied, standing up to take their trash into the kitchen, trying not to appear as shaken as she was by Jane’s warning.
Pulling out her phone, she realized how late it was getting - almost nine-thirty.
Leaving soon -she texted Darcy.
“I think I’m going to head out soon. I’m sure Darcy is wondering how everything went.”Or more like freaking out on the inside worrying about what the outcome of this conversation was.
“Ok. I mean, you’re welcome to stay for a little if you want,” Jane offered.
“I know. I just…want to get home to him. This has been so stressful on us…” Beth trailed off, biting her lip and hoping Jane would understand her need to be with Darcy now.
“Of course, I understand,” Jane replied empathetically. “I’ll do what I can to help, Beth, I want you to know. As…shocking…as all of this is, I’m glad that you told me and I hope that Darcy decides to tell Charles soon. It’s not easy to hear these things about someone you’d hoped to grow close to, but I can’t see myself wanting to be close to someone who thinks it’s ok to treat people the way that she does.”
“Thank you, Jane. I…we…really appreciate it,” Beth said, coming over to give her sister a hug. “I guess I will talk to you on Friday then. Hopefully, we can get a handle on everything before Caro’s show. I don’t even know how we are going to make that work…” Beth shuddered at the thought, but quickly continued before she managed to worry Jane any further, “but, I’m sure we’ll figure something out.”
“Let me know if there is anything else I can do, sis.” Jane hugged her back. “Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
Beth grabbed her things and headed back downstairs to the car that she knew had probably been waiting for her moments after she texted Darcy that she would be leaving soon.
“What did she say?”
Beth had barely made it through the door before Darcy’s concise and demanding question stopped her in her tracks.
He was leaning over the entryway table, shirtless, wearing his sweats that rode low on his hips; his palms were planted flat on the wooden surface, fingers gripping the edge, agitation written all over his body. His eyes dark and brooding, stared at her as if he could see right through to her mind to learn what had happened between her and Jane.
This is tough for him - not being in control.
Beth reminded herself as she calmly took off her shoes and turned, walking over to Darcy. She stopped just in front of him, her hands coming to the sides of his face, pulling his mouth to hers. They both sighed into the kiss, the surrounding stress evaporating for that moment. She didn’t want to torture him, though, any more than he was probably already doing to himself.
“Come with me. I’ll tell you what happened,” she whispered, pulling back from their embrace.
Grasping his hand that was still firmly secured to the table, she disengaged it in order to entwine her fingers with his, leading him into the bedroom.
“Relax. Lie with me,” she instructed.
It had been an emotional night already; she wasn’t about to get into this discussion with him already on edge. She waited for him to climb onto the bed, on top of the covers, before she stripped down and snuggled up next to him.
“Jane was shocked, as I’m sure you can imagine,” Beth began, explaining how their conversation had begun, emphasizing how Jane was hesitant to keep this from Charles.
“I will tell him,” Darcy responded, gruffly.
“I know. I told her,” Beth reassured him. “Unfortunately, Jane doesn’t know exactly why Caroline is here.”
“Fuck,” Darcy interjected.
“Just, wait. Let me finish,” Beth said, coming up on her elbow, placing a steadying hand on his chest. “She knows that Caro is here because her funds ran out, something to do with her grandmother. Jane also said that she doesn’t think Caro has asked their parents for any money which means that, as you suspected, she has some other plan for getting those funds; and by ‘other plan,’ I mean you. Jane said there was more to it than that, though, because why come back to you - a bridge that she clearly had burned, when there are other routes she could pursue, like her parents, her brother…something. So, we know it’s about the money but Jane is going to find out the rest when she sees Charles on Friday.”
“I see,” Darcy replied tightly, his brain processing the facts that were now confirmed for them, as well as the news that they would need to wait four days before they would know more. “And what am I supposed to do until then, just wait for her to try some other shit?”
“What else can we do?” Beth returned, rhetorically. “Confront her? How is that going to affect the rest of our relationships? She has a plan, that’s true, but part of that plan involved getting close to me by working with me; I don’t think she will try anything the week before her exhibition. As much as she wants you, furthering her career is first in her mind; otherwise, she wouldn’t be going through all of this - she would just give up her art and ask her parents for money. She wants the exhibit to be a success, and revealing herself to me, or doing any serious harm to me before then is going to cause a problem for her. So, yes, until Friday, we hold off and regroup. Got it?”
She smiled a little at her dictatorial tone, knowing she was using it to try to relieve some of the tension in the air.
