Our Secret To Keep.

Chapter Forty-Nine - What Did She Expect?

Blythe

I am sitting at my desk, busy with work. I've been here most of the day, handling emails, Zoom meetings, and phone calls. I dislike days like this, but it's part of the job. As someone in charge, I expect it. It's an aspect of the job I don't particularly enjoy. Kade is out of the office; he and my father are away for a business meeting and are likely to run into the night. That's okay because keeping everyone satisfied is important. I need a break. I swear my eyes are going blurry from staring at the screen too long. I haven't taken a break since I started this morning, but I need coffee and food now. I will go to the café across the road, take an hour, then return and get straight back to it. I am hoping to be done at a decent hour tonight, around six. I don't know if I will see Kade tonight; it depends on when he and my father will be done.

I turn off everything, grab my handbag, and head for the door. Before I can reach it, it swings open, and someone enters. I refrain from rolling my eyes when I see Beth standing there. Why is she even here? She knows my father and Kade aren't in the office, so her reason for being here must involve me and probably isn't good.

"Beth, what are you doing here? I am just heading out for lunch." I sigh.

She smiles brightly at me. It is a smile I neither like nor trust. She is up to something. "Can I join you?"

I raise an eyebrow at her. "It depends on why you want to. You never like spending time with only me, Beth, so why do it now?"

"I don't want anything. Can I join?"

I still don't trust her words, but I nod. She can join me if she likes. She needs or wants something, but she will wait until we are at lunch before she brings it up. She is being way too nice.

"Okay."

She nods, and we leave together. She keeps talking to me as we exit the building and cross the street to the café. I nod and respond when necessary. It's unusual how talkative she is with me. We find a table and order coffee.

"Beth, are you okay? You seem extremely chatty today." I worry she is having one of her episodes.

"Yes, I am fine. I am in a good mood, that's all." She replies.

"What has got you in such a good mood?" I ask, curious.

The only time she is this happy is when a guy is involved or when she has done something she shouldn't have. She gets a thrill from that.

She leans back in the chair and smirks. Whatever it is, here it comes. I wouldn't be surprised if she tried to claim she spent the night with Kade, but that would be a lie. He was last with me, something she doesn't know.

"You will never guess who I have been spending my time with."

"Who? Someone I know?"

I swear, if she does say Kade, I honestly think this will be the moment when I blurt everything out, just to shut her up and stop her lying.

"Yes, you know him—Keegan. We've been spending time together. Another guy who favours me over you," she laughs.

There it is! That's why she came to see me—to throw a jab. But she'll be disappointed when she realises I don't care. I won't tell her he called me a few days ago unless she arranged it herself. I believe that if she is spending her time with Keegan, she has another focus, which means she'll temporarily back off Kade. However, she'll eventually become fixated on Kade again. Since she hasn't gotten what she wants from him, she won't leave him alone for long.

"Good for you. I hope you are both having fun." I smile.

Her face falls, clearly expecting a different response from me. Did she really think it would bother me? Keegan and I only had sex—nothing more, nothing less. He means nothing to me, so she's using the wrong person to try to get to me.

"You don't care that he still prefers me to you?" she whines.

I laugh and shake my head. "No, why would I? We only had sex a few times. I wasn't in a relationship or in love with him. Clearly, you stopped by to tell me this, hoping it would affect me. But guess what? It doesn't. I don't care."

"I don't believe you," she protests.

"Beth, believe what you want. I honestly don't care that you're sleeping with Keegan. You're free to be with each other. I have more important things to focus on," I say, shaking my head.

Beth rolls her eyes and quickly stands up. She glares, huffs, and storms off without saying another word. I laugh softly at her reaction, knowing she would have disliked that I didn't respond as she expected. You'd think by now she would realise she can't get to me easily.

The waiter brings our coffees. "Do you want me to take one back?"

"No, I will drink both. Could I please have the potato and leek soup, along with a BBQ chicken wrap?"

He nods, sets the coffees down and goes to place my orders. I will manage both coffees. Coffee is my fuel. I take my phone out to text Kade.

Hey, handsome. How is it going? Any idea when you will be done? I am hoping to finish at six xx

He might not reply immediately, depending on what he's doing, especially since he's with my dad. I take a sip of coffee, and as I set it down, I receive a reply.

Hey, baby girl. It is going well. I am not sure. Hopefully not too late. I will let you know when I do xx

Okay. I will see you at some point. Let me know if you are coming to stay or not xx

I probably will come stay, but I need to wait and see what time we are done xx

I placed my phone back in my bag to let him continue, then took out my book to read and enjoy my coffee. I hope he's not too late tonight. Even if he is, he'll still come over; if not, that's okay. I don't have many plans tonight anyway. Once I get home, I'll stay in for the night until tomorrow morning, when I need to head back to work.