Chapter 20 - Three Years Later

"Beth? Are you in here?" Kevin called into the darkness of his house.

Beth had been working full-time for more than two years at a local advertising firm. She had never previously considered the creative field to be one in which she would flourish, but she had been pleasantly surprised in her artistic abilities. Kevin's job had become more demanding in the way of travel during their second year of marriage. She had needed something to occupy her time and evenings alone. The arrangement had worked out perfectly. At first. Now, Kevin was anchoring the 4 pm show and was usually home by 6:30 or 7:00 every night. Sometimes Beth worked later. Kevin understood her need for an outlet for her energy and ideas. He just wished they could coordinate their schedules a bit better. It really wouldn't matter anyway after tonight. Finally realizing that Beth wasn't yet at home, Kevin mounted the stairs to change his clothes and start dinner.

He was setting the table with the good China when Beth blew through the door and almost fell over him.

"Oh, sorry. I'm moving too fast. Remind me that I'm at home and that I don't have to run everywhere," she apologized.

"You're at home and you have a wonderful husband who has prepared your favorite dinner and who will also do the dishes, so stop trying to run him over," Kevin answered with a smile.

She bent to kiss him on the mouth. The oven's timer sounded, separating the two, and Beth moved upstairs to change out of her suit while Kevin finished the dinner preparations. He opened the bottle of wine he had been chilling and poured it as Beth returned to the kitchen a few moments later. She glanced over the table setting, the food, and the wine and looked back at Kevin with her eyebrows raised suspiciously.

"Are you having an affair?" she asked him in a not completely joking manner, "Because if you are you'd better just head on back out the door."

Kevin laughed out loud as he wheeled toward her. "Oh come on, I can't just do a random act of kindness or whatever they talk about in those Chicken Soup books?"

"I wasn't aware that you had read any Chicken Soup books," Beth shot back, becoming more annoyed with every passing moment.

"Yeah, they made one for the Disabled Sportscaster's Soul."

"Okay, that's enough!" Beth exclaimed. "Are you going to tell me what's going on?"

"Why don't you just sit down here and have a glass of wine, maybe some chicken parmigiana and we'll talk about it, because you're right, something is up, and no, I have never read any Chicken Soup books."

Skeptically, Beth sat in the seat Kevin had pointed to a minute before. She took her glass of wine in her hand as he slipped a folder in front of her.

"What's this?" she asked shortly.

"Just open it and read it."

She turned the cover and found a stack of type-written pages staring up at her. It was a collection of essays that Kevin had written over the years. Some were articles she had never seen before, and she didn't think they had been published. She sifted through the pages, reading some of them, just looking over others.

"That's my portfolio. My author's portfolio, from when I wrote for the newspaper with other stuff added from college and after. I submitted it to the Washington Post and the Baltimore Sun a few months ago when they advertised positions. The last time we visited my parents I interviewed at both places. The editor of the Post called today. He offered me a job on the metro desk with the promise of promotion to either politics or national news in the next ten months. They'll match my current salary plus, I can freelance."

Beth stared at him dumbfounded. "What? You never said a word about this, you never said one word about being dissatisfied at work or needing a change or wanting to go back to the newspaper. What in the hell is going on?"

Kevin took a deep breath, blew it out and began. "Rebecca Askew is working the on the editorial staff at the Post. I saw her at a conference a few months ago, and she told me about some openings they were going to have coming in the future. She said she had seen me on TV and that it looked like I was having fun, but didn't I want to get back to reporting news that mattered. I just laughed it off, but that conversation really struck a chord with me. I do like my job, but it doesn't really matter who hits how many home runs or has how many touchdowns. There are bigger, real issues in the world, and maybe it's time for me to grow up and realize that," he finished with a sigh and a pleading look.

"Oh, I have no doubts that the conversation with Rebecca struck a chord with you. However, I'm fairly sure that it had little to do with reporting any news." As she said this she stood from the table.

Kevin came toward her, trying to interject, "Beth, I know I should have said something sooner, but I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do. I just applied on a whim, just to see if I could get the job. I didn't want to go down this road unless it was necessary. I know that you are angry and you have a right to be, but can't we at least talk about it, make a decision that is best for us."

He did look apologetic, but Beth's ire couldn't be stopped. Kevin had always been so open and honest with her. She may have been able to forgive him if he has just done this on his own, but the addition of Rebecca Askew to the situation had put her right over the top.

She was so angry with him that she was afraid to speak. Instead, she walked toward the garage, grabbing her purse and keys on the way. Kevin moved to head her off at the door.

"Where are you going?" he questioned.

"I need to leave right now before I say something that I mean but would regret saying."

He moved out of her way, defeated. He turned away and just let her go. She slammed the door behind her and he heard her car start and pull out of the garage. He had no idea where she would go. He started to clean up the kitchen, mentally kicking himself for what had just happened. He had known that she would be surprised, maybe a little upset, but he had not imagined for one second that her reaction would be so violent. As he finished putting the dishes in the dishwasher and had wiped the table and the counters he went into the office and tried to finish some work. He tried to concentrate on the figures and scores on the pages in front of him, but they had lost their importance. Finally he picked up the phone and dialed her cell phone. The voicemail picked up automatically. He left a brief message apologizing again, but didn't stay on the line long. He hung up and dialed another number.

"Hello?" the voice on the other end of the line answered.

"Hi. I need some advice."

"Oh Kevin, you're the big brother. I'm supposed to be asking you for advice, not the other way around," Joan laughed.

"I'm serious, Joan. Beth got mad at me and she left. I don't know where she went and her phone is off."

"What did you do? It must have been pretty bad."

"I told her that I had applied for a job in Washington and they offered it to me. I made dinner and was going to tell her about it, but she suspected something was up. She started asking a bunch of questions."

Joan interrupted him here, "Why don't you just get to the point? What did you do?"

"Rebecca got me the job."

Joan was silent on her end of the line. "Wow."

Kevin continued, relating the story back to Joan. When he finished she sighed before she began.

"Oh, man, you just really screwed up. First of all, applying for a job that would move you all five hours away from the home you bought, where you've set up your lives without even telling her that you were even thinking about it, that is bad enough. But the fact that Rebecca had anything whatsoever to do with it, especially if she made it happen, well, that's just marital suicide, brother. No one wants their spouse's old lover back in the picture in any way."

Kevin tried to defend himself, "Rebecca and I worked together after Beth and I started dating again. I know Beth doesn't like her, but our working relationship was strictly professional. We slept together once."

"She was your first after the accident. Beth knows that. Bringing Rebecca back into your lives is incredibly threatening for her. Just imagine if she were going to do PR for Jake. How would you feel about that?"

"Jake is different. They were engaged, had planned a wedding. Rebecca and I were nowhere as serious as that. Rebecca was just a way to get this job. A way to get us closer to family."

"What are you talking about?"

"A baby. I wanted to make things easier on her so we can think about starting a family."

"Does she want a baby?"

"I don't know. We didn't get that far. All she heard was Rebecca's name and she went crazy. She just left. She's been gone for over an hour, and her phone is still off. I don't know where she is or if she's okay. The job isn't that important to me, I just thought it would be better for us. I was just. . .I don't know."

"Kevin, she'll come back as soon as she calms down. She was angry and she didn't want to make things worse by yelling at you. When she does just explain to her that you're sorry for not talking to her and telling her what was going on. She'll be mad for a while, and with a perfectly good reason. But she loves you, Kev. She loves you more than anything."

As Joan was talking, Kevin heard Beth's car pull into the garage.

"Joan, she's here. I have to go. Thanks for talking, tell everyone I said hello, and we'll see you guys in a few days at the house. Bye."

"Bye Kevin."

Kevin hung up the phone and went to meet her in the kitchen. She walked into the house and found him waiting just inside the door. His head was down, a gesture of submission. She walked up to him, knelt in front of him and took his hands. He looked into her eyes, unable to speak.

"Kevin, I'm sorry that I left like that. It was an immature thing to do. I apologize for my behavior."

He stroked her hair softly. "No, I'm sorry for not telling you what was going on. I'm sorry for not telling you about Rebecca or the job or the interviews or why I was doing it. I'm sorry that I wasn't sensitive to your feelings. I love you, Beth, and I don't ever want you to not be here with me."

She stood and then sat on his lap. He held her tightly as though he would never let go. Finally he spoke again. "There's more that I need to tell you about this."

She leaned back so that she could see his face. "Okay," she conceded.

"What I did I went about in the wrong way, but I did it for a specific reason. I wanted us to move closer to our families, my parents and Joan, even Luke and Grace and the baby. That way, when we decide that it's time, having a family will be less stressful on us. We'll have built-in babysitters, and you can work at the embassy or wherever you want to or not at all."

She lowered her eyebrows into a scowl. "This is about having a baby? Oh God, Kevin, why didn't you just say so. I think it's time, too. I guess we should have just talked about it. I really am sorry about earlier."

"I know, sweetie. So you really think it's time for us to have a baby?"

Beth nodded. "Yeah, I just didn't know how you felt about it. I thought that's why we moved to this neighborhood because of the schools. The house is perfect. We're finally settled in here and with our jobs. But if you really need to do this, if you really want to write, then we'll go there. We'll go back to D.C. and start over again. All our friends are still there, Jack and Annika and Jerrod and Jocelyn and their little girl. It's like we're going home. It's a good idea, Kevin. I love you, and I'm hungry. I know I kind of spoiled the mood, but can we still have our romantic dinner?"

Kevin nodded, "As long as we use paper plates!"

Beth moved to the cabinets and retrieved them as Kevin began warming the meal. She poured the wine and handed him a glass. Kevin raised his, and Beth followed his lead.

"To our new lives and new ideas."