Chapter 25
Ashley's POV
"I want you to call me if you need me for anything. I'm not kidding Ashley." Spencer tells me.
"Okay." I say nodding. "I promise I will." I assure her.
"Kay good. Aiden is waiting in the parking lot by the Junior/Senior lounge door." She tells me.
"Okay." I say, kissing her one quick time and taking off towards the lounge. When I got outside Aiden was ready with the car running.
"So where are we going?" He asks when I get in the car.
"To um... Woody's Diner in Russell's Point." I tell him.
"Yeah, I know the place." He says nodding.
"I'm sorry that I got you involved in all this Aiden. I really could have gone on my own." I tell him as we pull out of the parking lot.
"None sense." He says waving me off. "You're Spencer's girlfriend, and Spencer's my sister, therefore you're like... my sister in law." He says looking at me smiling. "So I gotta look out for you. Plus, I'd take any excuse I can to miss school. With Spencer gone it's not really all that fun anymore." He assures me.
"Yeah, Spencer can have that type of affect on a place." I agree. He nods and we ride the rest of the way to the diner in silence.
–
"You sure you don't want me to come in?" Aiden asks as we pull into a parking spot at the diner.
"No." I shake my head. "I think this is something I need to do on my own." I tell him.
"Okay. But I'm right out here if you need me." He says turning off the car.
"Okay." I nod. "I shouldn't be long."
"Take your time." He tells me smiling. I unbuckle my seat beat and get out of the car. I make my way into the diner, looking around for the guy I saw in the newspaper. It wasn't the best picture of him but I'm sure I can make him out if I see him. I search all around but I don't see anyone that resembles the guy from the photo. I take my phone out to look at the time and realize I'm fifteen minutes early. It took a little less than an hour to get here. Aiden drives pretty fast.
I take a seat in the booth Spencer and I sat in when we came here. Which is also the booth my mom and I used to sit in.
"Oh hey there." A waitress walks up to me and says.
"Hey." I smile. I remember her from when Spencer and I came here. "You remember me?" I ask, a little skeptical at how a woman who probably sees over two hundred people a day could remember little ol' me who hasn't been in here in weeks.
"I never forget a face." She says with a smile. "You were here with that blonde cutie." She says pointing to the seat Spencer sat in when we were here.
"Yeah." I nod and smile.
"So what can I get you sweetie?" She asks taking out her pen and order pad.
"Um, if it's okay... well, I'm kinda waiting on my dad. Would it be alright if I ordered when he got here?" I asks and she nods.
"Of course sweetie. Just give me a holler when you're ready." She says putting her pen and pad away. When she leaves my table I notice a man walk through the door, looking around as though he's looking for someone.
He glances in my direction and catches my eyes. He looks like the guy in the paper. He makes his way over to me and sits down.
"Hello." He says with a smile.
"Hi." I breathe out. I don't see how I didn't see it when I was googling him. I'm the spitting image of this man. With his brown hair and brown eyes. He has to be my father. "We..." I pause and look at him more in depth. "You..." I'm not sure exactly what I want to say.
"It's eerie, isn't it?" He asks with a smile.
"You're my dad aren't you?" I ask softly.
"I'm not really one hundred percent sure about that yet. You can understand I'm sure... I get lots of calls these days from women saying that I've fathered their children many years ago. Skepticism really does me some good now and days." He says then chuckles a bit.
"My mom... Christine, you knew her though right?" I ask.
He nods. "Yes, I believe I did."
"And you and her were... together?"
"Yes." He nods again.
"Um..." I pause and swallow.
"I think it's safe to say that you may be my daughter Ashley." He finishes my thought for me.
I take a deep breath, trying to gather myself. I'm not really sure what I was hoping for when I decided to meet up with Raife today.
"Y-you're...um... my dad?" I asks releasing the breath I was holding.
"I think so." He says nodding with a smile. I don't know what to say now. I should be happy. I am happy... I think.
"Why didn't you ever come looking for me then?" I ask suddenly. His smile fades.
"You have to understand Ashley, your mother and I... we were..." He pauses and looks off in the distance like he can't find the words to say. "We were really messed up back then. We were young. I was 18 and she 17, we were into some bad stuff back then. This was before I got my life together." He says, looking back at me.
"So that's your excuse for abandoning your daughter?" I ask, raising my voice a little louder than I intended. Causing some people in the diner to look at us and Tara to come over to our table.
"Is everything alright sweetie?" She looks at me and asks.
"Yes ma'am." I tell her.
"Well are you ready to order?" She asks, pulling out her pen and pad.
"Um, I'll just have a glass of orange juice please." I tell her. She smiles and nods.
"And anything for you sir?" She turns to Raife and asks.
"A cup of coffee please." He tells her. "Three creams, two sugars." He adds. She nods and smiles before walking away. I turn my attention back to him and he shakes his head a bit before saying. "I never knew she was even pregnant Ashley, she never told me."
"So why now, after all these years do you believe me when I tell you you're my father?" I ask.
He looks down and smiles a little. "Because your mother and I, before we got mixed up into things we shouldn't have, we used to talk about having kids. And if we had a daughter we always said we'd name her Ashley." He tells me.
"Oh." I say softly, looking down.
"You know, your mother and I used to sit in this very booth when we came here." He tells me and I look up. "She said she always liked the sound of the banging plates in the kitchen." He says and I smile a little.
"I guess we were alike in that way."
"You have her nose and lips." He tells me. "And her head." He says then laughs a little as Tara comes back with our drinks.
"Orange juice for the beauty and coffee for the dad." She says, placing our respective drinks in front of us, then turning and walking away.
"Um... can I ask you something?" I ask and he nods, sipping his coffee.
"You never came back after you left right? Like a couple years later?" I ask.
"Nope." He says shaking his head. "I haven't been back to Ohio in fifteen years." He tells me. Crap. That means there's no possible way for Kyla and I to have the same dad.
"Why do you ask?" He asks placing his coffee cup back down on the table.
"It's just that... um... I have a little sister." I say and his eyes go wide. "My mom always told me that her and I had the same dad but if you're saying you never came back then there's no way that's true." I tell him then take a sip of my orange juice.
"Oh." He says and nods. "This little sister of yours... what's her name?"
"Kyla." I tell him.
"Does she look like you?" He asks, sipping his coffee again.
"Her nose and mouth..." I trail off.. realizing those are the qualities we got from our mother. And that's about all Kyla and I have in common. "But she has your last name." I tell him and he nearly spits out his coffee.
"I guess your mom needed to keep up the charade and two different last names might have given it away." He says with a shrug.
"Kyla's gonna die when I tell her this." I say shaking my head.
"So where is your mom? She lets you hang out on school days?" He asks chuckling a little before sipping his coffee.
"Oh." I say softly. "Didn't your secretary tell you?" I ask.
"Tell me what?" He asks confused.
"Um... yesterday I told her to tell you that my mom passed away." I say and he places his coffee cup back on the table.
"Oh no." He shakes his head. "I'm sorry Ashley." He tells me.
"How'd it happen?"
"A drug overdose." I tell him.
"No." He breathes out, stretching out the word. Shaking his head. "I thought she would've broken the addiction by now." He says softly. And I realize I haven't told him that moms been dead for twelve years.
"Oh, I probably should have told you. She died twelve years ago." I say and his mouth drops open a bit.
"Then who is taking care of you and Kyla?" He asks confused.
"We're at the Heart House foster home. We've been there since she died." I tell him.
"I'm sorry Ashley." He says shaking his head. "If I had of known..." He trails off.
"It's okay. It's not your fault." I tell him, finishing off the rest of my orange juice. "I really should get going." I say standing up from the booth. I've already missed half the school day." Plus the ride back to the foster home will be at least forty five minutes.
"Of course." He says nodding. I grab a five from my bag and put it on the table. "Nonsense." He say picking up the five and handing it back to me. "Lemmy pay for this."
"Okay." I nod as he takes out his wallet and puts a twenty on the table. "It was nice meeting you Raife." I tell him and start walking away.
"You too." He calls after me. I make my way back out to Aiden's car.
"What happened?" He asks as I get in.
"He's my dad." I nod as I put my seat belt on.
"Oh wow." Aiden breathes out as he starts the car. "What are you gonna do about it?" He asks as he pulls out from the diner parking lot.
"Nothing." I say with a shrug. What can I do?
"Are you gonna tell Spencer?" He asks and I nod.
"Of course." I say and the rest of the ride was quiet.
–
"Thanks again for doing this for me Aiden." I tell him as he puts the car in park in front of the Heart House.
"It really was no problem Ash." He assures me.
"But still, I wanna say thank you." I tell him again.
"Then you're welcome." He says with a smile. "Tell Spence I'll call her later." He says as I shut the door. I nod and smile then watch him pull away. I definitely can see why Spencer loves him so much.
I sneak back in the side door and try to make my way past Ms. Heevy's office without getting caught.
"Ashley, can I see you in my office please." Ms. Heevy calls out to me from her office. Busted. I make my way in her office and sit down. "Do you know how worried we've been here today in your absence Ashley?" Ms. Heevy asks and I go to answer but she cuts me off. "We've been worried sick! You can't just go missing classes and leaving campus during school hours Ashley. I almost got the police involved." She says, raising her voice a little. Concern evident in her tone.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Heevy it's just that... what I needed to do was really important." I assure her.
"I'm well aware of your activities this morning Ashley." She says and I look at her confused. She stands up and walks around her desk. "When Mr. Johnson informed me that you weren't in homeroom or class this morning I pulled Spencer out of class and had a little chat with her. She explained everything." Ms. Heevy says, leaning on the front of her desk.
"I'm sorry for sneaking out and missing class but I'm not sorry about going to see Raife." I tell her and she nods.
"I don't blame you for wanting information Ashley but that had to be the most reckless thing you've ever done! I cannot stress enough how stupid it was. The next time time you come to me to discuss things and we can take the proper route to figuring things out. Do you understand me?" She asks and I nod. "Well..." She says, getting up and walking around her desk to sit back down. "I cannot let you go unpunished for what you have done.. Mark would never let me hear the end of it." I don't know what crawled up Mr. Johnson's ass but he has been pretty hard on me this year. "A weeks worth of detention." She tells me writing something down on a post-it. "Starting tomorrow." She says smiling a little. "And since you've already missed more than half the day, why don't you just go up to your room and think about what you've done today. I will have Ms. Carlin get all of your make up work." She says and I nod.
"Yes, Ms. Heevy." I say and get up from the chair.
"Never do that again." Ms. Heevy says when I reach the door.
"Okay." I nod and smile. "I promise." She smiles and nods once before I shut the door behind me. That could have gone worse. I go up to the room and try and wait for Spencer and the rest of our roommates to get out of class but I get bored waiting so I go out into the backyard and send Spencer a text telling her to meet me by the pond when class is done.
–
"How'd it go?" Spencer asks as she approaches me on the bench.
"He's my dad." I nod. "At least, we're about ninety eight percent sure he is." I clarify.
"How are you doing?" She asks, sitting down next to me.
"Okay I guess." I say looking at her. "I think I'm more in shock than anything. I honestly never thought I'd meet my dad, you know?" I ask and she nods.
"Well, I'm glad that you were able to." She says kissing my cheek.
"Me too." I say and smile at her.
"What about Ky?" She asks, lacing my fingers with hers. I look at her and shake my head.
"He said that he hasn't been back to Ohio since he left fifteen years ago, so there's no way..." I trail off, the words getting caught in my throat. I hate that I have to tell Ky something like this. Something that I know will hurt her so bad.
"It'll be okay." Spencer whispers in my ear. "I can go with you to tell her if you want." She says to me and I can't help but smile a little.
"You're perfect... you know that." I turn to her and say.
She lets a wide smile break out across her face. "So I've been told." She says then kisses my lips.
"I love you." I say into her lips. She pulls back and smiles.
"Not as much as I love you." She tells me and I pull her into me as we watch the ducks swimming around the pond until dinner.