Finding Beauty (Rewrite)

Chapter 19

~Beauty~

"Have you seen Teigan this morning?" Bethany asked while getting up to wash the dishes in the sink. They were left over from breakfast. Carina swatted her away and took over. 

"He's been moving things into the shed since the crack of dawn. You'll catch him any minute now." She rinsed a plate and then set it to dry. There was a dishwasher but it appeared the women actually enjoyed doing the chore. "Why? Do you two have plans?" 

Bethany settled onto a stool, feeling a rush of heat towards her face. "I guess you could say that." 

"Ah, I see. And none of you thought to invite me to tag along! I mean, it figures . . . I'm the maid after all. No one wants to hang out with the maid." 

"Carina! You know that's not true!" 

She cackled, throwing her head back. "I'm just messing with you, darling! The more you distract him the less sweeping I'm inclined to do!" 

"I thought you liked sweeping. You always seem jolly when you clean." 

"No, no, no. Don't get it wrong! I love doing the dishes, organizing, even mopping but sweeping?" She shook her head, pursing her lips. "What is it? Medieval times? Buy a vacuum cleaner!" 

"Oh, I see. I think I agree with you there."  

Beth waited around for Teigan for a bit longer. She expected him to hold up on his promise from the day prior. There weren't many ways for him to avoid doing so unless he decided to stay out in the shed forever. She walked to her room then back to the living room. She tied her shoes again, turned on the tv, then turned it off. She redid her ponytail going from the top of her head, then again to the side, and finally to the nape of her neck where it remained. 

One her third trip to the living room, she found Teigan sitting on the bottom step of the stairs. He had his arms around his knees, chin tucked on top of them. She was coming up behind him when he asked,"Are you ready?" 

"Yeah . . ."  

He uncurled himself and strided over to the backyard. "I have something to show you in the shed." 

"Oh, alright." 

Was that what he had been preparing all morning? 

He handed her the coat she borrowed during their snowball fight. It was still a little damp from laying in the snow. He put up his hood and slid the screen door open. Beth gulped when she saw the stony look on his face as he closed it behind her. For a second, she wondered if he had killed all of the criminals and the shed was the dumping grounds. She shook it out of her head with the swish of her ponytail. She knew that wasn't true. 

The snow crunched under their boots and it was the only sound within earshot. Beth still hadn't gotten accustomed to the silence that came with being in upstate New York. She usually liked it but the honking of a taxi or the whoosh of a subway train passing underground would have been comforting to hear with the grave feeling that clung to the air. 

The shed was the size of a room - not a NYC room but a spacious one. The door had a padlock on it which he unlocked. He opened the door and held it open for Beth. She gave a forced laugh. 

"You got me alone and away from the house . . . Did you lower me out here to kill me or something?" She was joking - mostly. 

Teigan remained expressionless. She deduced he didn't find it funny. 

The shed was pitch black. Only a single ray of light shined through the glass portion of the ceiling. She imagined there must have been a light switch in there somewhere - she could barely see her hands.