Page 60 of If We Meet Again

“Baby girl, look at you.” Jason jumped from his seat and wrapped his arms tightly around Ashley’s waist, almost knocking Georgina over the foot of the stool—Emily sniggered.

“Hey, handsome. Who do we have here?” The figure hidden behind Jason perched on the edge of his seat, glancing from his hands, to Ashley, and back, differing from the flamboyant persona Jason had.

“Ash, this is Derek, Derek, this is Ash.” He introduced each member of the group the same way until he got to Georgina, “That’s Georgina,” he swung his arm out unenthusiastically towards her. Emily sniggered again, the dislike for Georgina was felt equally across the group.

“It’s lovely to meetyou, Derek.”

“You too, I’ve heard a lotabout you.”

“All good I hope?”

“Oh, of course, he loves you.” Derek eyed Jason, who was beamingwith pride.

“So, it seems becoming a New York Times writer has increased your fashion sense,”Jason joked.

“Excuse me? I’ll have you know I have always had a fashion sense, it just gets lost from time to time.” Ashley glanced down at her modern attire, pleased with herself for such abold choice.

“The pantsuit is so now. And the colour!” Jason lifted the corner of the jacket into the light. “Blue looks good on you.I want one!”

“Georgina picked it out.”

The mention of her name made her take notice straightaway. “Yes I did, I knew it would accent all the best parts of her.” She winked in Ashley’s direction. Jason pretended to be sick, then swiftly changedthe subject.

“What do you want to drink?”

“I’ll have a Cosmo please.”

Ashley turned towards her best friends. The conversation was light-hearted. They made a conscious effort to include Georgina, as painful as that was for them. Nancy’s felt like the perfect place to start the evening. Without it, there would be no article and no start to what she hoped would be a long career in the publishing industry.

Nancy and Christopher came over in between serving customers to congratulate Ashley once again. They took great enjoyment in revealing the large black frame that hung to the right of the bar. It sat proudly underneath a light that illuminated the article inside.

“What doyou think?”

“I think it looks amazing.” She almost welled up. “Thank you for supporting me. It means so much.”

Nancy placed her arm around Ashley. “Have you told yourfather yet?”

“No. I told my mom, she was happy for me, but I can sense the disinterest whenever I speak about writing. It just reminds her of him.” Nancy nodded, allowing her to continue. “I thought about sending a picture to him, I just haven’t gotten aroundto it yet.”

“Don’t put it off forever, sweetheart. This might be the thing you need to try and fix your relationship.”

“What if I don’t wantto fix it?”

“Nobody’s forcing you, but I think you’ll regret it if you don’t try. Trust me, I know all about regret.” Nancy smiled softly; she understood better than anyone. Ashley had confided in her on numerous occasions over the past two months and was incredibly grateful for all that she had to say. “Go and enjoy your night anyway, you can’t spend it talking to an old girl like me.”

“I’ll let you in on a secret. I actually like talking to you the best.” Ashley professed.

Nancy touched the base of Ashley’s chin with her finger, “I know,” before she sauntered back behind the bar.

Ashley wasn’t about to let thoughts of her father and their indifferences ruin her evening—that was a conversation foranother day.

Jason pulled Ashley to one side. She looked around the room to check for Georgina, aware that she’d left her alone. She spotted Derek engaging in what seemed to be a deep conversation and assumed she would be fine.

“Don’t worry about her, Derek’s good at holding a conversation.” He handed her the Cosmo.

“Thank you.” They raised their glasses.

“To you. You did it, Ash, you finally started to chase your dreams.”