Isaac

I knock on Beth's door. She answers it. Her eyes widen as she sees me. She's already dressed for bed, wearing a pink silk robe that she wraps tightly around her body, but not before I see a flash of black lace.

"Is everything all right, Isaac?" she asks, her eyebrows rising in surprise. I'm the last person she's probably expecting to see.

"Um..." I am trying to shake off the distraction of black lace. "Actually, no. Gran isn't feeling well. She's asking for you. Would you mind coming?"

"Of course," Beth says. "Let me change and I'll be right over."

"You don't have to change unless you want to. Gran won't care what you're wearing, and it shouldn't take long."

"Well, at least let me get some slippers on," Beth says.

"That would probably be a good idea."

We walk over to Malcolm Estate together. As we near the house, I know what's on Beth's mind. She's remembering Sophie and me kissing. I can tell by the way she fidgets with her robe and by the pained expression on her face. It doesn't take a body reading course to figure that out! If I could redo that moment when Sophie launched herself at me, I would. I would a hundred times.

Beth follows me up the stairs, into the house and living room. I've set Gran up on the couch and tried to make her comfortable. Beth goes straight to her and kneels on the floor, taking Gran's hands in hers and rubbing them gently.

"I can't remember," she says. "I have my pills, but I can't remember."

"Let's see," Beth says pleasantly. "I'm fairly certain I know what you need. You haven't taken anything tonight?"

Gran shakes her head.

"Isaac, can you get me a drink of water?"

"Of course," I say.

When I return with the water, Beth has Gran's pills in a neat row on the side table. She helps her swallow them.

"There, how's my Gran? Feeling any better?" Beth asks.

"A little."

Gran coughs a bit, then clears her throat.

"Flowers are pretty," she murmurs, pointing to a beautiful bouquet in a crystal vase on the coffee table.

"Yes they are," Beth says.

"Isaac brought them in from the garden. He's a good boy, don't you think?"

Beth darts a quick look in my direction.

"Yes, he is," she says.

"I want to see the pictures," Gran says.

Beth looks at me for confirmation.

"She's asking you to show her the scrapbook," I say, feeling a little sheepish. "She likes to look at it."

Beth pauses for a moment, then picks up the scrapbook she made me from off the coffee table and opens it up.

"Is there a particular picture you want to see?" she asks as she flips through the pages.

Gran nods.

"Just tell me when to stop," Beth says.

She flips through about five more pages before Gran grabs her arm.

I know without looking which picture it is—the one in the car, top down, wind in our hair, laughing. It's her favorite picture of us. Mine too.

"See?" she says, smiling sweetly at her. "You do make him laugh."

Beth is misty-eyed. We lock eyes and hold our gaze, until at last Beth looks away.

Gran closes her eyes and falls asleep.

"Will you sit with us for a few minutes?" I ask.

"Yes," Beth says, as she sets the scrapbook down. There's an awkward moment as she realizes the only open seating is on the couch I'm sitting. She hesitates for a moment, then sits on the other end of it.

"So how was Coldplay?" I ask.

"The energy was amazing!" she beams. "I haven't been to a concert in ages."

"What was your favorite part?"

"The confetti. Just kidding. Hmm, probably when they sang The Scientist. The lyrics are haunting."

"I'm glad you could go," I say sincerely, forcing myself not to ask a wildly inappropriate question, like if the lace came on before or after the date. "So you're with Peter now?"

"We've gone out on a few dates."

"How well do you know him?"

"We dated a little back in high school, back before you and I became a couple. My aunt knows him better than me. She's good friends with his stepmom."

Right. Of course her aunt and his stepmom are friends. I'm tempted to ask if she kissed him, but I know that unlike Sophie, Beth probably doesn't kiss and tell.

"Well, be careful. There's just something about that guy I don't trust."

Beth smiles.

"First Greg, now Peter. If I didn't know better, I might think you're jealous!"

"It's not that. Okay, maybe a little."

"Well, I don't think there's anything you need to worry about. Peter's been great. The video he made is really powerful."

I really don't feel like talking about Peter anymore, so I change the subject.

"So you seem to know Gran's medicines pretty well. Have you done this with her before?"

"A few times. Usually someone from the café would help her, but if they weren't available or she couldn't get ahold of them, she would call me. She does pretty well, but every once in awhile she can't remember which medicine she's supposed to take."

"Thank for being there for her when I couldn't," I say. "It means a lot to me."

"It was always a privilege. Gran is like family to me. It is clear that you need to make some changes, though. She should be okay during the day since her employees can help her if she has a situation at the restaurant. Nights are another story. You should probably live here full-time. I know you're overseeing repairs at Gran's house, but I don't trust her to be alone, especially at night. She gets confused, and I worry about her forgetting to take her pills, or mixing them up and accidentally overdosing."

"I figured as much," I sigh heavily, running my fingers through my hair. "I'm staying the night and moving in with a suitcase of my stuff tomorrow so I can monitor her."

"I don't mind moving in to help take care of her at nights if you'd like," Beth says. "It's strange staying in Sophie's house without her. Her parents are staying in Nantucket until she is released from the hospital, and when she gets back, her parents will be with her. I'm sure they will invite me to stay, but I would feel more comfortable finding a new place so they can have their privacy as a family."

The thought of Beth living under the same roof fills me with a warmth.

"I think it would be a good solution," I say, hoping my voice doesn't betray how thrilled I am by the prospect.

There is a comfortable lull in our conversation, then she speaks again.

"So how was your trip to Africa?"

"Long. Tiring. But ultimately rewarding."

"You never did tell me what what the emergency was."

"We were in jeopardy of losing one of our schools. We have a rigorous process for hiring teachers and faculty, but occasionally we still have problems. One of our teachers got in trouble. More than half of the parents wouldn't allow their kids to attend school while he was still there. My partner Ephram fired the man, but he needed my help talking to the parents and convincing them their children were safe. By the time I left, we had replaced the teacher and most of the children had returned to school."

"You must have been relieved," Beth says.

"I was glad it worked out," I say.

Another lull.

"So Isaac, I talked to David about us. He guessed it."

"He told me today. It's a relief we don't have to hide it from him anymore. I'm assuming Heidi knows, too?"

"I told him he could tell her. You do realize that word will get out now. I'm most worried about hurting Sophie. She seemed so fragile when I visited her in the hospital. I've been texting her every day and her moods have been all over the place.

"I guess the scarring from the dog bites will probably be pretty bad. She needs to have reconstructive surgery, and she's been struggling with not feeling attractive. She's coming home in a couple days, and I think we owe it to her to let her know about our past. She'll probably feel hurt I kept our relationship from her, but it'll be better coming from me than finding out from a stranger."

"That's probably wise to tell her yourself," I say.

"There's another thing. David told me the reasons why you moved me from your group. I thought you didn't want to work with me. The first day of the competition, I was feeling hurt over that, then I had a rough time with Cole. We definitely didn't hit it off at first. Looking back, I realize I overreacted. I should have let you explain yourself."

"You thought I didn't want you in my group?" I am dumbfounded. No wonder she reacted the way she did. "I knew you were upset, but I never realized that's what you were thinking! You know that's not why I did it."

"Yes, David explained it all to me. Do you accept my apology?"

"Of course, Beth. You don't have anything to apologize for, though. I'm the one who messed things up. I was upset because I thought your family had convinced you to leave early at David's party, only to find out later Olivia got sick. That night when you showed me the house, I was trying to explain the mentoring thing. I was confused when you got so angry at me. I figured you were upset because I screwed up your chances with Greg."

Beth laughs. I love the sound of her laugh.

"I had only met Greg that night. Trust me, I was convinced Sophie was never going to set me up again. The first guy she set me up with took a call from his ex-girlfriend while on our date and talked to her half the night—"

I groan.

"Right? Then I thought I might have a connection with Greg, only to find him making out with a girl who's a complete stranger. Of course, I know now there was more to that situation, but at the time, that's what I thought. I had to put down my foot and tell Sophie no more. She keeps trying to set me up with her type of guy and trust me, our tastes are not even close to the same."

As soon as Beth says this, she seems to recognize her blunder and snaps her mouth shut. Her cheeks flood with color. I had dated both of them, after all.

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If you enjoyed this chapter, hit that star please!

Finally! Beth and Isaac are starting to hash things out!

Good news y'all. Double Chapter Friday. I won't leave you totally hanging. Do read on! 

Dedication goes out to a wonderful Wattpadder doorsarehorrors! She has the exact same taste in books and movies as me :). Congrats on nailing first comment. I appreciate your support of RESTLESS HOPE. I'm also enjoying Matty's book POISON FOG, so if you get a chance, check it out! <3