Page 19 (1/2)

Beth yawned It&039;d been a long day, beginning with church thatand then brunch with her family Now, at aled on to World of Warcraft a little while ago and was disappointed to discover that Peter wasn&039;t online Still, she felt relieved that they&039;d decided to postpone their ave her time to make a few decisions, time to assess the situation and consider how to deal hat she&039;d learned

The doorbell chi who&039;d stop by this late at night

When she checked the peephole, she saw a lovely wo in the hallway Whoever it was had the nize her But even though she didn&039;t knoho this woman was, she unlatched the door and opened it

Instead of the woh the peephole, a man stood there in front of her Not just any man John Nicodemus, her ex-husband

Peter

If Beth was shocked, it was nothing compared to the look on Peter&039;s face

"Marybeth?" he whispered as if he couldn&039;t see here?"

"I live here"

"No, you don&039;t," he argued

"Are you looking for Borincana?" she asked

Peter went pale

"You&039;re Timixie," she added It was obvious that they both needed to sit down, so she stepped out of the doorway and waved hi room and sank heavily onto the sofa Elbows balanced on his knees, he thrust his fingers through his hair and stared down at the floor

Beth understood exactly how he felt because she&039;d experienced the very same mix of emotions when she&039;d seen him in Leavenworth It had felt as if the sidewalk had started to cruer and disbelief

Yesterday in Leavenworth, she&039;d suspected hi this As she watched his face, she could see that he was feeling doubt, incredulity, suspicion - just as she had

"How can this be?" he murmured after several minutes

"I askedhave you known?"

She wanted it understood that she hadn&039;t arranged this, any htened "You were there?"

Beth nodded "You were standing by the gazebo, exactly as we&039;d agreed Then I saw that red rose and I nearly fainted"

"Who was on the phone?" he denized your voice"

"My friend Heidi She&039;s a new friend - you never ainst the sofa as he absorbed her words

"Why are you here?" she asked Beth studied him carefully He was even more attractive than she remembered The years had matured him, and his features had lost their boyish quality He looked more serious now, moreadult They&039;d both been so juvenile and irrational, so quick to get out of the relationship Beth had felt blindsided by the pain of it and she thought that JohnPeter ested as much

"I shouldn&039;t have co here, I couldn&039;t figure out why I was doing this"

Beth didn&039;t understand it, either They&039;d already said they&039;d wait until after New Year&039;s

He closed his eyes for a few seconds, then opened theain and looked directly at her "This afternoon we h I couldn&039;t stop thinking about you I was afraid that if we delayed ain, neither of us would ever be ready It was just too easy to keep putting it off"

Beth could see that was true

"Once Ieven an hour seemed intolerable I had your address from the phone call in Leavenworth - thanks to your friend, as it turns out I decided to ht and I was co uninvited"

"Only you had met me"

"Well, I could hardly know that, could I?" he snapped, then see like this happen?" he asked helplessly

She responded with a question of her own "When did John beco in the corporate office at Starbucks There were four Johns, so I decided to use ot used to it The only people who call me John these days are e had come about in a perfectly rational way - it was certainly no attee

"What about you, Marybeth?"

"Marybeth becaarded her skeptically "Any particular reason?"

"I wanted a new start, and Marybeth sounded so childish and outdated to me, so I shortened it to Beth The only people who still call me Marybeth are my family"

"I see" He rubbed his face "I don&039;t mean to be forward here, but I could use a cup of coffee"

"Of course I&039;m sorry, I should&039;ve asked" She stood and took two steps toward the kitchen before abruptly turning back "How&039;d you do that, by the way?"

"Do what?"

"I checked the peephole in my door before I unlocked it and there was a woman on the other side"

"A woman?" He wore a puzzled frown

"She was attractive and had blond hair and striking blue eyes"

"It wasn&039;t aze head-on "I was the only one there, Beth Maybe you should have your eyesight examined"

"Maybe you should - " She clas to discuss An argument would be pointless; it didn&039;t ht she&039;d seen "Give me a minute to make that coffee"

Unexpectedly, Peter followed her into the kitchen "What just happened back there?" he asked with obvious surprise

"What do you rounds and poured water into the coffeelanced over at him "What discussion?"

"It used to be that you absolutely had to be right," he told her "You&039;d go ten ht you were and horong I was"

"I did?" Beth didn&039;t remember it like that