Love's Someday Read Free Page B

Ashleigh returned.
    “I know we need to talk,” Ashleigh said when she noticed Erica. She crossed her arms and leaned against the refrigerator.
    Erica nodded and felt numb as she moved to the kitchen table and took a seat. “Would you please sit?” She pushed out a chair with her foot.
    At first it appeared that Ashleigh would remain in the spot where she stood. She paced back and forth for a minute and finally sank down into the chair looking uncomfortable.
    Erica searched her brain for something to say. “Want me to make you a cup of tea?”
    “No.” Ashleigh drummed her fingers nervously on the table. “I don’t know how to begin.”
    Erica wanted to reach out and take one of Ashleigh’s fidgeting hands, but the chasm of distance that had formed between them left her unsure of how to behave.
    “I feel like my past is another life. When we first started dating, I wanted to tell you, but I’d lived years convincing myself that it never happened. To give voice to it meant it was real, and I didn’t want to have to try and cope all over again.”
    Ashleigh’s gaze refused to meet hers when she spoke. Erica watched her closely as she clutched the warm cup in both hands. “That makes sense,” Erica said before taking a sip of the tea that was supposed to calm her. It wasn’t working. “I know that you’d like to stay in that state of denial, but I need to know…who you are.”
    “Who I was ,” Ashleigh said, finally meeting her eyes. “You know who I am now.”
    Erica nodded and set the cup back on the table. “Then tell me.”
    Ashleigh stood and pulled a bottle of water from the refrigerator. Erica watched as her hands trembled while she fumbled with the lid. When she returned to the table, she remained standing.
    “There was no one to run to when my parents tossed me out. I think they figured that I’d see the severity of the situation and come running back. They thought I could change who I was, I guess. I remember standing in the Savannah bus terminal wondering where I should go. I saw Baton Rouge on the schedule. I liked the name, so I bought a ticket, and the next day, I arrived with a guitar, some money in my pocket, and a few clothes.”
    In her mind’s eye, Erica saw the image of an eighteen-year-old Ashleigh on a bus headed to a strange town. She seriously doubted that she would have possessed the fortitude at that age to make the journey alone.
    “I knew the money wouldn’t last long, so I stayed in the cheapest motel I could find. I landed a job in a coffee shop. I worked days serving coffee, and the owner let me play and sing a few nights a week. That’s how I met Chantal.”
    Erica looked at her questioningly.
    “She was a drummer and had a girlfriend that played keyboards. Chantal was starting a band and liked my voice. After she found a lead guitarist and bass player, we started playing local clubs.” Ashleigh finally slipped back into her chair and looked over at Erica. “It seemed like a dream. The bassist had a few connections. We recorded a demo, and everything seemed to happen overnight.”
    “You were picked up by a record company that quickly?”
    “Yeah, we had the electronic sound that was becoming extremely popular. I went from sleeping on Chantal’s couch to the road. It was exciting but lonely at the same time. We’d come back to Baton Rouge occasionally, and everyone would go home.”
    Ashleigh stared off as she recounted, and Erica noticed that her eyes had moistened.
    “I really didn’t have anywhere to go. Chantal invited me to stay with her and Vicki, but I needed time to myself after being on the road with all of them. I had some money then, but not enough to get a place of my own, much less furnish it. I booked myself into a slightly better hotel than I’d stayed in before and waited for the next road trip.”
    “There was no one…no girlfriend in your life then?” Erica asked, finding it hard to believe that Ashleigh was so alone.
    Ashleigh shook her