Between the Pages of Adultery Ch. 02

Temporarily the heavy heart he carried with him over the last several days became lighter and a large smile broke his solemn expression.

"Happy birthday, dad."

"Happy birthday, Harrison," they said almost in unison.

He opened his mouth but nothing came out. He was literally overwhelmed. "I... I don't know what to say. Thanks."

"Come on," said Laura gesturing to the couch. "Sit down while I light the candles."

Before he could take a step, Ashley walked up and threw her arms around him for a quick hug. When she was done she took his hand and walked him to the middle of the couch. He sat down with the cake directly in front of him. Laura was bending over lighting each candle.

As soon as the last candle was lit, she started to sing... "Happy birthday to you... " Ashley joined in, and together they sang the traditional celebratory melody, harmonizing at the end.

"Come on, dad," Ashley said after finishing, "make a wish and blow out the candles."

Harrison closed his eyes as he wished, then opened them again, leaned forward, and in one breath, blew out all the candles.

"Yea," Ashley chirped. "I hope your wish comes true, dad."

"Me too," he said humorlessly.

"Here, dad." Ashley handed him the present she was holding.

Harrison found a beautiful, hardcover book on the early American West hidden beneath the wrapping paper. "Thank you, honey," he said giving his daughter a hug.

"Here, I got you something too," Laura revealed handing him what looked like an envelope wrapped in birthday paper.

Harrison looked up at the woman he had loved for so long. His anger had subsided but the pain was still there. He removed the paper and pulled two tickets from a plain, white envelope.

"Second City?"

"Yeah, I hope you didn't make other plans for tonight. I thought it would be fun for both of you," Laura said with smile.

"No other plans; actually I forgot all about it being my birthday," he said pensively. "These must have been expensive. How can you afford them?"

"I took a job waitressing at Mama B's. It's only temporary until I can find something better, but actually the tips aren't bad, and the tickets weren't really that expensive."

"Can we go, Dad?" Ashley asked. "I've always wanted to see Second City."

"Sure, honey," he said looking into her smiling face.

"Wonderful," said Laura with a big grin. She felt good giving him the tickets. She saw it as a positive step in the right direction. "Now, how about that coffee with a piece of cake?"

"Okay," he conceded with a nod of his head.

It was almost as if they were a family again, thought Laura, as they all sat enjoying a piece of cake. Harrison made a joke that made Ashley laugh, something she hadn't heard in a while. As she watched the interaction between her husband and daughter the hope that had started to fade found a new spark of life.

'Okay, time to go, honey," said Harrison after finishing his cake. They both headed for the door. On the way out he thanked Laura for the party.

She was almost giddy with optimism as she started to clean up the dishes. As she picked up one of the napkins she noticed the envelope under it. Laura opened it and looked inside. There were the tickets. She ran to her phone to call him before they got too far away but Harrison's phone went right to voice mail. Damn, she thought, how could he leave without the tickets?

She had expected to hear from him later that night but her phone remained silent all weekend.

About five o'clock, Sunday evening Laura heard the duo pull into the drive. She walked out to greet them but Harrison stayed in the car as Ashley grabbed her overnight case, gave him a kiss on the cheek, then ran up to the porch.

"You want to stay for dinner, Harrison," she yelled, "I have plenty."

"No thanks," he replied before backing out and taking off.

Laura was disappointed. She'd hoped to keep things going in a positive vain. She reached down and hugged her excited daughter.

"Did you have fun, honey?"

"We sure did. Second City was so cool. Can we go there sometime? I... "

"You went to Second City? But your dad left the tickets on the table. I tried to call but he had his phone off," Laura said a little bewildered.

"Really? I wondered. When we got to dad's motel room he asked if I really wanted to go. I said yeah so he got more tickets online. I couldn't figure out why he did that but it didn't make any difference, we had a great time. I'm going upstairs to unpack," she said heading into the house.

The elation Laura felt earlier evaporated into thin air. Tears began to cloud her vision. Her daughter's tale made her realize that Harrison didn't forget the tickets, he never intended on taking them. It was a cruel thing to do, not at all like something her loving husband would have done in the past. Had his heart hardened so? Have I destroyed the man I love? She wondered as her tears broke free and ran down her face.

For Harrison, it was only the first in a string of wonderful weekends that he would spend with his daughter. He began to live for those last two days of the week. The rest of his life was becoming very mundane, even his job. He used to enjoy the challenge. Now it was faltering on drudgery.

He sat in his darkened motel room wondering what he should do. It was going on four months since he'd walk out on his wife. He thought about the two year separation law. He knew there was no way he could continue living like he was for two years.

At the house, another situation was developing of which Harrison had no knowledge. Ashley was becoming increasingly moody and short tempered with her mom. The shock and sadness she first felt was shifting to anger and she was making no attempt to disguise her building contempt. There had been several derogatory remarks aimed at her mother over the past month, along with a couple of angry outburst, and even a fight or two. Laura knew she should correct her daughter's conduct but the truth was she felt she deserved it, so Ashley's behavior went unchallenged.

About the same time Harrison was pondering his situation, Laura was coming home after working a double shift at the restaurant. She was tired and her feet ached. She stopped in the hall to slip her shoes off then braced herself on the wall while she bent over to massage the balls of her feet.

It was late, the house was quiet, the lights were off and Laura assumed Ashley was in bed. Before hitting the sack herself, she went into the kitchen to make herself a sandwich. It had been such a busy night that despite working in a restaurant, the tired waitress didn't get a bite to eat all night; she was starving.

As Laura sat eating, she pulled out her tips and started counting, a hundred and eighty three dollars; not bad for a day's work, even if it was a sixteen hour day. She put her dirty dishes in the sink and headed for upstairs, but before she got to the hall Laura heard someone on the front porch. She got scared. It was after midnight. Cautiously she went to the window and peeked out the drapes. Illuminated by only a small patch of moonlight were two figures clinched in an embrace just outside the door.

It had been a very long day and she was exhausted. Her brain wasn't functioning at full throttle because for a brief moment, Laura couldn't understand what two people would be doing hugging on her front porch at midnight; her heart sunk when she realized it had to be Ashley out there.

She darted over, threw on the outside light, and abruptly opened the door to confront the two lovers. "Ashley! Get in here this minute!"

"Mom!" Ashley yelled, "Shut the door, I'll be in, in a minute."

"Right now, young lady; get in here this instant."

Ashley looked up at her boyfriend and smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow," she told him. He nodded and casually left the porch.

Laura detected a definite smirk on her face as her daughter passed on the way inside. Laura was beside herself with anger.

"What is wrong with you, staying out this late on a school night, and since when do you have a boyfriend?" she roared.

"He's just a boy from school. We went out with some of his friends, that all. Don't worry, we didn't do anything, I'm not a slut like you."

Laura was so shocked at her daughter's vitriol that she verbally gasped in disbelief. She stood, frozen while Ashley went upstairs. Unavoidably, tears filled her eyes and her legs were weakening from under her. She moved to the couch and cried. What two months of immoral self-indulgence had cost her, she thought; first her husband, now her daughter. She was drowning in her own despair with no life boat in sight.

Laura didn't get a wink of sleep that night. In the morning she made breakfast for Ashley and tried to think of a way to approach the growing conflict building between them.

"Ashley, I want to talk to you about last night," she started.

"Not now, mom. I'm going to meet some friends before school and I have to go."

"Who? what friends? That guy you were with last night? Who is he?"

Ashley got up from the table without answering.

"Ashley, I'm not done talking to you... " she yelled as she heard the door close.

With no sleep and as upset as she was, Laura decided to call in sick. She had to concentrate on the brewing situation with her daughter. As soon as she came home from school she was going to sit down and have a frank discussion with her.

Harrison worked late then stopped at a restaurant for dinner. It was a little past nine as he walked into his motel room home. He loosened his tie just as his cell phone rang. He picked it up and looked at the display. "Laura? What the hell does she want now?" he grumbled to himself.

"Hello."

"Harrison, is Ashley with you by any chance?" Her voice was panicky.

"No she's not here."

"Oh, Harrison, I'm worried. She's been acting strange lately. Last night she was out till midnight with a boy... "

"What, where the hell were you?"

"I worked a double shift. When I got home I thought she was in bed until I heard her on the porch. She's been very sassy with me lately and this morning she left as I was talking to her about her attitude. Harrison, what should I do? I need you, I can't do it by myself," she cried.

"You should have thought of that before you went to bed with another man," he attacked.

He could hear her crying. "Alright, alright, calm down," he told her regretting what he said. "Did you call her friends to see if she went to one of their houses?"

"Yes, I called everyone I knew. Nobody's seen her since school," she answered fearfully.

"Okay, call the cops, I'll go out to some of the teenage hangouts around town and see if I can spot her."

"I'll go too... "

"No, you stay there in case she comes home... and if she does, call me." Harrison grabbed his keys and took off in search of his daughter.

Continued...