Page 37 of The Second Ending
Click.
Bollocks!
Uttering a string of curses, Ashleigh glared at her desk. This was the last time she’d be her parents’ plaything. She had to come up with ways to reach new donors for the music program, and she needed to extricate herself from her parents’ clutches once and for all.
But first, she had to tell Marcus that their weekend was ruined.
That phone call, filled with tense silences and unspoken recriminations, was followed by another.
Liora! What was she doing, calling on a Friday evening? She was usually busy with her extended family at this point in the week.
“Ash, are you still seeing Sebastian Vera? I’ve finally spoken to my friend who works in the same department, and you’ve got to hear this.”
There was an urgency in Liora’s voice that caught Ashleigh’s unhappy attention. “What? This doesn’t sound good. What’s he done?”
“Nothing criminal, but… do you like him? I mean, really like him?”
This was not sounding positive. “You’re going to tell me he’s married, right? No, I don’t like him, not like that. He’s fun, but the shine is wearing thin.”
“Oh, thank God,” Liora breathed. “Josh told me that Sebastian has been making all sorts of noises recently about wanting to get into politics. The back rooms and offices at City Hall aren’t good enough. He wants to be in the council chambers.”
“Okay… That’s not unusual. He might have said something once or twice about it. I know he’s involved in some political organisations.”
“Well,” Liora continued, “recently, he’s been dropping stuff about having an ‘in’ with the movers and shakers, and about how he’s going to be marrying into the upper crust. You’re the only person Josh heard him mention, so I had to ask… are you engaged to him?”
Ashleigh’s jaw dropped.
“Ash? You there?”
She managed to make it work. “No! Absolutely not. This is the first I’ve heard of it. It must be a mistake.”
“Oh.” Liora didn’t sound convinced. “Well, I’m just repeating what I heard. I thought you should know. Be careful, okay?”
Ashleigh nodded, before remembering that Liora couldn’t hear that over the phone. “Uh, yeah… This is… unexpected. But thanks for telling me. It makes a few things a bit clearer. I need to call Marcus.”
“Love ya, Ash. Call me when you can. Gotta go now. Bye.”
Ashleigh stared at the phone for a long time after her friend disconnected.
Ashleigh was not thrilledto see Sebastian. His charm had faded of late, although he was still the charismatic and dashing figure he’d been when they first met. He was, it seemed, always underfoot when he wasn’t wanted, but somehow managed to time his appearances for his own purposes. Now, with this news from Liora, she understood why.
She tried to get out of the next day’s arrangements, but to no avail. Her mother’s blackmail attempts hadn’t weakened, and Sebastian wasn’t picking up his phone, making cancelling that part of the scheme impossible without being extremely rude. And, despite everything, he’d done nothing to deserve that.
Yet.
He picked her up at ten, as her mother had arranged, and guided his car unerringly towards Rosedale, talking as they drove.
“Did I ever thank you enough for inviting me to your parents’ Christmas party last December? Your mother is gracious and delightful, and your father was so generous with his time.”
He was looking ahead at the road, and missed the disbelief that washed over Ashleigh’s face. She really needed to learn to control her facial expressions. Her father was anything but generous. But Sebastian kept talking.
“We’ve been in touch since then. Oh, you didn’t know that? Ah! He’d given me his email address, and I reached out with a question relating to work, and we’ve been talking since then.”
Yes. And now she knew why.
Soon, he turned off the main road and guided the car toward her parents’ home with ease. Then, to Ashleigh’s surprise, he made his way to the alley that ran behind the row of houses and parked in the paved area at the back of the house, rather than on the street. He clearly knew exactly where he was going. He must have been there often. It seemed he’d done more than just email her father. How much else didn’t she know?
There was no time to ask, and the moment she was inside, her mother whisked her away for another day of useless, pointless tasks, clucking all the time about her hair needing attention and her dreadful taste in clothing. So dull and dreary, blah black and grey, chinos and shapeless shirts. How could she think of moving in the right circles, dressed like that? Ashleigh bit her tongue and said nothing.
