Loving Him (Ashton Irwin a.u.)

Chapter 9

14 missed calls

27 text messages

12 voice mail messages

Ashton had been non-stop trying to reach me.

I didn't really know why I was ignoring his calls and texts. At first I told myself I needed family time, without my boyfriend, but then when I went back to my own place I started thinking about how he didn't say the three little words I confessed back to me. And I couldn't help but dwell on the fact that he didn't love me. I didn't know if that meant we had broken up, but I knew I didn't want to talk to anybody, least of all him. I needed 'me' time to grieve.

Running was always something I did to clear my head and calm down. I was never a fit person but I enjoyed running around parks and streets and getting lost for a moment with my thoughts. It was so different to the real world and my real life. I appreciated the escape to fresh air.

I had just woken up a week after my uncle passed away. His funeral was a couple of days away and I didn't know if I wanted to ask Ashton to take me. He had enough on his plate without going to his girlfriend's uncle's funeral. I pulled on a pair of running trainers along with my workout gear, grabbed my phone and headphones, and headed out the door.

The summer sun was shining brightly down on Sydney. The beautiful heat made everybody leave their houses with a smile on their faces, migrating to the park or the beach. With that in mind I avoided the busier areas of town and headed towards the smaller park near my apartment block. I correctly expected fewer people to go there since it was a little bit harder to get to.

Making my way through the entrance to the park I moved towards the pond at the side of the park where friendly ducks often waddled around mooching bread off picnicking families and quacking away. They ran away in fear as I ran towards them, but soon they calmed down and chased me away. It made me laugh watching the way they tipped from side to side as they walked as quickly as they could on their short legs.

I saw a tall man with a small baby next to the pond. The man was encouraging the baby to feed a piece of bread to the ducks. A small wood duck sidled up to the baby and pecked at his chubby little finger, pulling the bread away. The baby whined from being pecked, turning around and falling into his father's arms, muttering, "Dadda, Dadda..."

I smiled, slowing as I walked past the baby and watched him as he tightly hugged his father, close to crying.

"I know, baby, the ducky bit your finger. It's OK, bud, Daddy's here."

The baby stopped whimpering. And then I froze. I saw their faces.

It was Ashton and Aiden.

Ashton must have noticed the feeling of someone watching him, and turned to look at me, his lips parted and his eyes wide. He stood up quickly and picked up Aiden with him. The baby bounced one of his hands on Ashton's chest and pulled on his hair with the other. I felt my stomach knot and eyes prick with tears.

"Mais. Hey," Ashton said softly, reaching out to take my hand and give it a squeeze.

"Hi," I returned, avoiding his gaze. "Aiden's out of hospital?"

"Yeah, he's much better now," he said with a large grin before addressing his nephew. "Aren't you, bud?" Ashton let go of my hand to tickle Aiden.

Aiden giggled and squealed, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah!"

I gulped, feeling relieved to see Aiden happy and healthy again, and so vocal too. "That's great."

"Yeah, but we still have to go in for checkups." After saying this he looked me in the eyes and asked sincerely, "How are you holding up?"