“I said no, Sadie,” I whip my head to her, yelling.
Sadie’s soft brown eyes widen, and tears instantly fill them.
“I’m sorry.” I rub her leg. “I’m sorry, Sadie. I didn’t mean to yell at you.”
She nods, but doesn’t say anything. She keeps her head down, playing with a string on her Hello Kitty pink gloves. I rub the temples of my head and try to focus enough to drive. Needless to say, I’m getting Sadie chicken nuggets tonight.
~
Ashton: Hey, I’m thinking about you right now.
Ashton: I can’t wait to see you.
Ashton: Are you okay?
Ashton: Why aren’t you texting back?
The messages continue, and I don’t know how many missed phone calls I have. I can’t answer any of them. The knocking on the door brings me out of my thoughts. On the other side is Tiff. She’s never knocked on my door.
“Is my niece ready?”
“You can come in.”
“No thanks,” she slightly sneers at me, making my heart break a little bit.
“Aunt Tiff.” Sadie comes racing around the corner.
“Hey, are you ready to go?”
“Yep.” Sadie turns to me. “Bye, Mommy.” She hugs my legs before taking Tiff’s hand.
My phone rings again, and without thinking, I answer it. “Hello?”
“What’s going on, Lexie? Talk to me.”
“Hey, Ashton. Um, there’s nothing to talk about. I think I should have thought things out more before we got too serious.”
“Thought what out more? That you’d rather you and even Sadie be all by yourselves?”
“I made a mistake. I’m sorry. I really am. This is my fault.”
“This is your mistake. I’m not supposed to let you walk away, Lex.”
“I know that I said that, but I didn’t mean it.” It’s a lie.
The silence is loud around with us. “You honestly don’t want this anymore? At all? Not even one little bit?”
“Ashton, you deserve someone that doesn’t come with baggage like mine. I’ve been doing fine on my own for the last seven years. This was a great fling, but you need to find someone else.”
“I…fling?” He stammers on the word. “I’m in love with you, Lex…but if this was all a fling, it was me who made the mistake for wanting you to begin with.”
The tears fall when he hangs up the phone.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Ashton
My initial thought was “What the hell is wrong with this woman?” And it wasn’t but a minute or so later that she reached through the phone and yanked my heart out of my chest. I’m glad I have a little time before practice. I need to recoup. Picking my phone back up, I dial Brooke.