Affairs & Atonements (11 page)

“That bad, huh?”

“Part and parcel of business. I’ll do something.” She shrugged.

She sounded nonchalant but Ashton knew there was more to it. If she hadn’t been worried, she wouldn’t have been slaving up to midnight over it.

“Can I help?” he asked.

“You are, remember? Fixing-up the lodge and putting it back into shape.” She got up slowly and walked over to him. “You’re doing enough and I already feel as if I owe you.”

“But like I said,-”

“It’s for JR, I know.” She cut him short. “Still, it would make me feel uncomfortable.” She took the billing statement from him and stuffed it back into her folder.

“Christy, come on. If you continue at this pace, you know very well you’ll be on the brinks of closing Lily Grove down. There’s JR and Margaret you need to think about. Or is your pride to accept any help from me going to get in your way of considering their well-being?” He crossed his fingers behind him. Challenging her pride could tip her either way. She might tell him to shove-off and then close herself to him for good. Or…

She narrowed her eyes, studying her bills. “I’m not accepting any money from you,” she said at last.

He let out a silent sight of relief.
Baby steps, Ashton,
he told himself.

“Absolutely,” he said aloud. “Not that I wouldn’t love to help financially. But I understand. However, if you need any help in that way, you just let me know.”

“Non-financial, Ashton,” she said firmly. “How are you intending to do this?”

He cleared his throat. “Do you have a website?”

She scrunched her lips thoughtfully.
Wrong move, Christy
, he thought. Because all he wanted to do now was to possess them, to feel it with his tongue, to nip at it.

“Yeah but I haven’t checked up on it in ages,” she answered, feeling slightly guilty as if she’d been caught doing something sinful.

“It doesn’t matter. Has it got its own domain name or was it one of those free ones?”

She blushed. It was definitely free. She had organized one three years ago after some insistence from Jane. In the end, she had complied to make her happy and slopped out a decent looking website. In fact, she remembered being quite proud of it. Now, she wasn’t so sure if she wanted to show it to Ashton.

“I’m assuming it was a free one, then,” Ashton said, watching her amusedly.

“What are you getting at?” she remarked defensively. “Does it matter?”

“Well, yes. There’s more credibility to your business if you have your own domain name. You’re paying for it, but at the end of the day, it’s money well spent.”

“I’m sure it works just as fine.” She made a face.

He laughed. “Why don’t you show me the one you have, so I can assess it for myself? And if it doesn’t meet the standard, I’ll organize in getting you a new one.”

She nodded. “Fine then. What else?”

“Give me a list of sites and places where you’ve advertised, so I can study your advertisement content. And of course, improve it if there is a need.”

“That sounds like a lot of work,” she said thoughtfully.

He reached out and clasped her hand tenderly. “It is. But I’m right here, Christy. And I’m not going anywhere.”

She let his hand linger a little while longer on hers. Her heart pounded. She liked it that it was there. She liked it that he said he was here by her side. And she knew it was wrong that she did.

Ashton whistled cheerfully as he buttoned up his shirt. He had finally succeeded in turning Christy around. She may not be totally impressed with him now, but at least she wasn’t seeing him as the enemy anymore.

He made one final check of himself in the mirror, combing his hair with his fingers before stepping outside the room. He skipped down the stairs and towards Christy’s kitchen. He heard a male voice inside and he stalled briefly. Was it Chad? There was no way he could have slept over because he had spent most of the night with her in her office.

He opened the screen door cautiously, hoping he wouldn’t have to witness an early cuddle between Chad and Christy.

The tall, blond man sitting at the kitchen table turned towards him and Ashton stilled, paling slightly. “Marshall,” he acknowledged somberly.

“Ashton.”

The women quieted, looking awkwardly at each other.

“I’ve got some errands to run.” Christy coughed. “I’ll have to catch-up with you later, Marshall.”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll be here when you get back,” Marshall replied, his eyes though focused sternly on Ashton.

Christy squeezed her brother’s shoulder gently. “Now you boys play nice. JR’s watching.”

“We’ll be fine, Christy,” Marshall assured.

She gave one last pleading glance at Ashton and then walked out of the kitchen.

Margaret bustled after her, pretending to give her instructions on something that didn’t need attention.

Ashton strolled up casually and picked out a cup from the cupboard.

“You look quite comfortable around here.” Marshall observed.

Ashton tipped the coffee jug and poured in his coffee. “When did you arrive?”

“This morning.”

“Does your visit have anything to do with me?”

“It did trigger it slightly. Although, I did have a visit pending, so I can’t give you all the credit.”

“How long are you staying?”

“You’re eager to get rid of me.”

Ashton shrugged. “Since you have a family waiting for you back home, I can’t help being curious.”

“You have your fiancée back home too, right?” Marshall raised his brows.

Ashton perked his lips. “She’s in London.”

“And still engaged?”

Ashton took his cup and slumped into a chair across him. “Why don’t you come out with it Marshall, and tell me straight- whatever it is.”

Marshall folded his arms, watching him. “Alright,” he said after a little while. “You’ve got what you wanted. So why are you still here?”

“Who said I got what I wanted?”

“Isn’t it because of the divorce you’re here?” Marshall asked him suspiciously, scratching his day old stubbles.

“Initially.”

“But?”

“Listen, while I am appreciative of the fact that you’re protective of Christy, it doesn’t mean I have to answer every goddamn question pertaining to my personal affairs,” Ashton let out with a huff.

Marshall leaned forward. “Christy’s the only sister I’ve got. So I wouldn’t give the tiniest fuck of what you think about my questions. All I know is that you hurt her and almost ruined her life eleven years ago. And I will be damned if you try that again.”

The warning in the undertones of his voice was unmistakable. But Ashton wasn’t ready to back down either. He had every right to be here and he wasn’t going to be bullied by Christy’s big brother and run crying back to Philadelphia.

“JR’s the only son
I’ve
got,” Ashton replied tersely. “And Christy is still my wife. I haven’t divorced her yet.”

Marshall nodded. “Very well. I can’t argue with that. JR is your son and as his father you do have every right to spend the time with him. But Christy’s moved on. You touch her, you mess with me. And you’re not a kid anymore, Ashton. I won’t hold back this time.”

“It goes both ways, Marshall.”

*****

“Hey, Uncle Marshall, can we start our project?” JR interrupted them as he raced into the kitchen.

Marshall forced himself to turn away from the man across him, planting a quick smile on his face.

“Yeah, sure man,” he said. “Why don’t you get the keys for the crew cab from Mom and we can head into town for those material.”

“Dad has the keys,” JR replied.

Ashton sneered as he sipped from his cup.

“He can help with the treehouse as well,” the boy said.

Marshall glanced up hesitantly at Ashton. He couldn’t stand the man and the idea of spending an entire day with him was torturous. “I’m sure your father must have his own plans for the day. Let’s not bother him too much.”

“What treehouse?” Ashton asked with curiosity.

“Uncle Marshall promised to build me a treehouse when he came next. We even picked out a spot last time and drew out a plan.”

“Yeah?” Ashton scowled. “I can help.”

“It’s okay,” Marshall said dismissively. “We’ve got it. Don’t you still have Margaret’s garden to finish?”

“I’ve just got to fill the beds with dirt and pave the path around it. I can always finish it up later. What do you think, JR? Should I start on with the treehouse with you and Uncle Marshall?”

“Yes!” JR punched a victorious fist into the air.

Ashton smirked at Marshall. This was his son’s first treehouse. There was no darned way someone else was going to build it without him involved. In a major way.

Two hours later after bickering slightly over the plan of the treehouse, they were driving into town with Marshall seated beside Ashton and JR in the back.

“I like your name, JR,” Marshall said and then added under his breath, “At least I wouldn’t have to be reminded of someone else’s name.”

Ashton rolled his eyes, trying desperately to focus on the road ahead. Marshall was Christy’s brother and JR’s uncle. And because of that, he was determined to be more hospitable despite his crass attitude. Right now, it was more important that he retain JR and Christy’s admiration for him.

****
 

“Could you be a little fast with the timber?” Marshall said sternly, sitting atop a branch of the old oak tree.

They had successfully attached the wall frame onto the tree without much of an argument. But as they continued to work on the treehouse, the tension mounted between them. They had managed to keep their cool for JR’s sake who had bustled about them without a clue. However, now that he had run off to play with his new guest-friends, there was nothing to hold them back from screaming at each other.

“I’m working as fast as I can,” Ashton growled. “If you think you can do better than me at sawing these; then let me do the deck.”

“I’d rather not risk it. You have a history of laying things crooked.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means there can be one supervisor on the job and that’s me. So why don’t you shut the fuck up and listen to instructions for once in your life.”

“Who the fuck died and made you supervisor?” Ashton snorted. “I ain’t listening to you.”

Marshall jumped down. “Okay, that’s it. Why don’t you just fuck off? If you can’t co-operate then you should go.”

“And why should I leave?” Ashton marched up to him. “This is my son’s treehouse. If anyone should build this, it is me. Not you!”

“You didn’t even know he existed until a week ago!” Marshall neared him threateningly, almost getting into his face.

“Well, who’s goddamned fault was that?” Ashton minced back. “You knew about him and yet you wouldn’t tell me.”

“It wasn’t my responsibility to tell you.”

“You knew well enough I was looking for Christy. You knew I was sorry for what I had done. You knew I was willing to make it up to her. If you had tried harder, none of this would have ever happened!”

“I remember someone saying the same thing to Christy eleven years ago. If she had tried harder to convince me, I would relent to working at your father’s stupid hardware store. What is it with you Pryors? You meddle in other people’s affairs and then when things go wrong, you don’t have the balls to shoulder the blame or the consequences.”

“Fuck off, Marshall,” Ashton swore as he turned away.

“Oh right, walk away. I should have known you were gonna do that. It’s what all you Pryors do. Walk away when you can’t face the truth. That’s what Linda did, didn’t she? She couldn’t stand the heat so she walked away from our marriage.”

Ashton swiveled on his foot and grabbed the lapels of Marshall’s shirt. “Linda was sick and yet you wouldn’t do anything to ease her pain.”

“Is that what she told you?” He laughed sarcastically. “I gave Linda everything I had. But she could never be satisfied. She wanted more. And more was beyond me. She wanted to show me off to her family and her friends. She hated my blue-collar construction job. She didn’t want me. She wanted a prized poodle. She thought she could manipulate me into becoming one. And she got the shock of her life when she discovered I wasn’t conformable.”

“That’s not true!”

“She didn’t tell you the whole story, did she? She played you too. Her own brother.”

Ashton let out an angry cry and punched into his face.

Marshall swelled with rage. “I warned you I won’t treat you like a kid anymore.”  He clenched his fist and hit Ashton squarely in the jaw.

Soon enough, the men tussled and fought, falling over timber and tools as they tried to assert who was the more erroneous in all these years.

Ashton punched Marshall’s nose, bleeding it. Marshall returned the favor by striking into his ribs. They wrestled together, trying to throw the other down. Marshall gripped Ashton’s head into a tight armlock.

“What are you doing?” JR’s voice broke through their curses.

I… we…” Marshall reddened, his arms still locked around Ashton’s neck.

JR glanced down at his father, peeking out on the side of his uncle’s torso.

“We… were just playing,” Ashton bumbled quickly. He didn’t want to shock the boy. He didn’t want him upset over knowing that there were bad vibes shared between his beloved uncle and newly found father. A young boy as he should not be troubled with the problems of adults.

“We were… uh… playing football.” Marshall gulped, releasing Ashton gently and then ruffled his hair fondly. “We’re cool, right?”

“Yeah, sure,” Ashton said, wrapping an arm around Marshall’s shoulders. “Totally cool, see?”

JR stared at them briefly, before racing off towards the house.

“Mom!” they heard him scream. “Uncle Marshall and Dad are fighting!”

*****

“I can’t believe that you two could do something as childish as this,” Christy growled at the two men seated on a pile of timber beneath the incomplete treehouse.

They turned away from each other, hanging their heads as Christy continued to scold them.

“I didn’t start it.” Ashton scowled.

“Oh yeah, you did,” Marshall said quickly. “You were the one who refused to listen!”

“And what qualifies you to give instructions?”

“That I have experience in construction. That the plans for the treehouse were mine. That you haven’t a clue about what you are doing.”

Ashton snorted a laugh. “I’ve been around hardware long enough to know how to use them. I’ve done repairs around here. Anyone can vouch for that.”

“Mending a broken cupboard is very different to putting up a complete and reliable structure that wouldn’t be toppling over the next person who steps into it.”

“Oh and you think you can do that?”

“Of course!”

“Yeah, that’s why you couldn’t hold down a job,” Ashton remarked sarcastically.

“Ok, that’s it,” Marshall declared, cuffing him on the crown of his head.

Ashton slapped him back and immediately, they were holding each other’s collar and into a scuffle again.

“Stop! Stop it! The both of you!” Christy pushed them aside with brute force. “You both should be ashamed of yourselves. You’re behaving like kids. And that too in front of JR!”

Ashton flushed. She was right. But Marshall had riled him by doubting his ability and right to be a father. He had questioned his right to being a family with Christy and JR.

He held his head in his hands, shaking it. He needed to ease off a bit.

“How is JR handling it?” he asked after a little while.

“I’ve told him you just got rough while playing.” Christy rubbed her forehead. “I’m asking you both to please keep it down for JR’s sakes. And if you can’t work on the treehouse together, I’d rather you both not work on it at all.”

Ashton got up and strode away towards his room quietly.

“Marshall?” Christy asked.

“I heard you,” he said. “I’m sorry. I should have controlled my temper.”

“You should have.”