Surprised

I would pass Beth's everyday hoping to see her outside and give me an excuse to stop and chat. But lately she seemed to be keeping longer hours than I did. My mother in law called constantly asking me if everything looked normal around there. I told her I had not heard or seen Beth in well over a month. She told me they talked on the phone every other night or so. Then she told me something that made my heart sink.

"I think Beth has met someone new, Jeff.", my mother in law said.

"What makes you think that ?", I responded in my bravest voice.

"Last night she asked if it was too soon for her to be interested in another man ?", was her reply.

She went on to tell me Beth had told her nothing specific, but from the conversation, she had figured that she had recently met someone. My heart sank and I felt sick to my stomach. I quickly made up an excuse and ended the conversation. I sat there stunned. I had no idea what to do. I thought about going over to Beth's and confronting her, telling her how much I loved her and asking her to be with me. But the more I thought about it, I was sure that was so unfair to Beth. If she had indeed met someone else, what a terrible position I would put her in. No matter how much it hurt, I had to back off. I decided to take a shower and go to bed. I really did not feel well.

I skipped the next two Sundays at the in laws , keeping to myself. The last thing I needed to do was run into Beth . I tried to keep myself busy with work and errands, doing my best to stay pre-occupied. Soon it was the weekend again and I headed home Friday evening. I drove passed Beth's and saw her taking packages out of her car. She waved at me and motioned for me to stop. I pulled to the curb and lowered the window. She came over with a smile and leaned in the passenger window.

"Hey, Jeff, how are you ?" , she asked brightly.

"I am ok, how have you been ?", was my response.

"Things have been rough, but they are getting better.", she replied.

She went on to tell me that things had quieted down between her and Lance. In fact they had dinner the night before and managed to work out most of the financial arrangements of their divorce. She told me that they actually got along much better now then when they were together. I just smiled and shook my head as if I understood. She then asked me why I hadn't been to her parents house in almost a month. I responded I just had not been feeling well lately and wanted to be alone. She frowned at me and told me she understood, for the past few years, even though her and Lance lived together, she in fact felt alone.

"Jeff, I have to discuss the building with you. We are either going to have to sell it or we have to buy Lance out.", she informed me.

I had not thought of this. I still owned half of the building that Beth's business was in. Lance owned half of Beth's share. I started to ask price, amounts, things like that.

"Tell you what.", she said, "I am going to clean up, I will go out and get dinner, meet you back at your place about eight o'clock. We can come up with a plan."

"That's fine.", I replied, "See you then."

Beth arrived about ten minutes after eight carrying bags of take out from Kentucky Fried Chicken. I was glad to see Beth wearing long jeans, and a button up blouse. The last thing I needed was anything to make me feel even worst about what had happened. We went into kitchen, sat at the table and began to eat. I really was not that hungry, my stomach was in a knot.

Beth began to explain the arrangement that her and Lance had agreed upon. Beth wanted to keep the house but could not afford to buy Lance out of it. She agreed to giving him half of their savings and buy him out of the building in exchange for him signing over the equity in their home to her. So basically what it amounted to was having to come up with about 175,000.00 to buy him out of the business. She had roughly about 50,000.00 in cash from the savings which was her share. She agreed to sign over the complete building to me in exchange for me buying Lance out with the balance.

Money had never been a problem with me. Thankfully Susan and I had prepared in the event one of us had died prematurely. We had mortgage protection on our home, the business and several pieces of land we owned together. All of the balance's were paid a few months after Susan's death, leaving me with only minor expenses. In addition we each had two large life insurances polices, so I was financially secure.

I told Beth, I would contact my bank officer and start a mortgage on the building for the roughly 125,000.00, Lance was owed. I told Beth her business could pay the monthly notes and that signing over her interests in the building was not necessary. I told her anything I could do to help out during this time, I would be glad to do so. I could see her exhale a huge sigh of relief. Her eyes watered up and she tried to express herself.

"Jeff, I don't know what to say. That is so generous of you. I don't know how I can ever repay you.", she said softly.

"You don't have to.", I replied, "Your family. That is what families do, take care of each other. Besides, I know that's what Susan would have wanted me to do. I just want you to be happy, Beth."

We finished eating, cleaned the kitchen quickly and moved into the great room. She sat on the sofa, I sat across from her in my chair. We continued to talk about the details of the building until we were both satisfied with how it was going to transpire. Without much warning, Beth changed the subject quickly.

"Jeff, I know this is going to be awkward, but I really need to tell you something.", she said in a low voice.

"Yes, I know.", I quickly replied, "Your mom told me."

She looked puzzled for a moment, then asked what I meant by that.

"Your mom has the idea that you might have met someone recently and could be thinking of starting a relationship.", I added.

Beth look startled and confused, moving uneasy on the sofa.

"I can't believe that my mom read me that well. I mean, I really did not say anything that I know of that would have given her any clue.", Beth answered.

So it was true, she had met someone. I decided as much as this was going to hurt, I had to take the noble way out. Before Beth could say anything else, I decided to let her off the hook.

"Beth, I am not going to lie to you and tell you that I do not care for you. You know I do. But all I want is for you to be happy. I know what it's like to live with hurt and I don't want that for you. I am glad that you met someone, you deserve to be happy.", I told her.

"Anything you need from me, you just ask. I wish you all the best.", I continued.

She was just looking at me with a blank stare, like she could not believe what I was saying. I am not sure how much time passed, it seemed like an eternity, then she responded.

"Well, in fact, I have met someone.", she finally replied, "And I am not positive but I think I may be in love with him."

My heart sank, I felt my stomach tighten, but I tried my best not to let on I was dying inside. I smiled at her and she continued to tell me how confused she had been for the past few months, so unsure of the right thing to do. She told me she was hesitate to start another relationship so soon after separating from Lance. She was moving slow to be absolutely sure this was real, not perhaps just a rebound relationship.

"I understand.", I told her, "But if you truly have fallen in love, don't waste any more time. Be happy. Anytime you need to talk or need a shoulder to lean on, I am here for you."

"Jeff, I always admired you, and in a lot of ways, I have always been extremely jealous of Susan. I saw how the two of you got along. You both were always so happy, always kidding each other, always laughing. Not only were you lovers, you were best friends. Now, I can see why Susan was so in love with you."

I didn't know what to say or how to say it. Here was my sister in law telling me she had fallen in love with another man, while my heart was crying out to tell her how much I loved her. I wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake some sense into her. But what good would that do. I was unhappy, why burden her with this.

"You know it takes a special man to tell me what you just did. After what we shared together, you're only concerned about my happiness, my chance to be in love again." she said softly.

"Yes, Jeff.", she said looking down at her feet, " I am pretty sure I have fallen in love again and it scares me."

There it was , the final blow. My heart was pounding so hard, I was pretty sure she could hear it. My stomach was twisted in knots, I felt like I had suddenly developed a high fever. Once again, I was alone.