Being Ashlyn

Chapter 2

Ashyln's jaw dropped but soon after she burst out laughing. "Nice one Mum. I almost believed you for a while." Seeing that her mum did not even smile, she immediately stopped. "You can't possibly be serious!"

"I'm sorry Ashlyn but I am." Well, at least her Mum had the decency to genuinely look sorry. Ashlyn's mum, Laura, had been single for almost ten years when her husband died from a car accident.

Ashlyn felt nauseous. "But where are we moving? And why the hell are we moving?" She demanded.

Laura smoothed the non-existent creases that were on her plaid skirt, obviously uncomfortable with the questions. But she knew she had to answer them. "Honey, you remember Alan right? The one I invited for dinner two months ago?"

Ashlyn nodded. Of course she remembered him. A smile crept up on her face as she remembered that awful night when Alan came for dinner and she 'accidently' spilled a glass of orange juice. Okay, so maybe a glass was an understatement. It was more of a jug than a glass. But who cares? She hated him. If he thinks he could waltz right over here and replace her dad, he's dead wrong. "So what about him?"

"Well..." She didn't even have to finish her sentence. All she had to do was lift up her right hand and show Ashlyn the massive diamond ring she had on. "He proposed!" She squealed. "And he told us to move in with him."

"No no. This cannot be happening." Ashlyn paced back and forth on her living room carpet. "You can't marry him Mum!"

Laura approached and wrapped her daughter in a hug. She knew how much Ashlyn loved her dad and how it was hard for her to move on. "Don't do this to me Ashlyn. This is for the best. We need a man in the house. There are certain things that only a man can do in a household."

"Oh yeah? Like what?"

"Like fixing the lights and stuff."

"And?" Ashlyn raised a brow, clearly unsatisfied.

"And beating up boys that disturbs my beautiful daughter." Laura kissed her daughter's forehead.

Ashlyn wriggled herself out from her mother's grasp. "I don't need anyone to take care of me. I can beat up boys by myself." She crossed her arms.

"But I can't." Her mum spoke softly.

"Excuse me?" Ashlyn stood closer to her mum to hear better.

"But I can't take care of myself, Ashlyn." Laura repeated. "I want somebody to be there with me when I'm old and sick."

"I can take care of you Mum!" Ashlyn insisted. She doesn't understand what her mum was trying to say and its driving her crazy.

"But for how much longer? Soon you're going to graduate from high school and go to college. And then years later you're going to get married. I would be all alone, Ashlyn. Do you really want that?" Laura gazed at her one and only daughter and she knew that her daughter would see reason eventually.

Ashlyn exhaled. The look on her mum's face was pure sadness. She knows that her mum was ten times more devastated than she was when they got a phone call from the hospital saying that her dad was dying. She also noticed the longing in her mums' eyes every time they saw a couple walking by. Her beloved mum was lonely. She wanted to ignore that fact because it hurts too damn much seeing another man in her mum's life. But deep down Ashlyn knows that all she wanted was her mum to be happy and if that Alan guy can give her happiness, so be it. "When are we moving?" She sighed.