Author's note: So I 'won' NaNoWriMo and completed the first draft of my novel, and before I start ruthlessly editing, I wanted my fix of Tom and Sasha and the gang!
I really hope there are still readers out there after a few weeks' break, and I promise there will be regular updates again from now on. Thank you, as always, for reading, reviewing, following and favouriting.
Chapter 21 – Bowled Over
"Please?" Sasha begged Nina. "Please, pleeeeeease?"
"Sasha Cooper, how old are you?!" Nina laughed at her friend's expression. "You look like a kid asking for ice cream." She looked pointedly towards the freezer cabinet next to the counter of the coffee shop.
"You said wicked stepmothers have to stick together, that was your thing." Sasha abandoned pleading and tried guilt instead. "You can't back down now."
"What about Rachel?"
"Jamie's not even one, I don't think his motor skills are up to it. Mike's coming, and Lissy and her boyfriend, but that just adds to the Ashley gang, and I need backup of my own."
Nina's eyebrows climbed even higher. "This is gang warfare now? I thought it was bowling?"
"Nina, it isn't funny! Please!" Sasha realised she was back to begging.
"Wouldn't you be better with armed backup in that case?" Nina's lips were twitching. "Maybe a SEAL team? Okay, okay." She surrendered, "I'll come. I'm bringing Tex and Kat though-" She saw Sasha's mouth open, "-and don't you dare say Kat is in the Ashley gang, or I'll change my mind."
It wasn't that Sasha didn't want to make things work with Tom's children, it was just so difficult. She was in love with Tom, more deeply every day, and she knew that he felt the same. When they were alone together, there was an intimacy between them that she was learning to trust and cherish, but as soon as Ashley appeared, it all seemed to evaporate. Tom was clearly caught between a rock and a hard place, and as supportive as he was being, Sasha still felt pressure to win Ashley over, to make the teenager accept her, and the fact that it wasn't happening felt like a personal failure.
This outing to the bowling alley was an attempt to create a less pressured situation, involving as it did not just Tom, Sasha and the kids, but Mike, Lissy and Aaron, and now Tex, Nina and Kat too. But Sasha had already seen how easily Ashley could sour the mood and make her feel excluded, and that was why she felt she needed at least one ally.
In the end, she was lucky enough to have two, because Rachel decided to come along after all, in an effort to continue getting to know her own stepdaughter. Lissy and Mike's relationship was still a work in progress, and the sixteen year old had still not opened up entirely about her experiences living with the Immunes after the death of her mother and siblings. Thankfully, her boyfriend Aaron, who had just resumed the basic training he had been in the midst of when the virus hit, had helped enormously. Lissy was living in a dorm at the high school, and she and Mike met for coffee and the occasional dinner, but Rachel had had little contact with her. There wasn't the animosity that there was between Ashley and Sasha, but Lissy had made it very clear she wasn't in the market for another parent.
Sasha arrived at the bowling alley slightly late, and was greeted by an enthusiastic Sam Chandler. The ten year old had reacted to Sasha's relationship with his father in the exact opposite way to his sister, and openly thought Sasha was 'totally awesome'. He ran up and hugged her hello, and Sasha hugged him back with a grin.
"Hi Sam. How's it going?"
"We're all ready, you just need to get your shoes!" He was bouncing up and down with enthusiasm, and Kat and Lissy, who were at the concession stand getting drinks, watched him with affection. Ashley, on the other hand, already had her face set to sour disapproval.
"Come on!" Sam urged, taking her hand and dragging her towards the counter before she could greet anyone else.
"Sam!" It was Lissy who took the big sister role. "Calm down, there's plenty of time." She turned to Sasha. "I'll get your shoes; you can say hi to everyone."
"Thanks." Sasha kicked off her boots and handed them to Lissy, who she had only met twice herself, once being at Mike and Rachel's wedding. "How are you, Lissy?"
"Really good." The pretty teenager smiled. "I like St Louis better than Norfolk, and Aaron's training is going really well." She hesitated. "Maybe he could talk to you later? I know he's interested in intelligence work…?" She looked hopeful and slightly awkward, and Sasha felt a pang of affection for her.
"Of course, I'd be happy to."
Lissy smiled her thanks and headed off to exchange Sasha's boots for the red and blue bowling shoes the others were all wearing. Sam pulled Sasha's hand and led her over to the two adjacent lanes reserved for their party.
The bowling alley was one of the only sources of entertainment that had reopened in the city, and so on a Saturday afternoon it was predictably packed. Nonetheless, the presence of prominent crew members from the famous Nathan James, not to mention Dr Rachel Scott herself, meant that they got VIP treatment, something with which none of the adults were terribly comfortable, but the kids rather liked.
Tom's face split into a smile when he saw Sasha, which widened when he saw Sam hanging tight onto her hand. He kissed her chastely on the cheek, both of them aware of Ashley's gimlet stare.
"Come on Sam." Aaron, Lissy's tall blonde boyfriend, beckoned him over. "You wanted me to show you the spin, right?"
Sam looked up at Sasha as if asking for approval, and she nodded, "Sounds like good tactics to me, Sam." He let go of her hand and went to join Aaron, and she turned back to Tom, who gave her hand a brief squeeze.
"Okay?"
"Okay." She mustered a smile, and turned to greet the others. Jamie was miraculously asleep in his stroller, so Rachel and Mike were sharing a bench seat, Mike's arm firmly around her shoulders as he muttered something in her ear, making her throw her head back and laugh. Their casual, easy intimacy somehow stung a little, and Sasha felt even more exposed as she saw that Nina was sat on Tex's lap, his hand stroking her thigh, as they chatted with Kat.
And I can't even kiss Tom hello without being glared at, Sasha thought with frustration.
Once they actually started bowling, things got easier, and Sasha was almost able to relax, even though Ashley had 'accidentally' misspelled her name on the scoreboard as 'Slasha', and had tried hard to ensure she and Tom were playing on separate lanes. In the event, though, Sasha played with the three Chandlers, Lissy and Aaron, while Mike, Rachel, Kat, Tex and Nina played on the other lane, and took it in turns to play Jamie's turn as Kat had insisted on adding him to the scoreboard.
"He's one of us!" Tex's daughter had said firmly, putting on a doom laden horror movie voice, "The children of the Nathan James."
For the second pair of games, Sam proposed kids versus adults, and Sasha relished being able to at least stand next to Tom while the children were on the other lane, feeling his hand gently stroking hers, hidden between their bodies.
"I don't know if this is kind of hot, or just really frustrating." He murmured, running his finger up the inside of her forearm.
"Frustrating." She answered honestly, looking at Nina sat on Tex's lap again, and Mike standing behind Rachel, his arms wrapped around her. "In case you hadn't noticed, no one else's children have an issue with their parents' relationships." She regretted it almost immediately, but Tom looked resigned rather than angry.
"I could point out that Kat and Lissy are older, and their circumstances are different, but what would be the point?" He sighed. "We just have to persevere."
"But what if it never changes?" She asked in a fierce whisper, "Are we going to tiptoe around her forever?"
"No, of course not." But Tom didn't look convinced. "She just needs time."
It was Sasha's turn to bowl, and she somehow managed to turn her frustration into a perfect strike, eliciting applause from almost everyone, whoops from Sam, and of course, a big eye roll from Ashley. And that was the moment that something finally snapped, and Sasha decided she wasn't playing this ridiculous game anymore. She raised her hands in the air in victory, then did exactly what she wanted to do, which was to throw her arms around Tom's neck and kiss him on the mouth.
Ashley's reaction was immediate, and her cry of "Urgh! Get off my Dad, you bitch!" made Sasha cringe, but she felt Tom's arms tighten around her, and then heard a stern male voice respond.
"Ashley Louise Chandler!" Mike Slattery looked at the child he'd known since she was a baby, his face a mixture of shock and profound disapproval. Ashley looked around at them all, her lip trembling, and then fled, running towards the door of the bowling alley.
Tom moved to go after her, but Sasha pulled him back, and found herself saying, "I'll go."
"That is not a good idea!" Tom replied, but Rachel spoke up.
"It's the only thing we haven't tried, Tom." As he looked at her in confusion, Rachel clarified. "You've talked to her, I have, Kat has-"
"I did too." Lissy chipped in.
"-So maybe it's time that she and Sasha talked directly." Rachel said.
Tom looked torn, but then he nodded. "If you want to." He said, looking into Sasha's face.
She snorted slightly. "I'm not sure 'want' is the word, but I think I have to."
As she walked briskly out of the bowling alley in search of Ashley, Sasha tried to organise her thoughts. She had no idea what to say to the teenager, but she knew she had to say something. Of course first she had to find her, and she ended up walking almost the entire perimeter of the building before she found Ashley sitting between two dumpsters, her back resting against the brick wall of the bowling alley, her face streaked with tears.
"What do you want?" She asked rudely, and Sasha took a deep breath.
"Ashley, I don't know what to say to you." She said honestly. "I never have. I could tell you that I'm not trying to replace your mom, but I think you know that anyway. I could apologise for being me and not Rachel-"
Ashley's head snapped up in surprise, but she didn't anything.
"-or I could try to convince you that actually, I'm not a bad person, but honestly? What I really want is for you to just stop hating me long enough to get to know me. Then if you decide you don't like me, I guess we'll all have to live with that, but the thing is," She swallowed, weighed it up for a second, but then continued, "The thing is, I'm in love with your dad. So as long as he wants me around, I'm not going anywhere. And I'm sorry that that hurts you, I really am, whether you believe that or not, but that's the truth. That's where we are."
"Your hair looks like plastic." Ashley said after a moment, staring at the ground, and Sasha felt a pang of disappointment. Her diplomatic skills had obviously failed her on this one. "It's always perfect." The teenager continued, and then she looked up. "How do you do that?" Her face was still blank, but the question sounded genuine.
Sasha blinked, trying to find the answer through her surprise. "Um, I mean, it's naturally straight, so that helps, but I use a balm after I shampoo and I blow dry it cold, not hot." She couldn't believe she was suddenly swapping hair care tips with Tom's daughter.
"Thanks, I guess." Ashley stood up, and brushed off the seat of her jeans. "Can we go back inside now?" And she walked past Sasha, leaving the older woman open mouthed and fighting incredulous laughter.