Page 63 of If We Meet Again

“I guess I will speak to yousoon then?”

“I’ll speak to yousoon then.”

The phone line went dead. Ashley sat for a moment, contemplating. The conversation, although brief, clarified a number of things. Megan’s voice filled her with an overwhelming surge of happiness and oddly, she had called her for absolutely no reason.Did friends do that?Ashley wasn’t so sure. As she sat alone at the back of Nancy’s bar, she couldn’t help but wonder how she would feel if she were celebrating the night with Megan and not Georgina.

Whatever they had experienced in their short time together, one thing was abundantly clear—Megan had left a mark on Ashley’s life that was hard to erase. However, dwelling on thewhat ifswould not change her current situation. Megan had never been an option. Ashley had known the outcome from the beginning, but not knowing what could have happened made it increasingly difficult to forget.

One day, she hoped they could be something to each other. If that was as friends, then she would accept that, but for now, she would thank Megan for every feeling, every touch and every word of encouragement in the hope that their paths would one daycross again.

12

August 2015

Ashley

“Can you believe your sister is having a baby?”

Ashley loaded the bags into the trunk of the yellow cab. There was no help from the disgruntled driver, who had already been waiting impatiently for five minutes.

“No, it’s surreal, isn’t it?”

Madison hopped in. “Sure is. She might only be three years younger than us, but I still see her as that little girl who used to annoy us at any given opportunity.”

Ashley slammed the trunk shut forcefully. The driver took off before she had the chance to fasten her seatbelt.

“Someone’s in a bad mood,” she whisperedto Madison.

“I know. He said traffic is quite bad on the 678 interstate so it’ll be about one hour and twenty minutes to JFK.”

Ashley pulled the tickets from her backpack; they hadenough time.

“How are you feeling? Nervous?”

“Very.”

“About your dad or Samantha?”

“Both.”

“You spoke to your dad though, so everything’s still okay with you two?”

“Yeah, but I haven’t seen him face-to-face in over a year.”

The conversation with her father had consisted of an hour-long phone call in October 2014. There had been tears, brutal honesty, and by the end, a mutual understanding between the two. Ashley felt like a weight had been lifted just hearing the words,‘I am so proud of you’,and it helped her realise that relationships are complex. No one person is the same and everyone handles things differently. He loved her; thatwas enough.

“That might be a little awkward.” Madison fidgeted. “What about Samantha? Have you spokento her yet?”

“Nope, well, she was in the background when my dad invited me, which I told you about, but notsince then.”

“How long has it been?”

Ashley considered the length of time since she’d last seen her sister. “Maybe three years?”

“Has it been that long already? Wow. Why are we going again?” Madison joked.

“I honestly have no idea. I apologise in advance for what will be the most awkward weekend ofyour life.”

“Oh, God.” Madison hit her hand against her forehead. “I forgot your mom’s coming too,isn’t she?”