"Come in". I heard Justin’s voice. We opened the door and walk in. He greeted us with a smile and got up to shake hands with us respectfully.
"It's been a while Justin, you look good.” He did look quite good.
"Thank you so much, sir.. Please sit down. Would you like me to get you anything?"
"Not to worry Justin, we're good. We actually came here for a reason. I need to see Ashley. I am worried that Ashley might be pregnant with my baby. I don't know why she would hide that from me, but I really need to see her, I need to make this right." Justin smile disappeared.
"Why? Because you think Ashley may be pregnant with your baby? Because you certainly didn't give a damn about Ashley before." Justin retorted, not looking pleased with me at all.
"That's really not true Justin. I do care about Ashley, I always have."
"And yet, you chose to ignore her and treated her like you don’t even know her after sleeping with her. What's your definition of caring about Ashley? Is that how you were taught to love someone? The poor girl fell for you. She loved you even though you chose to humiliate her by acting like she means nothing to you."
"I had no choice! It's difficult, okay? She was an employee for my company. I have my personal issues to deal with, but I also didn’t want to complicate our working relationship any further. I was scared that I might lose her. I am sorry, I know I could have done better. I know that now, and I'm willing to make amends, please. I just need you to tell me where she is. Please take me to her so I can apologize and make things right."
"Sorry, that may not be possible… " I looked at Ryan, who in turn turned to me.
Then I turned back to Justin and asked, "Why? Why won't it be possible? Come on, don't be like this Justin. Please." I pleaded with him, hoping that he changed his mind.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm not against you making amends with her. I would rather see you make amends with Ashley if you aresincere about it. But in all honesty, I don’t know where Ashley is."
I opened my eyes wide in shock, this isn't the response I was expecting.
"What do you mean by you don't know where Ashley is? She is your close friend and was your roommate for a while. So what are you saying to me right now?"
Justin sighed deeply. I could see the sincerity on his face. He doesn’t seem to know where Ashley is, either.
"The plan was that I would get Ashley a plane ticket to Chicago where she has another close friend from college. She was going to stay with her until she could figure out how to start a new life. She was supposed to leave on the same day you confronted me. After you came to my office, I called her to meet me at the LaGuardia airport as soon as possible and left the office, but by the time I get to the airport, she was not responding to my call and I could not find her. I haven’t been able to get hold of Ashley since.”
My hopes were dashed, once again. I started to think I would never be able to find Ashley and even if I find her, she won’t speak to me again.
Justin said, “I’ve been trying hard to locate Ashley without success, but I haven't given up just yet. When I heard that you are here, I thought you found where she was and trying to get my help to finally talk to her.”
Our visit to Justin had me feeling worse than I already felt. If anyone was to know where she had been all these months, I had always assumed it would be Justin. I found out he didn’t even know where she was. I didn't know what else I could do to find Ashley.
"So, what’s the plan?" Ryan said interrupting my thoughts.
"I don't know what to think anymore Ryan. This is all just like a nightmare. I may never see her again, or my child. The thought scares me more than anything."
"Don't lose hope my friend. I am certain that we will find Ashley eventually. Nothing bad has happened to her. Ashley is a strong lady; she can survive anything. I have a very good feeling that she's doing well. We will find her soon."
Chapter 27
Ashley
"Ash! Are you leaving already?" Claudia asked, coming into the house. She carried a bag with her, containing some items. Claudia is my close friend from college.
"Yes Claudia, my presentation at work starts in an hour." I was packing my bags, ensuring that I'm not missing anything. I checked to make sure that my health insurance card and phone are in the bag. I was going to visit the hospital right after work for my prenatal care. The hospital was just a few miles away from where I work.
Four months have passed since I had met Claudia at the O’Hare airport as soon as I got into the city. I had explained my situation to her and she invited me to come stay with her without anyhesitation. A few weeks later, I got a job at this tech company through Claudia's recommendation.
"Here. I got you some breakfast. I'm sure you haven't had anything to eat yet." Claudia knows me so well; I was planning to get some food on my way to work.
"Thank you so much Claudia, you just saved me some time and money." I gladly received a cup of yogurt with mixed fruits in the bag from her.
“I will try to get out of work early today, so I can meet you at the hospital. Ok? Have a nice day, Ashley!” Claudia was already leaving for her work. She waved at me as she left the apartment and I followed shortly after with my bag with laptop on my left and the bag of breakfast on the right.
My presentation at work went well and it seemed like I could wrap up my work in time for my doctor’s appointment today. I had already missed a couple of appointments and I couldn’t afford to miss this one.