Chapter 193: Basketball

Tuesday, January 17th, Late Evening

The kids have settled into their rooms, doing homework; or listening to the Miami game. The twins knew they had until half time before bedtime. Spot checks will happen. As for her daughter, she gets to go to bed when her homework was finished or told, whichever comes first.

Ashlyn settled into the couch of the television room. She had a bottle of her favorite local wine nearby, and a full glass was in her hand. The TV remote was sitting in arm's length, but the game was already on.

James was in Miami tonight. They had a homestand this week, which is the reason why Ashlyn was going to Miami this weekend. The kids will be over at their grandparents, James' parents.

Leaning back, she settled in and sipped her wine. The game started and she watched the game. It became harder for her to watch James' games.

Not that she hated basketball, she loved it, she enjoys coaching it, watching her twin sons play, and if cornered, she would admit she loved watching her oldest daughter play. Since she retired from her playing days, she wanted to leave basketball behind her. That didn't happen; her husband made basketball his career. Brett defied Ashlyn's wishes and picked up the game. Ashlyn even ended up coaching.

Ashlyn took a deep pull of her wine and then put the glass down. Leaning forward, she took up the wine bottle and refilled her glass. It was becoming more common for her to polish off a bottle on James' game nights.

Watching the game, she put her foot up and massaged the knee. Twice surgically repaired, it was never right, and would often cause her to sit when she played. Having a short pro-career was because of her cursed knee. Which she felt the puffiness of it, and knew the doctors wanted to do a full replacement because of the progressive damage life wrought on it.

Sipping her wine, again, she watched the game. Thirty-three, that's her age, she'd still be playing if her knee didn't betray her. Ending how it did wasn't right, because the fire still burned.

That season she got to play with her best friend again. They lived together, again, and things were looking up. That was until they wanted to trade her, and she had to take a physical. She failed because of her knee. The writing was on the walls, so she retired.

Yet, her retiring didn't extinguish the competive fire. Ashlyn came home where; she and James agreed to raise their family. Unfortunately, that put her in close contact with her family.

Shaking her head, she sipped at her wine. The less she thought about her parents, the better. They made their choice fifteen-years ago, and they cut her out of their lives.

Taking another sip of her wine, Ashlyn sighed. Four years ago, she tried reaching out to them, but her mom pushed her away. They all could've used each other's help, but her mom wouldn't budge. The events that week were at best described in terms of awkward, tense, and strained, and that was being positive.

Another sip and her wine glass were nearly empty, again. Ashlyn strongly disliked watching James' games alone. She suggested moving the family full time to Miami so that they could be together. James said no, the kids needed stability, family, and Brett needed her dad. Ashlyn finished her glass and sighed after she swallowed the red liquid. She didn't want to be a WAG anyways.

Putting down the empty wine glass, she stood up and walked to the window. The house was large, and part of it overlooked the Atlantic Ocean, with a small private beach. There were no lights, so it was pitch black, except for a few stars, that were breaking through the overcast, and a far off ship. Enough light existed out there so she could see a few white caps.

Ashlyn loved her home, but part of her cried out for their small house in Durham. Her first home with James and Brett, back then, things were so much better. Shaking her head, she looked back at the screen and watched the last few seconds of the second quarter tick away to half-time. It was time to check on her kids.

Ashlyn reluctantly turned away from the window. Slowly, she went upstairs and held on tight to the railing. Shaking her head and wondering if her balance was because of the knee or the wine. Stairs were hard for her, but not going up.

The first room she came to was one of the twin's room. Slowly she opened the door and peeked in. With a sigh of relief, she didn't have to tell Landon to go to bed. The radio was also off; he was into bed. Ashlyn walked over to the bed and kissed him on his forehead and adjusted the covers on his bed.

A door connected the twin's rooms. Slowly, Ashlyn walked into Logan's room. He also went to bed without being told. She walked over and fixed his covers. Finally, she kissed him on the temple, since he was sleeping on his side. She smiled at her blonde son. They weren't expecting two, but they got them.

Ashlyn crept out of the bedroom. The boys wanted to share a room, but they did give them rooms that connected. They only just moved them into their separate rooms.

Gently she closed the door behind her; she walked to the next room. It's Maeghan, Ashlyn's eight-year-old daughter. Curled up sleeping was the young blonde girl. Nearby was a stuffed raven, even though Maeghan wouldn't admit it, she still slept with it.

Ashlyn leaned over and brushed a stray bang out of Maeghan's closed eyes. Slowly, she kissed her daughter's forehead and then adjusted the covers. Straightening up, she slowly left the room, closing the door behind her.

Slowly, Ashlyn walked down the hall and looked into an open door. This room belongs to Brett. This week Brett was staying with her dad, which had been going on for years now.

After letting out a heavy breath, Ashlyn left the bedrooms and returned to the television room. She filled her wine glass up again. Climbing onto the couch, she put her feet up on the couch, after kicking off her shoes. Slowly, she pulled up a blanket over her. After getting comfortable, she took up her wine glass and sipped at it.

She's been sleeping more and more on this couch. Ashlyn couldn't bring herself some nights to sleep in her marriage bed. She sighed and finished her wine, not knowing how many glasses she drank tonight.

Trying to watch the game, she leaned back and found her eyelids getting heavy. It was a long day, between school, travel game at Hoggard, and now watching the Miami game. More correctly, she was trying to watch the Miami game.

Seven days, if she figured out how they were doing the episodes, it would be seven days. Tomorrow, episode twenty-one, another one she didn't look forward to watching. Ashlyn didn't think any of her teammates looked forward to discussing that one person. This tragedy thankfully had nothing to do with what happened four years ago, directly.

Ashlyn shook awake and shot up into a sitting position; she was breathing heavily. This shaking awaking and heavy breathing happened when she had a nightmare or stress. It didn't matter which one it was. Slowly, she ran her forearm across her forehead and felt sweat.

Ashlyn was turning towards the TV to see what was going on. The game was winding down. Miami beat Houston 109 to 103; it was good to have a Miami Victory. James scored twenty-one points and had eight assists, in other words, a good game, for him, and he led the team in both categories.

When James finishes with the post-game, he'll call. Ashlyn nodded and leaned back to catch some rest before her phone rang.