Page 35 of Serial Love

Stalking across the room he tossed the unfinished beer into the trash. Walking back to the liquor cabinet, he pulled out a whiskey bottle. Grabbing a glass, he took them both to the living room and sat facing the windows again. Pouring a drink, he decided that getting shitfaced was the only way to make this nightmare disappear.

13

Two days later, Bethany was working in the flower beds just outside of the lodge. They did not need weeding, but she refused to have any down time. Two days of little sleep, little food, and a lot of work was taking its toll on her. Gram was staying in the lodge most of the time, not interested in walking around but preferring to putter around inside the house.

On her knees in the dirt, she could feel the urge to cry once more, but fought it off.I was fine before Jack Bryant, and I’ll be fine now!

Just then, a car pulled into the front of the lodge, and she looked up in surprise as her parents waved excitedly at her.

“Mom! Dad!” she cried, jumping up to greet them as they alighted from their car. “You guys didn’t tell me you were coming!”

Her mother moved toward her, arms extended. Blonde hair like Bethany’s, now with a touch of gray, was pulled back away from her face with a clip. Her facewas an older version of her daughter’s, still smooth and beautiful. Dressed for comfort, she was in neat jeans and a short-sleeve pink blouse.

Her father followed his wife and as Bethany noted, he was also dressed in jeans and a polo, looking ready to pile up on one of the rocking chairs on the front porch or down by the dock.

Hugging them both, she exclaimed, “Why didn’t you call?” Grabbing the overnight case from her mom, she continued, “Come on in. Gram will be glad to see you.” She halted suddenly and her face sobered. “Well, the truth is, she might not recognize you…but she’ll be happy for the company anyway.”

She noticed her parents shared a look, but she dismissed it in her excitement to have them there.

“Gram?” she called out, walking into the lodge’s main room. “We have visitors.”

Her dad looked over at his mother and noticed the change since he had seen her two months ago. “Mom?” he said, walking over to where she sat looking up with a smile. He kissed her cheek and she said, “You’ll like it here. We got nice cabins.”

Ed looked at his wife quickly and saw her sad expression. She walked over, greeting her mother-in-law with a kiss as well.

“Ann, it’s so good to see you,” Susan added. She blinked back the tears, knowing how hard this was for her husband, and then turned to peer at her daughter. Shocked that she had not noticed it in her eagerness to arrive, she realized Bethany looked...devastated.

Just then, Sally entered the lodge and greeted Ed andSusan. She glanced at Bethany and asked, “You want me to take Ann up and fix her an early lunch?”

Bethany offered her a heartfelt smile of gratitude. The two of them had shared several tearful conversations about Jack in the past two days and it was clear Sally knew that she needed to talk to her parents. Confide in them. Draw strength from them.

“Yeah, that’d be great.”

They watched as Sally assisted Gram upstairs, then heard her puttering in the kitchen while talking softly to Ann.

“We need to talk,” her father began, but before he could say anything else, Susan interrupted.

“I think we need to listen first,” she said, looking at her daughter as only a mother does. “You don’t look happy, and I want to know why.”

The three settled in the comfortable chairs in front of the lodge’s fireplace as they had done on so many trips to Mountville to visit her grandparents over the years.

“So, what’s going on that’s put such a sad look in your eye, baby?” her mom asked. “And I know it’s not all about Gram.”

Shrugging while shaking her head, Bethany said, “A tale as old as time, mom.”

Her father looked confused but wisely kept his mouth shut as he looked to his wife for guidance. Susan nodded in understanding and gently ordered, “Tell us about him.”

“He owns the property next to us and we met under unusual circumstances when Gram wandered away oneday. He owns some kind of a security business,” she added, her nose scrunched in thought. “Kind of secret, with government contracts and…well anyway, he was very sweet and even set Gram up with a tracker bracelet so she could be tracked if she wandered again.”

“That’s right, I remember you telling us about that,” her father commented.

“And…” her mother prodded.

“We…well I can’t say we started seeing each other really…but we were together some, and both had feelings for each other, so we decided to follow through on them, and see where they went. I guess I went overboard and…” her voice trailed off sadly.

“You were already falling,” her mother finished for her.

“That sounds so lame,” Bethany confessed. “I’m not some teenager who falls in love at the drop of a hat.” Her parents gifted her with the time to finish her story without butting in.

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