chapter eight

I crawl out from under Justin’s arm and get dressed in the bathroom before heading out to work. I pull my hair up with a clip and slip into my pant suit. I drive through the local Dunkin Doughnuts and grab myself a coffee as I park by the construction site. I get out and look over the new building. I go inside and although there is no furniture in the new wing, it looks beautiful. A familiar tapping noise from high heels causes me to turn around and see Lexi holding a clip board, “Lexi!”

She looks up from the paperwork and smiles, “Beth, I didn’t think you would be in today.”

I gesture to the new addition, “I wanted to make sure all of the construction was going right.”

“I have it all under control, you didn’t need to bother yourself with coming all the way over here.”

I shrug, “I wanted too. It’s kind of like my baby, you know?”

Lexi grins, “Speaking of baby, I heard you and Justin are going to be having one. That’s so exciting.”

My first reaction is to strangle her but I control myself, “Where did you hear that?”

She sits down on the nearest fold out chair, “Justin told Shane and I when he came over here the other day.”

“He did?” I ask in shock.

Lexi doesn’t even look up from her papers, “Mmmm hmmm. He said that you would probably be coming in less and so we should start to take more of the burden off you.”

I reach for some sort of support to keep from falling over, “But I’m not even pregnant yet.”

Lexi smiles, “He is probably just preparing for when you are. It’s hard to be pregnant and work, he’s just trying to keep it as easy as he can for you.”

“But I love it here,” I mumble pathetically.

She stands up and puts a hand on my arm, “Oh don’t worry, I have it all under control. The construction guy says I’m a natural,” she adds, fluffing her hair.

My head is spinning, “Where’s Shane?”

“Oh he’s in California this week setting up a new manager over there.”

I rack my brain for any conversation about California, “He didn’t tell me he was going.”

“That’s because you weren’t here,” she points out gently.

I shift to my other foot as my feet start to hurt, “So who’s in charge over here?”

Lexi laughs, “I am of course.”

Oh now I know that migraine is setting in and there is no point in arguing the point, “I’m just going to go to my desk.”

Lexi moves in front of me as I go to move, “Oh Beth, I had so much paperwork and no office so since you weren’t here, I took over your office.”

I stop mid sip and clutch the poor Styrofoam cup, “Excuse me?”

She waves her manicured hand at me, “Oh don’t worry, I put all the things on your desk in a box. I’ll go get it for you,” she says.

Before I can get a word in edgewise she’s off and I put my hand over my mouth. You have got to be kidding me. I could kill someone right now. Three seconds later she prances out with a cardboard box, “Here you go.”

I take the box and look inside to see some pictures of Justin, Sam, mom and baby pictures of Sarah as well as a mug, “What would you like me to do with these?”

Her phone starts to ring and she holds up one finger at me that I want to break off, “One sec.”

I look in the box sadly and touch the pictures. I jump a little at the phone snapping shut and glance at Lexi. She cocks her head to the side, “Well I really have to go but it was nice seeing you.”

“Aren’t you forgetting something?”

She looks at me confused, “I am?”

“Uh yeah, all the paperwork I have done over the last four years. You know, the personal notes and records of mine.”

“Oh those. Well since I’m so new and all and you quit so quickly I decided to use them.”

My jaw tightens, “I didn’t quit.”

“Sorry, take an extended break. Anyway, the notes are really helpful in the process of getting everything set up.”

Her phone starts to ring again and she wiggles her fingers at me and walks off. I’m left holding my life in one box.

________________________________________________________________________

I practically storm into the store as the bell overhead rings as I open the door, alerting people of my presence, not that there is anyone to alert. I look around until Will comes out from the back. He looks up from his lunch and is startled, “Beth?”

“What do you have for someone who is very, very angry?”

Will puts his late down behind the counter and wipes his mouth, “I might have something.”

I follow him once again and watch as he stares at the wall before pulling a familiar black album from the stack, “How do you feel about AC DC?”

I take the music from him, “Back in black works.”

“Good,” he says.

Will waits for me to move towards the counter but if I move to the counter and pay, I will have no where to go. Can’t go home, can’t go to work. Where am I supposed to go? He takes a look at me and smiles, “You got somewhere to be?”

I laugh nervously, “No, not today.”

He goes into the back and brings a chair up to the front, “Well I would love the company if you wanted to stay for a little while.”

I bite my nail, “Are you sure?”

He walks in a circle, “Do you see anyone else here? I’m lucky we make the rent every month. I think we barely make a profit off this place, at least that what my manager says.”

“Don’t you think he would mind if I was here with you? I mean you’re supposed to be working and I’m just a distraction.”

Will shakes his head, “He never comes in here and don’t worry about it. You’re not a distraction. Think of yourself as company while I do my job.”

I twirl my hair on my finger, “But should one person come in here and recognize me, believe me you’ll be sorry.”

He grins, “How do you feel about being a blonde?”

“I don’t understand,” I respond curiously, resenting the fact that brunettes are not thought of as beautiful as blondes.

“There is a costume store across the street. I’ll go over there and grab you a wig.”

The whole idea is nuts and I know I should be in my car right driving home, but something about this kid reminds me of when I was younger, “Alright.”

“Cool, I’ll go and you can just hang out here for a minute.”

I chew on my bottom lip, “What if someone comes in?”

Will flips his hair around and puts his sunglasses on al la Tom Cruise grinning, “They won’t.”

________________________________________________________________________

I clear out the final box from the room next to ours. We were using it for storage but I figured we would probably want the baby’s room next to ours. The walls are white and we’ll probably paint them when we find out the sex of the baby. Beth can order the furniture she wants and all that stuff since if I tried to do it we would have some serious problems. This is what I had a decorator for and that’s why Beth does the rest.

I turn around to see Gia standing in the doorway, “Nice job. You clearing it out for the baby?”

I nod and wipe a few drops of sweat off of my forehead with my arm, “I figured this one would be the nursery.”

“Good thinking,” she replies as she plays with one of her curls, “Have you talked to Beth lately?”

I put down the last box and look up at her, “What do you mean? We live together, how could I not talk to her?”

She puts her hands on the entryway, “I don’t mean like good morning I mean like a real heart to heart. About the baby, about work, about anything important.”

I stand erect, “We talk. She took a pregnancy test last week and it was negative,” I reveal.

“Okay,” she says, putting her arm back down to her side.

“Why do you ask?”

She shrugs, “I haven’t spoken to her since the whole plane ride incident. She just hasn’t been acting herself but if you say that you’re talking to her then maybe it’s just me.”

I go over the last few weeks in my head and realize I have thought she was being a little distant, “I’ll talk to her when she gets in tonight.”

“Yeah. I wasn’t trying to make you concerned or anything I just thought it was odd.”

I run my fingers through my hair, “No you’re right. She hasn’t been her usual self lately.”

Gia glances at her watch, “Well I’m going to run, I have to make sure Derek hasn’t let Tyson destroy the house.”

I chuckle, “I’ll see you tomorrow G.”

“Bye,” she calls out, heading out the door.

Gia has always been right on the ball with this kind of stuff so trusting her instincts when she says there is something off with Beth is a good indication that she’s right. I decide to take a shower do partly to my sore muscles and partly to the smell coming off me right now. When Beth gets home we’ll have a heart to heart.

________________________________________________________________________

After having tried her cell about two dozen times I have given up and decided to just wait by the door for her. My nerves are shot and feel like at any moment someone could call and tell me she was in an accident or something. Beth never forgets to call. She never turns her phone off. I think I’m forming an ulcer as we speak.

I hear the doorknob and a pushing of the front door open. I jump up and go to the hall to see Beth as calm as she has ever been put her jacket in the closet and look up at me when she realizes I’m looking at her, “Hi,” she says simply.

I stare at her for a minute, “Hi? That’s all I get?”

“What?” she asks defensively.

“What do you mean what? I have been worried sick about you. You didn’t call to tell me where you were and it’s one in the morning.”

She slams the closet door and I realize she’s angry about something, “Sorry to inconvenience you.”

“Why don’t we start off where you have been all night?”

Beth just shrugs, “Out.”

“Out?”

She crosses her arms, “Out.”

I rub that throbbing pain over my eyes and glance at her, “Okay you’re not fifteen getting in trouble for sneaking out of the house here. Let’s at least try to pretend we are two adults having a conversation instead of a screaming match. What wrong with you today?”

She bites down on her bottom lip hard, “Did you tell everyone at work that we were having a baby?”

I squint, “Yes…. Why?”

Beth just throws her arms up in the air and jogs up the stairs. I run after her and come inches from having our bedroom door slammed in my face. I bang on the door, “We need to talk Beth.”

“Not tonight,” she retorts as she unlocks the door.

I sigh and rub my eyes tiredly. It’s too late to get into it anyway so I open our door which has been opened for me to at least sleep and go in to see her curled up in bed, her back to me. I get in on the other side and for the first time in our relationship, we sleep with our backs to each other.

9