Ripples Through Time (15 page)

“Understood,” she said. The officer released Jason’s arm and
Beth put her hand on his back, guiding him out of the department into the cool
night air beyond.

They stopped on the landing just outside. Jason hung his
head, unwilling to look his sister in the eyes.

She stood there, drinking in the night air, cold tears
stinging her eyes.

“Jason,” she said, her voice soft. “This is the last time.”

“I know,” he said.

“No, you don’t know. I can’t keep doing this. I can’t keep
worrying about you. The next time something like this happens will be the last
time you ever hear from me. Got it?”

He bobbed his head and made a choking pathetic noise. “Got
it,” he whispered.

She began steering him toward the car. Adam smiled at her
but she didn’t smile back. She opened the door and Jason climbed into the
backseat. She got into the front.

She tried not to cry.

Her eyes were wet within seconds.

“Where are we taking you?” she asked.

“Home,” Jason replied, studying the floor.

“Not to Marietta?”

“We haven’t…” he mumbled “…not for a few weeks.”

“Home it is,” Beth replied. Adam silently put them into
motion.

“Thanks,” Jason said after a few minutes. “And thank you
Adam. I appreciate it.”

Neither of them replied. Beth glanced over at Adam and
offered him a smile. He smiled back, but his eyes were sad. She reached over,
tentatively, and placed her hand next to his. Still staring ahead, he entwined
their fingers and held onto her.

They parked on the street in front of her old house. She
hadn’t been here in weeks. Months, actually. Everything, she realized, had
changed.

Not with the house, per say. Rather she had changed. It was
a somber residence now, quiet and lonely on its corner of the road. She’d
outgrown it. It was nothing like the boisterous house where she’d grown up, so
full of life and activity.

This was where she’d played tag with her brothers, thrown
snowballs at her father, and played hide and seek in the dark of night. It used
to be full of laughter and energy.

But not anymore. Now it was a forbidding structure, silent
and still in the dim moonlight. Grass was overgrown, siding was peeling, and
paint was fading.

Beth did not want to go in that house. It had been her home,
but no more.

“They must be sleeping,” she said. “Do you have anywhere
else to go?”

Jason shook his head. “I could sleep outside on the—“

“No,” she replied.

“I don’t have any money. Could I crash with you?”

“We both live in dorms with strict policies regarding
visitation,” she said. 

“Mine isn’t that strict,” Adam said. “He could stay with me
for now.”

“You sure?” Beth asked.

Adam nodded. “If he doesn’t mind coming with me to get lunch
with Jenny,” Adam said. He spoke to Bethany but looked at Jason as he said it.

Jason shrugged. “I don’t mind at all. I haven’t seen Jenny
in years. How is she?”

“Better, but she doesn’t like to be with my parents at home.
It just isn’t a happy place for her. We’ve been looking for somewhere that will
take her in but…” he didn’t finish, but instead held up his hands in a
dismissive gesture.

Bethany could understand: Adam had been trying to find a
clinic or program to accept Jenny for years, but there wasn’t enough money and
she kept getting denied. It was straining the family, who both didn’t have the
resources and was losing ambition to care for her.

Adam put the car into gear and they pulled smoothly back
onto the road. Beth glanced out the window, willing and able to worry about her
test now. But it was a hollow worry now, lacking the same emphasis. She was
glad that Jason was okay.

She was glad he was alive.

The nightscape rolled past her window, dark and forbidding.

“How’d your test go?” Edward asked. She jumped a little,
both surprised that he had gotten so close without her noticing and that he was
here on campus at all. The last she’d seen him was four months ago at the end
of her summer break.

“Edward?” she asked, turning around. He was standing a few
feet away, grinning. Where his brother had broad shoulders and strong jaw, Edward
was a little taller but quite a bit lighter. He was tall and lithe, handsome
with intelligent eyes. Beth had developed a crush on him growing up that she’d
never quite shaken, even after she knew he didn’t return her affections. “What
are you doing here?”

“Just came to visit,” he replied. “And I spotted you across
the street. How’d your test go? Adam said you were finishing the last one
today.”

“It was easy,” she said. “Not like my economics one. This
one was just geometry.”

“Ah,” he said. “Adam told me about the Econ one. He said you
were pretty upset about it.”

She had been. The test was horrible, worse than she ever
could have expected. Professor Melkin had managed to become her single least
favorite professor on campus during that two hour exam.

Adam kept insisting it would be fine. In his world,
everything would
always
be
fine. She found that distinctly
irritating, but also endearing.

“It’s over,” she said. “There’s nothing I can do about it
now.”

He nodded.

“So why are you here?”

“Visiting,” he replied, scratching his chin. “Came to see
Adam.”

“Oh? He hadn’t told me you were coming,” she said. Actually,
he hadn’t told her much of anything in the last few days. They’d brought Jason
back to campus five days ago, she’d taken her test, and he’d consoled her
afterward when she had a mini breakdown. But that was four nights ago. She
hadn’t spoken to him since.

She had the distinct impression, in fact, that he was
avoiding her.

“He’s been busy,” Edward replied with a shrug.

“I see,” she said, her words clipped.

He frowned. “You don’t believe me.”

She shrugged. “I get the feeling you didn’t just
spot
me
out here. Chances are you were waiting for me.”

“Why would you say that?”

“Adam hasn’t spoken to me and suddenly you show up out of
the blue? I’m guessing you’re here to…”

He just stared at her. “To…what?”

“Tell me that Adam wants to break up with me,” she said,
exasperated. She threw her hands in the air. “I’ve been expecting it for a
while. He’s been avoiding me and after what I put him through where my brother
was concerned…”

She trailed off when she saw Edward’s expression.

“What?” she asked, folding her arms. “What is it?”

He burst out laughing.

She didn’t find it very funny. “Edward. What?”

“Break up with you? That’s hilarious,” Edward said,
clutching his stomach. “Nothing…could be…further…”

She felt her face heating up and fought the urge to shove
him. She did fold her arms and tap her shoe against the pavement. “Edward…” she
said.

“Sorry,” he said, gasping for air. “Sorry.”

“I’m going to hit you if you don’t start talking.”

He took a few steps back, holding up his hands and grinning.
“No need to get violent. I was actually coming by to…”

“To…” she prompted.

He sighed. “Hang on, I need to come up with a good lie.”

This time she did punch him, lightly, on the arm. “No lies,”
she said. “You’re terrible at it anyway.”

“I know,” he said, shaking his head. “Fine. The truth. I was
here to make sure you were willing to act surprised. For his sake. I knew there
was
no way
you were so clueless to not know what he was up to, so I just
wanted to make sure things went well for him.”

“Ask me what?” she asked.

“Exactly,” he said, sighing again. “I think I blew it.”

“Oh,” she said, the bottom falling out of her stomach.

Edward nodded grimly at her. “So…um…shit…”

“Yeah,” she agreed, suddenly finding it very hard to pay
attention. Edward patted her shoulder and headed across the street, waving back
at her. He said something, but she wasn’t sure what. Nor did she really care.

“Yeah. Shit.”

She wasn’t surprised when Adam asked her to dinner.

She also wasn’t surprised when he informed her that he’d
reserved a table at their favorite restaurant. It was elegant and beautiful
with dim lighting and candles. It was also expensive so they’d only been there
twice. It had a shooting fountain out front with wooden benches and soft
lighting. On one of their first dates they’d spent an entire night out there just
talking on one of those benches.

“…paying any attention at all, are you?”

She came out of her daze, blinking her eyes. She was in her
dorm, but not really sure how she’d gotten there. She shook her head and
glanced up, noticing Sarah hovering over her. Sarah was wearing a blue blouse
with her hair done up. Probably going out again.

She glanced out the window. The sky was already getting
dark.

“What?” she asked. Her throat was dry. She cleared it and
repeated the question.

“I was talking to you for like ten minutes before I realized
you weren’t listening,” said Sarah, laughing.

“Sorry.”

“What’s up? You look like someone just shot your puppy.”

“Adam is going to ask me to marry him…”

Beth froze, suddenly realizing she wasn’t
thinking
the
thought, but was actually saying it out loud. Slowly she raised her eyes,
looking up at Sarah, and saw a stunned expression on her roommates face.

And then…

She burst out laughing.

Beth growled. “It’s not funny.”

“Yes it is,” Sarah said. “It really is. So he finally got up
the courage? About damn time.”

Beth sighed.

“You had to know he was going to ask?”

Beth just stared at her, narrowing her eyes.

“Okay,” Sarah said, backing up and still smiling. “So you
were the
only
one who didn’t know.”

“I just never…” Beth said, trailing off.

Sarah’s grin faded. “Oh.”

“Oh, what?”

Sarah frowned, picking up her coat and slipping it over her
shoulder. She headed for the door, pausing before leaving. She glanced back at
Beth.

“I never thought your answer would be ‘no’.”

Beth made up her mind to cancel dinner.

She would just say she had a cold. Or a headache. Or stomach
bug. Beg off tonight, apologize to Adam, and hope things would go back to
normal. She could do it in such a way that she wouldn’t hurt his feelings.

Yeah. Right.

It wasn’t actually a stretch to say she had a headache. Just
thinking about the situation made her head hurt, and there was no way Adam
would press the issue if she employed that excuse.

But it would be a copout.

Really, anything at this point would be a copout. And even
if she did cancel dinner tonight with him, she would still have to face the
situation later. It wasn’t like it was a problem that would just go away with
time.

And it wasn’t like she didn’t like Adam. She loved him. She
loved spending time with him. She’d never really thought of things in those
terms.
Marriage
terms. She enjoyed being around him and was definitely
attracted to him, but this was for
life.
Marriage was…

There was a knock at the door.

She decided not to answer it.

“Honey,” she heard her father say out in the hallway after a
moment. “Can we come in?”

Maybe they would go away.

“Are you there?”

With a groan she stumbled out of her chair and over to the
door. She opened it. Her father was wearing a plain brown shirt and jeans, and
her mother was wearing a long grey dress and overcoat. They both looked cold
and tired.

Calvin frowned at her. “Honey? You look terrible.”

She released a sharp burst of air and stepped to the side. Her
parents came in, glancing around.

They were silent for a minute, just looking at her, and then
Emily cleared her throat.

“Aren’t you going to ask us why we’re here?”

“Let me guess,” she replied, “you were just in the
neighborhood and decided to stop by and check up on me?”

Emily frowned at her, and then her eyes went wide. “Oh.”

Beth let out another breath of air.

Calvin looked from his wife to his daughter and back to his
wife. Then he scratched his head. “What?”

“She knows.”

“Knows what?”

Emily shot him a level look.

“Oh.” He frowned. “How?”

Emily looked to Beth.

“Edward,” Beth replied. “He sort of told me.”

Calvin shrugged. “Alright then.”

Emily was studying her daughter. “Calvin,” she said, gently
tapping her husband’s shoulder. “Why don’t you go and get some gas in the car?
We were running a little low.”

“We have enough to—”

A look silenced him.

“Alright,” he said. He stepped in and gave Beth a hug. Then
he nodded to his wife and disappeared into the hallway.

Emily closed the door, waited for his retreating steps to
disappear, and turned to her daughter. She frowned. “Why not?”

“Is it that obvious?”

“I’ve known you since before you took your first breath. You
still think you can hide things from me?”

Beth blinked. “Guess not.”

“Want to know how your father asked me?”

Beth didn’t reply, but rather stared at the floor.

“He said Mikey planned it. Mikey was like your father’s
little brother. Loved Cal. They did it on a race day. All of my friends were
there, but I had no idea.

“Anyway Mikey tricked me, told me Mary wanted me to come to
the winner’s circle after a race. We got to get in those pictures all the time
when her horses won, so I didn’t think anything of it.

“When Mikey led me down there I saw all of my friends. They
were standing in the winner’s circle, grinning and staring at me, but no horse.
I asked Mikey what was happening and he started laughing at me.”