Her Words

Part 3

Spinach nuzzled his head against Ashley's hand. Rubbing the tears from her eyes, Ashley petted the cat.

"I know how to finish it, Spinach."

Spinach meowed.

"I'm serious."

More meowing.

Hands shaking slightly, Ashley picked up the pencil and began to write.

    When the front door's lock clicked, Ashley moaned. Having fallen asleep on her work, everything was a mess, scattered across the kitchen table.

    Suddenly, Ashley sprang up.

    Smashing all of her notebook papers into the folds of the pages, she sprinted to her room. Shoving it under the bed, she sighed a sigh of relief.

    "Honey? I'm home!" Came a familiar voice from the kitchen.

    "I'm in here, Mom!" Ashley blew her messy hair out of her face and scrambled to get off the floor.

    "Oh, hey honey! How was your day?"

    Mrs. Burke was a spitting image of her daughter, only older. With the same somewhat wavy blonde hair and light blue eyes that had both kindness and seriousness in them, her and Ashley were very much alike. Also a quieter woman, Mrs. Burke wasn't much for office parties and such, which is why she happened to be home early from her desk job at Willis and Sons, a tax firm. While her coworkers were out partying, Mrs. Burke drove home to see her favorite person in the world, Ashley.

    It had always been the two of them, Ashley and her mom. Oh, and also Spinach. Ever since she was four, Ashley had always had the cat. Finding him in a dumpster outside their apartment, Mrs. Burke brought the cat home as a fourth birthday present for Ashley. Before giving him a bath, Ashley said he smelled like spinach. Unfortunately for the cat, the name stuck.

    "My day was good, how about yours?" Ashley replied, trying to calm her beating heart. She didn't know why, but she wasn't ready yet to share her writing. Yet.

    Mrs. Burke heaved a sigh. "Long. Very long. But worth it!" She came over, hugging Ashley. She smelled of cranberry shampoo and something else.

    "Now, dinner is out on the counter. How about we watch a movie? I think it's been a long week for both of us?"

    Ashley grinned, dashing out to the kitchen. There, a single box of pizza sat waiting.

    "Thanks mom, I love you."

    Mrs. Burke laughed. It was happy and light, the kind that could make you throw your head back and join in. She seemed so much younger to Ashley when she laughed.

    "Are you saying that just because I got you food?' She joked, tickling Ashley like old times.

    Ashley smirked and sat down to a movie with her mom, making her temporarily forget about her recent work.