Login with:

Facebook

Twitter

Tumblr

Google

Yahoo

Aol.

Mibba

Your info will not be visible on the site. After logging in for the first time you'll be able to choose your display name.

Limbo

Unexpected

DAWN:

I pick up the plates that I've stacked on the table, and carry them across the room to the sink. Ashley's grandma reaches out to take them from me, saying, "Thank you, sweetie," as she puts them into the soapy water.

"You're welcome," I reply. "The breakfast casserole was really good. Don't be surprised if Lily bugs you for the recipe later."

"I've already promised to write it down for her before you go back home," she chuckles. "What about you, Dawn? Do you cook?"

"Yeah, I can cook decently. I'm not quite as in love with it as she is, but I don't hate it."

"Ashley says that you like to sew, so that's something that you have in common. He always had a creative streak, even when he was just a youngster."

"Out of curiosity, how did he get started on that?" I inquire. "I mean, I guess it's not totally unheard of, but most boys would rather be playing video games, or doing sports and stuff."

"Oh, he definitely had his share of sports, and outside activities," she tells me. "And we didn't own any video game systems when he was young, so if he played, it was only if he went to a friend's house. But I always made sure all of my kids could do at least basic sewing when they were young, even the boys, and I taught Ash the same way I did everyone else. He took to it better than the others, though, he was just fascinated by the idea that if he could master that machine, he could have things that were different from what the other kids had."

"Yeah, I can see that. He does like to stand out," I agree.

Then I feel a pair of arms wrap around my waist from behind, and a chin prop itself on my shoulder. "So you two are talking about me behind my back, huh?" his voice murmurs in my ear.

"Yep, that we are," his grandma responds with a smile. "You're only here for a couple of days, so I have to fill her in on as many embarrassing childhood stories as I can."

"Besides," I chime in, turning my head to place a kiss along his jaw, "you're the most interesting topic of conversation I can think of, anyway."

He grins, and turns his head, so I miss his jaw and kiss his lips instead. "Much better," he informs me, still grinning. "So, are you ready to go out and see the rest of the place?"

"Are we gonna ride the horses?" Lily calls out from the other end of the room. "You said we could while we were here!"

"Well, yeah, I guess we..." he starts to reply, but I put up my hand to stop him.

"Have you done any of your homework?" I ask her.

She looks a bit sheepish, and says, "No, not yet, but I can do that when we get done riding."

"No, you can do some of it now, or we won't go riding," I answer. "You know that one of the conditions of you being able to come was that you do the homework they got the school to send with you. So if you're having to scramble to get everything done when we go home, I think it's a pretty sure bet that they won't let you go with me again. Is that what you want?"

"No, but we've got two more days, so what's the hurry?"

"Because you're supposed to go to the movie with Emily this evening, and Ashley's party is tomorrow, so that kind of cuts down on your available time, and the longer you put it off, the more you're not going to want to do it."

Ash cuts in, saying, "She's right, kiddo, if you keep putting it off, the time is just gonna fly by, and you'll be freaking out when we leave Saturday morning because you've still got all of that work to do. But would you like it any better if you had someone else to do homework with?"

"I guess so, but who? Emily is in school, and I don't think we'll have time for that before the movie."

"No, but this just reminded me that your sister is supposed to have some stuff for me to look over, so why don't we all get together in the dining room, and you can do your work while I grade hers?"

This convinces her to stop arguing, so we go to the bedroom, and I pull the folder from my suitcase while she digs out her school stuff. Then we go join Ash at the dining-room table, and she decides to start with her science work while he looks over the ideas I've come up with for his upcoming collection. One of the conditions I made him agree to when I went to work for him was that he'd be completely truthful with me regarding what he thought of my designs, and not try to soft-pedal anything to keep from hurting my feelings or anything like that, because not getting honest feedback won't help me get better.

This makes me sort of wonder as he looks the drawings over, one by one, not saying anything, then proceeds to lay them out in three separate piles, two of similar size, and one smaller. When he finishes, he looks at me, then puts his finger on one of the larger stacks. "These I absolutely love. I'm going to call the production department before we go out and authorize them to order the materials we'll need. When you get back to the office on Monday, turn these in first thing."

Tapping the second pile, he says, "These have definite potential, but they're not quite there yet. So try to think of some tweaks you might be able to make so they'll fit into the collection a bit better, and get back to me when those are done." Then, indicating the small pile, which is only three of the thirty-two sketches I brought, he adds, "And since you insist that you want me to be completely honest, I have to say that these don't do anything for me at all."

He spreads them out, and starts moving them, one at a time, in front of me. "This one is too... Well, 'flouncy' is the first word that pops into my head, it just doesn't fit with the look we're going for right now. And the other two are, frankly, sort of boring."

I sort of flick the one closest to me, and say, "Yeah, I kind of thought the same about this one myself, but I wasn't sure about the other two."

He quickly flips through the first stack and tells me, "Well, seventeen out of thirty-plus is definitely a damn good first showing. Most of the time I don't even get that many drawings at one time from a designer, let alone approve them. These are gonna get us one hell of a jump-start on getting the new collection to market, so I think I'm just gonna consider this as an early birthday present."

We spend a few more minutes discussing various things about the second set, and I make some notes on things that he particularly thinks need to be changed, until Lily announces that she's finished her work. Ash gathers up the papers, puts them back in the folder, and tells us to go change for riding, since he's already dressed appropriately. We go change, and then the five of us walk out to the barn, where all of the riding gear is.

"Now, I remember you saying that you've never ridden before, so why don't you just ride with me this time?" Ash suggests, as he grabs a saddle

"Can we really do that? It won't be too heavy for the horse?"

"Not at all, young lady," Ashley's grandpa chuckles. "They can carry a helluva lot more than that before it'll do 'em any harm."

We all head out to where the horses are roaming around in a fenced area next to the barn, and as soon as they see us, they all head for the fence. A big brown horse sticks its head over the fence and nudges Ash's shoulder, making sort of a huffing noise, and he pulls something out of his shirt pocket and holds it out in his palm. The horse very gently nibbles it from his palm, and then snorts again as he scratches between its ears. "This one's actually mine, his name is Arrow," he says. "Would you like to pet him?"

I reach out and stroke up and down his nose, and then rub his ears before Ash hops over the fence and starts putting the saddle and stuff on him. His grandpa then turns to Lily and inquires, "And what about you, missy? Ever been on a horse before?"

"Oh, yeah! My friend Laci's folks owned a place where they gave lessons to disabled kids before they moved, and we used to ride sometimes if they weren't awfully busy. I can't do tricks, or any of that stuff, but I'm pretty decent, I guess."

"Well, then, I think we'll let you ride Trixie today," he replies, pointing to a smaller, tan-colored horse. "She's got a fair amount of energy, but she's not so high-spirited that you should have too much trouble handling her."

They only have to help her a little bit with putting the saddle on the horse, but she actually does everything else herself, and gets on without any help. Ash gets onto Arrow, then his grandpa helps me up behind him, before climbing onto a bigger black horse that he calls Dervish. His grandma has already gotten onto her horse, a cream-colored female with yellowish-brown spots, whose name is Duchess, she tells us.

We ride out of the pasture, and start making a circuit of the farm, with one or the other of them pointing out different things to me and Lily as we ride, like the pond where Ash and his cousins used to look for tadpoles, and the hill everyone sleds on in the winter. Arrow seems to get a bit impatient a couple of times, so Ash tells me to hang on, because he's gonna let him run a bit, and we get going at a pretty fair speed. The first time, I'm a bit freaked out, but it's actually kind of fun, so by the time we finish the second run, I'm laughing.

"Maybe we'll turn you into a horsewoman yet," Ash says, as we slow down to rejoin the others.

"Maybe, if I ever get the chance to figure out how they actually work."

"There are stables back in LA where you can get lessons, if you want to. No pressure, of course, just sayin'."

"I'll definitely think about it," I reply. "Since you seem to like it so much, I might want to learn, so we can do it together."

After a while, we get back to the barn, he shows me what has to be done after the horses are ridden, and once they're all taken care of, we head back to the house. After we have lunch, Lily actually decides to get some more of her schoolwork out of the way, and Ash gives her a bit of help when she gets stuck on her math homework. Then she takes a shower and changes her clothes, to make sure she's ready when Emily and her folks show up to get her, and plays with her electronic game until they arrive.


After I make sure she has money for snacks and stuff, they take off, and I help Ash's grandma with dinner, and go over the menu for his party tomorrow with her, to make sure she hasn't forgotten anything. Then we spend a bit more time with some of my drawings before going to watch a movie with his grandparents. Lily and the others get back just before it's over, and she tells us that they saw an animated fantasy-type movie called "Strange Magic", and that it was really fun. She also informs us that they went to Cici's Pizza for dinner, and that they actually tried a macaroni and cheese pizza, which she wasn't very impressed with, but that she really liked their spinach Alfredo pizza.

Emily and her folks stay for an hour or so, then head home since she has school, then the birthday party, the next day. Then an hour or so later, his grandparents go to bed, and the three of us stay up to watch a couple more movies, finally turning off the TV around eleven and going to our rooms, after I kiss Ash goodnight.

We brush our teeth and Lily gets into her pajamas while I put the sketch folder back in my bag. As she crawls under the covers, she pauses, and says, "Sissy?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"It'll be Ashley's birthday in a little less than an hour, y'know."

"Yes, I know that, hon." I reply, not quite sure why she brought it up. Then, what she says next takes me completely by surprise.

"Well since it's his birthday, shouldn't you be with him, instead of in here with me? I won't tell Mum and Dad, if that's what you're worried about."

I sort of gape at her for a second, completely speechless, and she giggles, "Oh, come on, we had this conversation at the concert, remember? I mean, you were married before. I know you already did that kinda stuff with Sawyer, so it's not like it's gonna freak me out or something. And I sleep by myself in my own room at home, so I think I can manage it here, too. If you don't want to, no biggie, but if you do, don't stay in here just because you're worried about me."

I'm still a bit startled, but as I think about it, the more I like her idea. We've been together for almost three months, and he's never once tried to push further than I'm willing to go, so he's probably almost at his wit's end by now, even more so than I am. "Are you sure you'll be okay?"

"Yep, I'm positive," she says. "And if it'll make you feel better, I'll even sleep in my headphones."

I grin at her as an image of Ash in the shower flashes across my brain, then start rummaging through my suitcase, saying, "Yeah, that might not be a bad idea, after all."

I find what I'm looking for, go back into the bathroom for a few minutes, then come out and say goodnight to Lily. I walk out into the hall and tap on his door, getting a rather surprised look when he opens it. "Hey, darlin', is everything okay?"

"Yes, everything is fine. I was just wondering if I could come in for a minute."

He steps back and lets me into his room, closing the door behind me. "Okay, what's up?"
he queries. And I'm not sure exactly why he thinks I'm here, but from the look of shock on his face, he quite obviously wasn't expecting me to turn the lock on the door, drop my robe to the floor, and announce:

"I thought maybe we could find a way to ring in your birthday together."











































Notes

Comments

Awesome chapter as always! Have you got Wattpad figured out yet? :)

Merelan Merelan
7/12/19

Okay cool, we'll see how things go.

Merelan Merelan
7/11/19

@Merelan
Hey there, sorry I'm a bit behind, but I had some family stuff I had to do. I'm still having difficulties with getting myself set up on Wattpad, so I'm gonna try making a completely new email account through some other server, in case the site is just incompatible with Yahoo, and see if that works. If not, I may just let Annie start posting my books on her account, but I'll get them over there before long, one way or the other. I'll be posting a new chapter here tomorrow, so the wait is almost over. Thanx for your patience, and I'll keep you posted on the Wattpad situation. :-D

Red Phoenix77 Red Phoenix77
7/11/19

@Merelan
Yeah, I guess it's a good thing that I kept a separate tab open to my own books, or I probably wouldn't have been able to update at all. And she told me that you'd contacted her, so now I know who you are on Wattpad. I've been having some issues with getting an account started, so I don't know if it's an issue with my email account, or username or what, but I'm hoping to get a friend who works with computers to come by and help me sometime this week. So I'll definitely drop you a message when I get everything up and running. Thanx! :-D

Red Phoenix77 Red Phoenix77
6/26/19

Awesome chapter as always! This site is pulling a Titanic - I can click on the other tabs like new, updated, etc., but it's showing the stories from ~6 years ago to ~3 years ago. Nothing else. I'm on Wattpad now, I sent a message to Star Elf, so I look forward to seeing you there! :)

Merelan Merelan
6/26/19