Pawnshops and Carousels
AvalonReeseFanFics
A/N: Well, here it is my wonderful readers! We have another late chapter. But it's the end of the angst and the drama. And then this Sunday will be the last chapter! Isn't that exciting? As always don't forget to leave a review or drop a fav or a follow and I'll see you guys next week for the end of the story!
Chapter 40
Seth: Well it finally happened. Ashley finally quit. I want to say that we were all upset but, to be honest, the second she left it was like a weight left AJL. We were running more smoothly, we were pulling in more sales in the jewellery section, and we weren't losing deals to low balling and her horrendous attitude.
Did you know, the day after the event we had all these people calling to complain about one our staff being rude to people who were coming in to get stuff appraised? Yeah, give you one guess on who that was.
The problem is my dad's upset. My dad always wanted this to be family operated, and AJL was always meant to go to both me and Ashley when my dad finally retired, or died in his office like I was pretty sure would happen.
This means convincing her to come back. Except… I don't want her to come back. I don't think anyone wants her to come back. Not even Ashley wants to come back. The only one that wants her back is dad and that's not a good enough reason to suffer through her attitude and unwillingness to cooperate. And apparently that makes me a bad brother.
Luckily for me my wife is 100% on my side.
I answer the door and glare at my sister-in-law.
"You've gotta be kidding… you didn't even bring the kids," I snap to her as she lets herself into my home. "Does my brother know you're here?"
"No," Sabrina says right away and I scoff. I should take a picture of her and send it to Seth, he'd have a fucking coronary. "And I didn't bring the kids cause I figure we're going to argue."
Smart.
Sabrina had always been super smart. It was one of the reasons I maintained that she was way out of my brother's league.
"Let me guess, you're here to try and talk me into come back, right?"
Sabrina is in the process of taking off her coat. The baby fat is still on her, but not nearly as bad as it was when I was pregnant, compared to my progress it really looked like the left over baby weight had just melted off of her.
She turns back to me with a smile and a shake of her head. "No. I would like to know why though," she said. "I know bare minimum of the situation, from what Les told us, but I'd like to hear it from you."
See, Sabrina does this to Seth too. She makes him explain so that he sees the error of his ways. To make him see that he's in the wrong. Except that's not going to work on me.
"I know what you're doing," I say to her and she turns a wide-eyed innocent look onto me. Again, that face might have worked on my brother, but it wasn't going to work on me. "You think if I talk you through it you'll see that I'm being unreasonable."
"No," she said softly. "I just want to hear it from you. Not your dad… who likes to embellish things."
Ohh, that's true, my dad does do that.
"Fine," I snap heading into the kitchen. I grab Sabrina a water cause I don't know if she wants anything with caffeine in it. I know if she wants something else, like juice or milk she'll tell me or help herself, but I am certain to put cookies in front of her.
She sits down at the kitchen island and immediately takes a cookie.
"I'm upset that my dad seems to favour Karen," I tell her flat out and she nods. "He lets her get away with everything, he praises her for everything she does, even if it's wrong. It's just… so fucking frustrating."
Sabrina nods again. "So… you quit?"
"YES! I don't need to feel like that at work you know?"
"And that's it? Just, your dad likes Karen more so you're going to quit? To what? To teach him a lesson?"
"But it's not just Karen. My dad has always picked everyone else over me. Seth, you, and now Karen," I cry and I swear I'm getting misty eyed.
"I'm sorry you feel that way," Sabrina says after a while. "Have you ever thought that maybe… maybe he does that because they need more of a confidence boost?"
"So? Does that mean he can't praise me at all? Because that's what he's doing! He never tells me I did a good job and sometimes I'd like to hear it!"
As soon as I say it I'm waiting. Waiting for her to tell me that maybe if I were better at my job
"Have you tried talking to your dad about that?"
"Yes," I say with a scoff and she just eyes me with an unimpressed cocked eyebrow. "Fine, I sort of tried. But I didn't try that hard."
"Well… how about trying to talk to him about it and see what he says? See if coming back is an option or at the very least fixing your relationship."
"I don't want to come back," I remind her. "And that's not all of our problems."
"It's not?"
"No, it's not."
Sabrina reaches for another cookie. "Alright," she says. "What else is upsetting you?"
"Well for starters… you," I snap. "You're such a goodie-two-shoes. It's literally the most annoying thing ever."
"Okay, Ash, I love you, but you can't keep holding my personality against me. It's not like I go around throwing you under the bus, most of the time I'm on your side. When you're right."
I frown at her, only because it's true.
"Fine, what about your husband then," I snap and now Sabrina's frowning.
"What about my husband?"
"He's such an insufferable know it all!"
"He is not!" she cries.
"Yes he is! He likes to pretend that he knows everything about this business. And he doesn't. And everything he does know, I taught him!" I shout at her. "And now every time Seth sells something, he comes running up to me going hey Ash look at what I just sold. The only reason he's even remotely good at what he does is because I trained him…"
"Have you ever thought that maybe he does that because he's proud of himself and he wants you to be proud of him too… because you trained him… and he wants to show you that he can do well?"
No, no I had not thought that.
"I mean he definitely won't admit it, but you know… he really just wants to prove to you and Les that he's good enough… you know?"
I nod my head and I'm starting to feel better but then Sabrina says: "And let's be honest your customer service skills are absolute shit and you have a terrible attitude at work so…"
And now I'm scowling too. See, she wouldn't have said that if I hadn't told her I'm pissed at her husband. She was always jumping to Seth's defence. Even when he didn't need it.
"You see, you see that right there," I say to her. "That is why I don't want to come back."
"Aw Ashley," she groans but I won't let her finish.
"No! All of you are ungrateful. I'm allowed to be snarky when I'm working with people who don't appreciate how much work I put into…"
"Really? And what was I being unappreciative of when we got into that screaming match that prompted my premature labour."
"That wasn't all my fault!" I cry. "You didn't have to get so upset with me!"
"I'm not saying it's all your fault. I could have calmed down, you could have stopped being unreasonable. But you never even apologized to me and you're obviously feeling very guilty about it because you won't even stay in the same room as me."
"Of course I feel guilty, Seth has been holding it over my head since it happened!" I say and despite myself I feel a few tears escape my eyes.
To my horror, and, I guess, my relief, Sabrina gets off her seat and rounds the kitchen island to hug me. And then I'm crying for real, letting all of it out.
"I'm sorry," she whispers to me, as I press into the hug. "I'm sorry he's been doing that. I told him not to."
And I believe that one hundred precent. Doesn't change the fact that it's been happening though.
"I'm sorry," I say to her. "I'm sorry I upset you so much that you went into early labour. I'm sorry that the Sebastian's birth was so traumatic for you, and that he was sick when he came out and… and that you can't have kids anymore. I'm sorry. I'm sorry I did that to you."
Sabrina continues to hug me. "It's okay. I know you are. And not everything was your fault," she tells me. "Everything that happened after, that was because of the Placenta Previa, not you. And I'm really going to yell at Seth if he made you feel like that was your fault too. Cause it wasn't, it was me and my stupid placenta."
I smiled up at her, brushing her arms off and trying to straighten myself up. I shake my head and brush of her arms so the hug can stop. I grab one of our tea towels and go about wiping my eyes as elegantly as I can.
"I'm sorry you feel like you're unappreciated, or that your dad doesn't value you as much as he values us. I can tell you that he does, but I know it won't feel the same unless you hear it from him."
Sabrina has always been the understanding one, which is just another reason why I always thought her above my brother. But I do appreciate that she understands where I'm coming from.
"I think, if you talk to your dad about how you feel, and you two figure things out, then maybe you'll feel better at work and therefore be better, maybe even better at customer service than me," she tells me.
"I told you. I'm not going back," I say for the millionth time and she nods.
"And you're sure that's what you wanna do?"
"Yep."
Sabrina nods at me and we fall silent for a moment before I turn to her and ask: "You wanna see what I'm thinking of doing instead?"
And of course she does. And in true Sabrina fashion she's probably more excited than I am, and she's definitely super supportive.
Seth: Am I upset that my wife went over to Ashley's? Hell yes. For starters I'm annoyed because she's supposed to be on bed rest goddamn it. How the hell is she supposed to get better if she's not resting? And secondly, the last time Ashley was alone with her she upset my wife to the point where she went into premature labour. Not that something like that could happen again, I just didn't want them to argue. Not without me there to protect her.
But Sabrina had gone while I was at work and left our kids with my mom. Which was totally typical of her.
The conversation apparently went well though, apparently Ash and Sabrina have made up. But that doesn't change that we're better without Ashley and we really, really, don't want her to come back to AJL. I would, however, love to have my sister back. So I'm really happy, when I find out that Sabrina managed to convince Ashley to come to family dinner at my parent's place.
When Ashley shows up at our house for the family dinner that was just supposed to be Seth and his family and me and Lily, I'm obviously very surprised but there's no way I'd turn her away. Even though my wife is probably going to be mad that she didn't call a head because we might not have enough food for everyone now. Seeing as she's come with her husband and her two girls, who are both really excited to see their cousins, even baby Sebastian. Her eldest daughter loves to hold him.
Eh, I'll just order a few pizzas.
She sort of smiles sheepishly at me. "Sabrina invited me," she says as if that explains her presence here.
She hasn't spoke to or seen me since she quit AJL. She's refused to come in, she doesn't pick up any of my calls, so I'm really surprised that she even bothered to accept Sabrina's invitation at all.
"I was sort of hoping that you'd… you'd maybe talk to me?"
"Sure," I say and then we walk all the way to my office/man cave downstairs without saying a single word to one another.
When we get down there I go to my desk, more because it's got my favourite seat and less because I'm trying to seem superior to her. But I know that's what she's going to think.
Except she doesn't say anything like I'd expect her to. Instead she just takes the seat across from me and then says: "I'm sorry."
Honestly I'm fucking floored.
Ashley never apologizes.
I'm honestly a little concerned that this is not my daughter. This is someone pretending to be my daughter, or she's been possessed by some alien hive mind thing.
"You are?" I find myself asking and she nods.
"I… I was acting like a brat," she says and I swear my jaw drops. Did I wake up in an alternate reality? Am I in another dimension? What the hell is happening right now?
Did hell freeze over?
"I know you're going to say this was silly but uh… I really did feel like you didn't value me. That you'd praise everyone before you'd just give me a good job. And that hurt, because you're my dad and I want to make you proud of me and I felt like you weren't," she tells me and now I feel like I'm going to cry. Because I never meant to give my little girl that impression. "I unno, sometimes I feel like you're punishing me for taking time off to take care of my kids."
"But that's not true!"
"I know it's not, it just… it's how I feel."
Well that was fair.
"And the worse I felt, the worse I got at my job. It literally has gotten to the point where I don't even want to come to work."
I nod because I can understand where she was coming from. She felt like I didn't value her, and just like when she was little she started acting out instead of using her words.
"Okay, well… we can fix that. I'm definitely willing to try and make you feel more valued, but you have to work on your customer service skills, I know you're better then what you've been doing recently. Maybe Sabrina can give you pointers."
The second I say it I know I've messed up. Sabrina and her perfect customer service abilities are a sore point with Ashley.
"No thank you, I'm not planning to come back," she says and my heart sinks. I was always hoping that AJL would be a family business, without Ashley there it won't be a family business.
She sees the disappointment on my face and she immediately perks up. "It's not because I don't want to work with you dad, it's got nothing to do with our argument. I… I have decided that I want to focus on my jewellery business."
This had been something Ashley had been doing since college, making her own jewelry. I feel a little better that the reason she doesn't want to come back is because she wants to work on her own business venture. I'd feel worse if it was because of me.
"It'll still be a family business dad. You have Seth and Karen, and Sabrina if Seth every lets her off of bed rest."
I chuckle with her because poor Sabrina had been on bed rest since the birth, and Seth was frantically trying to keep her there and failing. I'm seriously worried that Seth was going resort to tying her up to keep her in bed.
"Well… I can't quite be upset with you for wanting to pursue this," I say. "We'll obviously miss you at the shop."
"It's not like I'm not going to come and visit. And maybe if you like some of my merch you can sell it in the store, what do you think?"
"Of course!" I say, but I know I'll be selling her jewellery in the store even if I didn't like what she was making.
She gets up to hug me and I get up to hug her back.
"I think this will be better for everyone. I think this will really improve my relationship with like… everyone in the family. Seth, you, Karen, Sabrina…"
I had to agree, it probably would.
"What are you two doing down here, you've been talking for like an hour," Seth says appearing at the doorway. It's not true, but clearly dinner is done and we're supposed to be up stairs. Though I must say, I'm surprised Lily sent Seth down here. I'm assuming Lily wanted to send Sabrina, but Seth wouldn't let her get up.
Seth pins a glare on Ashley. "And I thought you decided we weren't family anymore."
"No. I decided I wasn't gonna work directly with family anymore," she says and then goes to hug him. Seth is immediately as surprised as I was. "I'm sorry I yelled at your wife and upset her causing her to go into premature labour, but I don't appreciate you making me feel guilty about it and everything that happened after, because the placenta being in the wrong place wasn't my fault."
Seth sort of limply hugs her back, patting her back awkwardly like he was trying burp her or something. "Okay… well apologize to Sabrina then…"
"Oh I did," she says and I can tell Seth doesn't believe her. "But that doesn't change the fact that you made me feel responsible for her not being able to have anymore kids and for Sebastian being sick when he was born when those things weren't all my fault. The Placenta pre-whatever-it's-called was what did most of the damage."
"Previa," he finishes for her. "And fine… I guess that's fair."
"And I'd appreciate it if you didn't hold the whole incident over me in a way to make me do what you want. It's not you who went through that horrific birth, it was Sabrina, so only she gets to hold it over me."
"Okay… I mean… I guess…"
"Okay we good now?"
"Uh… I guess?"
But Ashley lets him go, walks around him and disappears back upstairs leaving Seth standing there clearly very confused.
He turns back to me and asks: "Are we sure that's Ashley?" and I laugh. That was exactly what I thought too.
"Let's just be grateful that she came to her senses," I tell him. "Come on, let's go get dinner before it gets cold."
As my son and I walked back upstairs, I felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. My family was back together, and hopefully we'd be able to cultivate a better relationship from now on.
