Bethany had been sitting at the kitchen table stirring the stew in her bowl for the past five minutes without taking a bite. She was hungry, but her mind was elsewhere. She looked up to find Kirsten staring at her. "What?" Bethany asked, confused.
"Nothing."
Bethany sighed and looked towards the kitchen doorway. "They've been in Loki's room for a long time. Their food is getting cold."
"So is yours," Kirsten replied simply.
Bethany blinked at her cooling bowl of soup and then smiled sheepishly. "I guess I'm just not that hungry."
"Liar," Kirsten retorted. She continued to stare at her friend.
"What? Is something wrong, Kirsten?" Bethany asked a bit urgently. Kirsten's eyes upon her were beginning to make Bethany feel uneasy.
Kirsten dropped her soup spoon into her empty dish and sighed, relaxing back into her chair. She stared at her friend for a few more seconds before she finally spoke.
"I really like Loki, Bethany."
Bethany was confused by this statement. It wasn't at all what she had been expecting to hear. "That's . . . nice."
"And I think Loki might be the one, ya know what I mean? And I never would have found him without your help . . . well, kind of." Kirsten's words were not sitting well with Bethany. Bethany knew that her friend was always quick to fall in love, but she also knew things about Loki that Kirsten did not and she wasn't quite sure if she wanted her friend to get too deep into this relationship. But Kirsten rambled on. "But you know that in the beginning, when I first met Loki and Bartleby, it had been Bartleby who piqued my interest the most. It had been Bartleby who I had my sights set on . . . until I realized something." Kirsten paused and leaned forward in her chair again. "I realized you didn't like that."
"I didn't like what?" Bethany increasingly disapproved of where she thought this conversation was headed, and she wasn't in the mood for any type of confrontation, not even from her best friend.
Kirsten smiled and shook her head. "Did you think I wouldn't notice? Huh? Did you think I wouldn't see the way you look at Bartleby?"
Embarrassed and a bit angry, Bethany stood from her chair and walked to the garbage can and dumped the remainder of her stew, all the while avoiding eye contact with Kirsten.
Kirsten continued. "C'mon, Bethany. It's blatantly obvious that you feel something for him. I can see it in your eyes every time you look at him. And you didn't like the fact that I was interested in Bartleby. It's almost as if you'd already claimed him for yourself, or something." Kirsten smiled, trying not to make her statement sound too threatening. "But that's okay, Bethany. I know when something is not meant to be and Bartleby and I aren't . . . but you," she sighed and cocked her head as if confused, "There is something between you two. I see it."
"Would you please just stop trying to play matchmaker?" Bethany blurted out irritably. "You have no idea what you're talking about. You don't know what happened—" Bethany caught her breath before she realized she had already spoken too much.
"Then tell me what happened. You say that Bartleby is someone from your past, but you've declined to elaborate on that. Obviously something has happened between the two of you and it has yet to be resolved. Excuse me for prying, but he and Loki live here now and I'd appreciate not being left in the dark about things, especially when it comes to the happiness of my best friend. I'm worried about you, Bethany. Talk to me."
Bethany turned to face Kirsten, eyes filled with astonishment at her friend's outburst. She didn't realize how much this not-so-little secret had been hurting Kirsten. And then, Grace made a little whimpering noise as she sat eating her dinner in her highchair and Bethany focused on her daughter.
Kirsten looked from Bethany to Grace and then back again. The wheels were rapidly turning in her agile mind. And then, at that moment, understanding danced in her eyes. "You know, you never told me who Grace's father is."
Bethany immediately darted her attention back to Kirsten, shaking her head. She knew what Kirsten was about to ask next. "No," she squeaked.
"Bethany, is Bartleby Grace's father?" Kirsten asked anyway.
Bethany shook her head more violently. "No," she said again, louder. God, it would be so much easier to tell Kirsten if Bartleby truly was Grace's father. It would be a hell of a lot more simple than trying to explain to her best friend that The Almighty, Himself, was the Father of her child.
Kirsten wrinkled her brow and absently scratched her chin. Bethany knew that Kirsten was so sure of her discovery and was wondering if she had been lied to.
Finally, after another staring contest between her and her best friend, Bethany sighed and sat back down at the kitchen table across from Kirsten. "You're right. I have been keeping things from you – not telling you the whole truth, and I'm sorry. And it's time I come clean about . . . everything." Bethany hesitated for a moment, wondering if she was doing the right thing. "But you might not like what I'm about to tell you; you might not even believe it at all. But I swear to you, right now, on my life – on my daughter's life, what I'm about to tell you is the honest-to- God truth."
Kirsten nodded attentively, waiting patiently for the explanation she had been searching for. "I'm listening."
"And I want to warn you now, what I say may change a lot of what you think of me and what you think of Bartleby and Loki as well." Bethany trembled at the thought of explaining to her friend that Bartleby and Loki were angels, well, former angels. If Kirsten didn't laugh her ass off, thinking this was all just some big practical joke, then she'd surely have Bethany committed to the nearest rubber room complete with a straight jacket and medication for life. "And it's not all good, and won't be easy for you to understand."
"You're starting to scare me, Bethany."
"Most of the time, the truth is scary. But you deserve to hear it."
"Yes, she does," A new voice called from the doorway.
Bethany and Kirsten turned to see Loki standing in the hall, just beyond the kitchen doorway, with Bartleby towering right behind him.
"We all need to talk," Loki assured as he ambled into the room.
Bethany glanced at Bartleby as he followed his friend into the tiny kitchen, and his eyes told her that he'd been keeping secrets of his own . . . secrets that Bethany was sure would not all be revealed tonight.