Not What I Expected

Part 6

Beth turned her head and looked over at Nicole with her eyebrow raised.

"Counselling appointment?" Beth questioned, "Is this a solo act or are you and Chad going together?"

"Together," Nicole replied with an eye roll, "Did you know they were together for a year? How could I be so blind to this? They were together in our home...A very large part of me wants to give up Beth..."

Nicole noticed the look that Beth gave her. It was a look of sadness and disbelief and anger. Beth reached over and grabbed Nicole's hand and squeezed it as Nicole pulled away from the curb. Neither one of them said a word as she drove out of Beth's neighbourhood and down the street to the highway.

"I didn't think that Anna was capable of something like this Nicole," Beth said quietly, "I honestly thought I knew her better than that. I'm sorry this is happening to you, but I really do hope you can work this out with Chad."

Nicole reached down into her bag as she kept her eyes on the road, pulled out the journal that she found earlier that morning and handed it to Beth. Beth looked over at Nicole and then took the book from her.

"What's this?" Beth asked curiously as she opened the front cover.

"It's my journal from my first year with Ryan," Nicole mumbled, "I found it this morning when I was going through a whole bunch of boxes in my closet."

"Oh..." Beth replied, her eyes going wide in response, "You haven't talked about Ryan in years. What made you bring him up?"

"I ran into him yesterday..." Nicole said reluctantly, "I didn't know whether I should say anything, but thought you would want to know."

Again, another silence took over and neither one of them knew what to say. Nicole did a shoulder check before she merged onto the freeway and wondered what was going through Beth's head at that moment.

"Well, you know what I thought about Ryan," Beth said quietly after a little while.

Nicole smiled at this. Beth absolutely adored Ryan and if she had had it her way, she would have ended up with him instead of her. But when things turned more serious for her and Ryan, Beth was supportive of their relationship and she was happy for them.

"I think you still need to give your marriage a chance Nicole," Beth continued, "I know how you felt for Ryan and probably still do, but even though you would much rather castrate your husband at the moment, you have to try."

"So do I Beth," Nicole replied, "But I'm not going to lie to you. It's not like running in to him didn't throw me for a loop."

When they had gotten to the office Nicole had disappeared into her office to get her paper work done before they opened and Beth decided to step out and pick up coffees for everyone. She waited as the elevator door opened and she walked off lost in her own little world.

"Beth?" someone said as they were about to get on the elevator.

Beth was brought back to reality when she saw the man of the hour. Ryan stood in front of her with his usual beautiful smile on his face and she smiled back at him. Was it "run into Ryan Wilson week" or what?

"Ryan...hi!" Beth said, sounding surprised, "What are you doing here?"

"I have a mediation to get to on the 12th floor," he replied, "It doesn't start for an hour but I like to get an early start on preparation. You work here?"

"I run the doctor's office on the 14th floor with Nicole," Beth replied hesitantly, "She actually just told me about your run in yesterday. It must've been nice to see her hey?"