Love Me Again

Chapter 11 - Twenty-five is not old

Chapter 11 – Twenty-five is not old

He gave his daughter a stern look. "Yes, you are. I trust your mother's instinct when it comes to you and your brother. Did something happen when you took care of Sean?"

When Ashley returned, she did not tell anyone in detail what happened to Sean, other than him getting his memories back and having no serious injuries from the car accident.

Mr. Summer had been pretty close to Sean, as the latter had previously often visited their restaurant to have his meals. That was also how Ashley met Sean, whom her father introduced as his food buddy. Mr. Summer loved to ask Sean's opinion of his cooking, while Sean also enjoyed tasting his new creations.

After their divorce, Ashley did feel a tad guilty for causing both of them to fall apart, but her father was rather understanding. He chose to stand by her side and did not mention Sean around her at all.

Besides her father, everyone in her family could not believe they would get divorced not even a year into their marriage. They insisted there must have been a misunderstanding and relentlessly tried to get Ashley to talk with Sean. She ignored them until they got on her nerves and yelled at them to back off.

They must have seen something in her expression because they finally stopped bothering her. It was not that she did not want to tell them the whole reason for the divorce, but she just could not open up about how unimportant she was to Sean.

"Nothing happened." Ashley pursed her lips and decided to reveal a bit to keep her family off her case. "We just argued a bit, like how things were in the past. I just want it to end, you know? I want to get a long vacation after everything is settled."

"How about some place with a beach and handsome men?"

"Dad!" Ashley stared at him in shock, feeling scandalized. No child would ever be comfortable speaking that kind of stuff with their parents!

"Hey, don't look at me as if I had grown another head. Your mother had asked me to try to get you with another man."

Ashley groaned. "Please tell me... she did not set up any blind dates again, right?"

The guys that Mrs. Summer had tried to pair her with looked like nice guys and all, but she was just not interested in them. However, her mother had been persistent, and she finally agreed to one blind date.

It was a decision she regretted to this day.

After what happened with one of those blind dates, Ashley firmly set her foot down and rejected all blind dates. Her mother also stopped mentioning it, likely still feeling the aftermath of that incident.

"Ease your worry. She did not set a blind date for you. Instead, she wants you to approach a guy on your own."

Ashley gaped at her father. "Did you and mom just say a fling is good for me?"

"Young lady, since when did I ask you to have a fling!? If you ever do that, I will beat you with my stick!"

"What did you expect me to think when you asked me to go on vacation and meet a man there? Even if I did, a long-distance relationship doesn't work!"

"You are right," he said after a moment of silence. "You better have a vacation nearby."

"Dad!"

"This time, I'm on your mother's side. You are not getting any younger. We want you to have someone to accompany you in your old age and have your own children to take care of you when you are old."

"Twenty-five is not old," Ashley mumbled in a hurtful tone, but he wisely ignored it.

"I was already married to your mother at the age of twenty-five."

"Dad, that was old times. Right now, there are a lot of women that marry late." Or not at all.

After experiencing two failed relationships, she had had enough. She thought her parents would understand and leave her in peace, but who knew they were actually just waiting for the right time to mention it again?

Did they think that just because they have a good marriage, everyone would too?

"No offense, child, but you need to find a man before your wrinkles appear even more."

"Dad!" Ashley glared at her dad, offended. "How could you say that?"

"I'm just reminding you. Your wrinkles seem to be getting worse."

Resisting touching her said 'wrinkles', Ashley snorted. "Dad, tell mom that I will find a man and marry him when I meet the right one. I would rather choose the right man after years of searching than blindly date a guy here and there and drop my own value."

"If you keep on working from early morning to late night, how are you going to find the right guy for yourself?"

Ashley threw out her hand in frustration. "Dad, can we wait until our problem is settled? Surely you don't think our problem is going to last for ten years?"

"Of course I don't. I want this to end as much as you do. But Ashley, are you sure it's because of our diner's problem and not because you're unable to move on from Sean?"

"... Dad, you are just being impossible!" Ashley huffed. "I've already forgotten about him, or else I wouldn't have agreed to mom's attempts at setting me up on a blind date and getting a new guy!"

"I know what I saw in your expression whenever we mention Sean. And you were just humoring your mom when you agreed to the blind dates."

"That's anger you are seeing, father."

Mr. Summer sighed, knowing that his daughter was angry just from the different way she was addressing him.

Mrs. Summer entered the office. "That's not anger that I see, dear. That's love."

Ashley groaned loudly and leaned back in her chair. "Is this 'Bothering Ashley Summer' day? Because if it is, I'm going home."

"Yes, it's time for you to go home and sleep. Have you seen those dark circles below your eyes? And your hair!" Mrs. Summer gasped in horror.

"You don't need to further flatten my self-esteem, mom."

Mrs. Summer just tsk-ed and waved her daughter's comment away. "There's a letter for you. It's funny that there is still someone sending your letters to our house when your friends already know you have moved out."

Ashley's heart skipped a beat when she remembered the only person that did not know she had moved out of her parent's house and could possibly send her a letter.

It could only be her ex-husband.

Nowadays, everyone would just search for someone through social media or send messages to get hold of someone.

"What letter?" Ashely tried not to sound eager. Maybe it was just an advertisement that her mother failed to notice.

Mrs. Summer pulled out a white envelope from her pocket coat and handed it to Ashley.

"Before you ask, no, I did not open it. It's crumpled because of the neighbor's dog, trampled on our morning newspaper as well."

"I'm not going to ask that, mom. I have eyes." Ashley eyed the front of the envelope but did not recognize the writing. The return address was familiar, with the name of the sender being Herrington.

For a second, she felt disappointment. "When did this arrive?"