All Jack had to go on was the phone number. It had turned out to be Georgia prefix assigned to phones in a rural Athens area. So maybe she had gone home to her father's place after all!
Jack took the next flight to Atlanta, and then rented a car. From there it was just an hour's drive to Athens on the freeway. There was an airport there, and he could have taken a commuter plane from Atlanta, but Jack figured he'd need a car anyway, and driving sometimes had a way of calming him down.
During his flight to Atlanta he had called a friend at the FBI and asked him for a favor; he needed to know the location of a phone number in Athens. In a few minutes his friend had called him back. The news wasn't all that good; the phone was actually a pay phone at a restaurant on the highway between Arnoldsville and Crawford. So once he found Arnoldsville on the map provided by the rental car agency, he headed in that direction.
Not far outside of town on highway 78, he saw the restaurant where Ashley had made the phone call. It was a Cracker Barrel, one of many such franchise restaurants all over the U.S. Jack pulled into one of the few parking spaces available in the crowded parking lot and got out. As he walked up to the long front porch, he could see the pay phone ahead near the front door. He checked the phone number on the phone, just in case his friend had made an error, but it was the same number.
Jack was hungry, having eaten nothing since earlier than morning at Sam's...well, nothing that is except for the small packages of pretzels the flight attendant had given him. And by now he was pretty much starving.
He went inside and gave the hostess his name. Fortunately tables for one or two were in less demand, and soon he was being seated over by the wall in the large, open dining room. There was also a dining room to the left, where he could see people lighting up and smoking as they ate.
He still wondered how people could smoke and still enjoy the taste of their food, but that thought was quickly swept out of his head when he saw a familiar blonde head moving about on the other side of the dining room. Jack almost jumped out of his chair, just barely missing the waitress as she came to take his order.
"I wanna sit over in that section," he insisted, pointing toward the smoking section.
"Sure! What ever floats yer boat, honey," said the thin older woman. She kind of figured he'd seen the new girl, and wanted to get acquainted. And even though she regretted losing a customer, she helped him get seated at a table in Ashley's section.
Jack was seated with his back to the swinging double doors, so when she came out to deliver food to a nearby table, she didn't realize it was Jack sitting there. She noticed the new customer, however, and conscientious worker that she was, after she asked if she could get the people anything else, she left them and quickly stepped over to his table. When there eyes met, he thought she was going to faint. Her face went deadly white, and her hands went down to grip the edge of the table.
"My God, Jack! What are you doin here?"
"I'm here to eat. I'm starving," he told her honestly and watched as her complexion began to turn pink once again.
"What can I get for you," she asked with a shaky voice.
"I'll have the chicken and dumplings and plenty of cornbread. And coffee...plenty of coffee!"
She scribbled something on the ticket and turned to walk away.
"Ashley!"
She turned back around, looking as though she was about to run for the door.
"I'll also have a glass of ice water and your company...if you can sit down for a minute?"
"Ah...water. Yes! I'll get it and be right back with the water...and your coffee."
Jack turned and watched as she disappeared into the service area. He really hoped she wouldn't try and do something stupid like dart out the back door. But apparently she hadn't, because in a couple of minutes she was back with a glass of ice water and a carafe of coffee. She set both down on the table and looked at him.
"I can't talk to you while I'm working, Jack. And I don't get off till ten." She poured coffee into one of the cups on the table and slid it over to him, sloshing some on the table.
"I'll be here," he assured her. It was currently 17:20 hours. He'd find some place to wait for her, because there was no way he was leaving here without her!
Ashley waited on him and her other customers without much sign of being upset, although, in truth, she had been greatly disturbed by seeing him. She really thought he wouldn't be able to find her. She had just spoken to him this morning, and now here he was! Who was this guy? Was he some kind of spy or something?
All she really knew about him was that he was in the Air Force, and that he had a good friend who was an archaeologist. Oh, and she also knew his girlfriend was a doctor of physics or something like that. He certainly hung out with some very well-educated people, but somehow Jack didn't strike her as being all that erudite.
While Jack ate he watched Ashley work. She seemed to be good at her job, and he often saw her making friendly small talk with the other diners. He began to wonder how many times she had worked as a waitress, because she certainly seemed to have a knack for it. He decided finally that there was still a lot about this young woman that he didn't know. And the more he watched her, the more he wanted to know everything about her. After all, she was going to be the mother of his child.
Jack didn't dare leave the area, because he still didn't know where she lived. And he couldn't continue to take up a table in the busy restaurant, unless he was eating something. So after finishing his dinner, including a piece of apple pie ala mode, he strolled out into the shop and looked around for a while. It was now only 18:45 hours. He still had a long wait ahead of him.
So he bought a newspaper out of the box outside the front door and sat down in one of the dozens of rocking chairs that lined the large porch. After glancing through the paper, he folded it and sighed. He was rocking nervously back and forth when he saw Ashley come out the front door and walk over to him.
"I forgot to tell you I get a break. I have fifteen minutes," she told him as she sat down in the rocker next to his.
"That's not much time for us to talk about things," Jack said, but he was grateful she had decided to spend it with him.
"I know, but there's really nothing to say, Jack. I'm not going to get an abortion, if that's what you're worried about, and I intend to raise the baby by myself."
She watched as his face showed some signs of relief. She suspected he had been worried she might get rid of the baby, and she felt regret that she hadn't made that clear to him in their phone conversation. But she hadn't expected to talk to him, and hearing his voice had startled her!
"How did you find me so quickly anyway?"
Several customers were coming out of the restaurant, so Ashley kept her voice low, as did Jack.
"Pay phone. I've got a friend with the FBI, and I had him trace the phone number you used when you called this morning. I'm relieved that you intend to keep the baby, Ashley. But there's more to talk about than just that. I want you to come home with me, Ashley," he stated plainly.
"This my home, Jack! This is where I should have stayed! I had no business thinking I could ever be anything other than a waitress...or a dancer. I've got this job now. And it's not much, but it will pay for most things. And the state will take care of my medical bills, so you don't need to worry about that. I'm home now, and my dad's happy to have me back. So you go on home and take care of Sam and that baby girl of hers," she told him, as she got up.
He reached out and clung to her hand, his eyes begging her to listen to him.
"Ashley, you're carrying my child. I never thought I'd have another child again. I can't just forget about you or the baby, honey, can't you see that? Besides, Sam doesn't want me around her or Katie. I told her about us."
"She'll come around, if she really loves you, Jack. No woman in her right mind would reject you, if you told them you love them. You DID tell her, didn't you?"
He still hand his big hand around her thin wrist, but now that some people were walking up, he let go of her, not wanting anyone to think he was harassing her.
"I told her. But I don't think she'll ever forgive me. Even if she did, I'd still want to be a part of our baby's life, Ashley. And I'm not leaving Georgia without you!"
"I can't go with you, Jack. Dad needs me, and besides it's cheaper for me to live here in Georgia. I can't expect you to support me any longer, Jack. By the way, Daniel let it slip that you were the one paying me. I intend to pay you back every cent...some day."
"Shit," was all he said, but it wasn't all he was thinking. In fact his head was about to implode from everything he was thinking or feeling.
"You'll get Sam back, and then you won't think so much about me and the baby. I've got to go back to work now, Jack. Good-bye," she said with finality.
But he was not going to take no for an answer, he thought, as he watched her go back inside the restaurant. He'd wait her until she got off work, and then he'd convince her to come back to Colorado with him. He had to!
At ten o'clock Ashley came out to get into her car, only to find a very yummy-looking Jack O'Neill standing there leaning against it. He had obviously gone somewhere and changed clothes, and now he looked so handsome in his black leather jacket and tan pants, that she couldn't help but smile at him. Damn the man was fine!
"Jaack, what are you doing here?" she moaned, as he put his arms around her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
"I told you I'm not leaving here without you, sweetheart, so you may as well give in," he warned her in a smooth-as-silk voice that set her nerves on fire.
She had really hated to leave Colorado, but she knew he didn't love her...couldn't ever love her the way that he loved Sam. So what was she to do!
"Jack, you're incorrigible," she said as he put her arms around his shoulders.
"My mom always said I'd never amount to any good," he said, his mouth tilting up to one side in a smirky smile that made Ashley's legs weak. "I guess Mom was right. But I love our baby, and I want to be a part of his or her life. I'll be a good father, and I'll be good to you. I promise! Please, please, come home with me!"
'God, he is so damned hard to resist,' she thought desperately, holding on tightly to her conviction. Somehow she had to get him to go home without her!
"No, Jack! I've thought about this long and hard, and I just..."
"You just what, honey? You just hate me too much to have to see my ugly face every day? You know I'm not too fond of myself right now, either, and I really need for you to let me take care of you and our baby. It'll be my only way of redeeming myself, honey!
If you don't let me, I don't know what I will do, Ash. Honey, please; I'm dyin here," he said with tears glistening in his eyes.
No, she didn't hate him. How on earth could she hate him? God, he was so sweet, and he looked positively good enough to eat! No wonder she'd forgotten about protection that day. In fact, it's a wonder she'd ever thought about that sort of thing when he'd made love to her!
He was staring at her with those intense, black eyes of his, the tears welling up in his bottom lids, and she almost lost her nerve. But she knew she had to do this.
"Drive. I'll follow you to your motel. I assume you have a motel?"
"Yes, it's not far. Oh, Ashley, thank you! You won't be sorry, I promise," he told her before pulling her into his arms and kissing her soundly on the lips.
As Jack drove he was feeling a lot better about this whole situation. True, he still had to win Sam back. But maybe it was like Ashley had said; if Sam truly loved him...and he was certain she did...she would come around.
Jack hadn't been paying very good attention, or he would have noticed when the headlamps on her car went out. Ashley had turned right two streets back. Then she turned the headlamps back on and gunned the engine of her Mustang GT. She drove like a bat out of hell, until she was parked next to her rented trailer. She wasn't staying with her father. That had just been a story to lead Jack onto the wrong track, in case he didn't give up looking for her.
She knew now that she'd have to be even more careful, if she was to keep Jack O'Neill from finding her again. Using that pay phone on her morning break had been very stupid. And even though she liked her new job, she would have to let it go and find another one.
"Oh, well," she sighed, "waitress jobs are a dime a dozen."
TBC