Ashley Cooper's Arc

Chapter 16 of 37

The front door clicked shut behind Mike. Ashley stood in the living room she'd grown up in, and it no longer felt like hers. Her father wouldn't look at her mother. Her mother's makeup ran. Ashley needed a quiet minute to think about how to fix things with Mike. But there was no quiet place left in this house. "I'm going upstairs," Ashley said. Neither parent answered. She climbed to her room and shut the door. She sat on her bed and pulled a long-sleeve top over her bone arm out of habit. Below her, voices started. Low at first. Then sharp. "You brought a teenager into our home," Danny said. His voice carried through the floor. "I was angry," Mandy said. "You stopped seeing me years ago." Ashley pressed her hands over her ears. It didn't work. She couldn't think about Mike here. She couldn't think at all. Every wall of this house was shaking. A truck rumbled into the driveway. Ashley went to the window. Ricky climbed out, the burly family friend in his open plaid shirt. He'd sat at their kitchen table a hundred times. He'd given Ashley advice about her arm. Now he walked straight to the front door and let himself in. Ashley crept to the top of the stairs. Ricky stood in the living room. He didn't look at Danny. He looked at Mandy, and his face was soft in a way Ashley had never seen. "I told you I'd wait outside," Ricky said. "You didn't come." Danny's mug hit the table hard. "You. It was you the whole time." Mandy didn't deny it. She reached for her coat by the door. "I'm not doing this in front of my daughter," she said. "I'm leaving." Ashley came down three steps. "Mom." Mandy stopped. For one second her hard face broke. "I'm sorry, baby," she said. "You need a calm house. I can't give you one anymore." Ricky picked up two bags already packed by the door. Ashley understood then. This wasn't sudden. Her mother had been ready to go. "There's a hotel by the mall," Ricky said quietly. "She'll be safe with me." Mandy walked out. Ricky followed. The truck backed down the driveway and turned onto the road. Ashley watched from the window until the taillights vanished. The house went silent. Real silent, for the first time all afternoon. Ashley turned around. Her father sat on the couch, small and still, his glasses in his hand. "It's just us now," Danny said. Ashley sat beside him. The shaking walls had stopped. She finally had her quiet house. She'd wanted it to think about Mike, about being loved for who she was. But the quiet came from her mother driving away, and her father breaking in half beside her. The calm she'd needed was here. It had cost her the family that gave it.