Chapter 18
Ashley walked into the empty house and sighed.
"Home sweet home..." She mumbled. Her thoughts were broken by Dre and Tony bringing her bags in.
"Do you want us to stay here with you?" Dre asked, looking around.
"No. No, that's ok. I can manage, and I think my mother's coming later."
"OK, well heres our pager numbers and our cells. Call if you need anything, or if you want to go anywhere at all. Justin would kick our ass if we let you go anywhere alone." He chuckled.
"Thanks a lot guys. I really appreciate this." She took the piece of paper from Dre and gave each of them a hug. "I'll see you later." She waved and closed the door.
Ashley walked to the phone and dialed the familiar numbers. It was picked up after the first ring.
"Ashley?"
"Hey baby, I'm home." She smiled into the phone, even though he couldn't see.
"Hey. I miss you already." He said softly.
"Yea, this big house is way to empty." She sighed.
"Well, I called Wade, he's coming over later today so you can talk about the Dance Hall and then you wont be so alone. And my Mom said she wants you over for dinner tonight, no questions." Ashley smiled and laughed a bit.
"Sounds like a plan. Hey, you don't mind if I start the baby's room do you?"
"Not at all. Whatever you want. Surprise me!" She could almost see his grin through the phone.
"This is going to be a long four months. I want to touch you so bad right now..." She trailed off, her heart stinging.
"I know Jules, but we'll make it through, I promise. I have to go now babe, But I'll call you at my Mom's later tonight. Have fun. I love you." She choked back tears.
"I love you too." And soon her ears were filled with the dial tone. Ashley composed herself and took her bags upstairs. The room smelled of Justin and if she closed her eyes she could almost feel him. She sighed for what seemed like the hundredth time that day and started to unpack. She threw her dirty clothes in a basket and pushed it to the side to wash later.
When she finished she went into the kitchen and looked around. There was hardly any food in the cupboards and next to nothing in the fridge, so she decided to order out. She was about to sit down and flip through the movie channels when the door bell rang. She got up to answer it, remembering Wade was supposed to come over.
When she opened the door there was no one there. She called out, puzzled. Ashley was about to close the door again when she noticed a basket sitting on the steps. There was a big red bow, and a note attached that had 'Jules' written in big letters. She smiled and bent down and was about to remove the blanket when it moved.
Ashley screamed and jumped back startled. She watched it for a second and slowly moved her hand closer. This time she grabbed the blanket and pulled it away to reveal a small yellow lab puppy.
"Awww..." She smiled and patted its head and it licked her hand. She grabbed the note attached to its collar and read.
Hey Jules. I know how much you loved dogs.
So I got you a friend to keep you company.
she's not named yet, so you can pick.
I love you.
Justin.
PS: Dre will be by later with some dog food. :)
Ashley smiled again and her heart warmed when she looked at the puppy.
"You're just the cutest thing aren't you." The dog wagged it's tail in response and Ashley picked her up and brought her inside.
~*~
Ashley set the puppy down in the basket and went over to the book shelf and grabbed the name book. She flipped through, not finding anything she liked. She stared at the puppy and it wagged its tail and whined a bit.
"I know..." A lightbulb lit over Ashley's head. She went back to the book shelf and grabbed the atlas. She remembered her mother naming her old dog by pointing out a place on the map.
Ashley closed her eyes and trailed her finger along the map....Ohio. No, that didn't fit. She tried again, and it landed on Tennessee.
"How ironic." She laughed. Ashley looked over at the dog and decided to give it a try. "Tennessee." A small wag, but not what she wanted. It wasn't quite right.
"Memphis." The dog barked when Ashley said it aloud and she laughed. "Well, then, I guess that's it. Memphis it is."
Ashley didn't really know what to do with the dog, becuase Justin's house wasn't exactly 'dog proof' but Dre came and solved all her problems. Justin had bought a crate for the dog to sleep in, a pen to set up outside, along with a dog run, toys, food and dishes, and everything else that the dog could ever need or want.
It took about an hour to get everything set up and sturdy, meanwhile Memphis ran around the back yard and tugged playfully at Dre's pant leg. Dre seemed happy to get done with the job, and just as he was leaving, Wade pulled into the driveway.
"Hey there Ash, how have you been?" He gave her a big hug and a kiss on the cheek as he stepped out of his car.
"As good as can be expected. I'm a bit lonely now, but Justin's found ways to keep me really busy. I think his plan is to tire me out so I can't miss him." She laughed.
"Yea, knowing him, Probably. Well, I brought some papers we need to fill out, and I was thinking sometime next week we could stop by the hall and figure out what we want to do with the rooms, how we want them set up. I've talked to a lot of different choreographer friends of mine, and they all said that they'd love to stop by sometime and help us out." He talked as they waled into the house, and as soon as they stepped inside Wade was jumped on but a ball of yellow fur.
"OOf!" He staggered backwards.
"Sorry about that. Memphis, down girl. Justin's latest attempt at making this up to me." She grabbed the dog and scooped her up into her arms.
"Is it working?"
"So far." Ashley giggled as the dog lapped her face. "Alright, you need to calm down, I think I'm going to put you outside." Ashley brought Memphis out into the back yard and put her in the chainlink pen that Dre had set up.
"Shall we get started?" Wade asked as they headed back inside.
"Sure. I ordered a pizza, and there's some left if you want it." Ashley offered.
"No thanks. I'm not really hungry."
"Alrighty then. What do we have?" They sat down in the living room and Wade went over all the papers and legal documents, as well as floor plans, and scheduals and all that jazz. This was going to take a lot of work, but it was just the diversion that Ashely needed to get her mind off of being so far away from Justin.
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Ashley took one last look in the mirror and was satisfied with what she saw. She had on a pair of jeans and a nice t-shirt. She threw a sweatshirt on because she felt a little chilly, and then she grabbed the phone. She called Dre and told him that she was going to Lynn's, and he said it was fine if she went alone. Ashley thought the whole body guard thing was a little much, but she knew that once Justin admited to the press about the baby, she would be thankful to have them.
20 Minutes later she pulled into the driveway of Lynn's house. Lynn was standing in the doorway ready to greet her.
"Hey sweetheart, how are you feeling?" That everpresent southern drawl making each word sound so different.
"I'm doing ok. Thank you for inviting me over tonight." She said honestly.
"Oh it's no problem what so ever. Paul and I are happy to have you over anytime. Paul can't be here tonight becuase he had a meeting, so it'll be just us girls." Lynn talked as they walked through the house.
"Mmm, smells good." Ashley commented.
"Lasagna and garlic bread. It was fast and easy." She laughed. Lynn told Ashley to take a seat at the table, and then she brought out the food.
After the food was dished out they sat in a comfortable silence for a bit and then Lynn started to talk.
"So how is everything going with the baby? Justin told me it was a boy."
"Yea, he was really excited. Everything's going great."
"That's wonderful. I'm glad. You know Ashley if you ever need anything, I'm always here for you. I know that this will be hard on you, especially now that you're away from Justin, but always know I'm here. OK?"
"Thank you so much. That means a lot." She smiled and Lynn winked at her. The rest of the night was spent having different conversations about babies, Justin and anything that came to mind. It was great for Ashley to forget her problems, and just let lose, and it was great for Lynn to know that Ashley was ok. All in all, the day hadn't been that bad.
Chapter 19
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