Brave New Girl (Behind Closed Doors Book 1)

by Grace Herbst

  Ashley was about to defend herself when she realized what Mrs. Spencer was misinterpreting about her friendship with Roxanne. “Okay, I know you and Roxanne have some issues with each other. But I’m not involved with her. I’m not even friends with her. I was more of a follower of hers than anything else. And I have realized that I don’t want to be like her. I never was. If I was like her, I wouldn’t have even thought twice about returning the jewelry. I would have just done the same thing Roxanne did and hand them off to my friends. Or trade the pieces in for money. I’m not your daughter. And I’m tired of people making judgments of me because of my past mistakes. I’m trying to make up for them. Do you believe in second chances?”

  Mrs. Spencer was quiet for a moment. “I want to believe people can change. I had high hopes for Roxanne to change her ways, but it doesn’t look like I’m going to be getting an apology from her anytime soon.” Ashley knew that was true. Mrs. Spencer’s tone changed from angry to soft. “However, you’re right. I can’t compare my relationship with Roxanne to my relationship with the daughter of one of my favorite customers.” Ashley looked confused as she turned to her father for a moment. He just gave her a smile as Ashley turned back to Mrs. Spencer, who had a smile on her face as well. “Your father was a regular customer, buying beautiful jewelry for your mother and then your stepmother. How is your wife by the way?”

  Ashley was curious to see how he would answer. To her surprise, Kyle’s response wasn’t what she was expecting. “Besides Ashley’s little adventure, we’re doing very well. Thank you for asking,” Kyle replied. Ashley knew why he didn’t say anything. He didn’t want to make her feel uncomfortable. She was grateful he wanted to respect her wishes. Yet, she felt guilty for even believing he would want to replace her with the new baby.

  Or even Michelle. She may be her stepmother, but she wasn’t a mean one like in fairy tales. She didn’t want to kill her or force her into servitude. She wasn’t a trophy wife or a gold digger who only married her father for money. Michelle truly cared for her father and her. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have taken Ashley’s feelings about the baby into consideration. She wanted to make sure she was comfortable with the news. She wanted to make sure she wasn’t being replaced. Ashley wished she had treated Michelle better instead of an evil stepmother.

  “Dad, aren’t you going to tell them the good news?” Ashley encouraged.

  Kyle looked at her surprised. He then gave her a smile as he turned to Mrs. Spencer. “Michelle’s pregnant,” he announced. There were well wishes from Mrs. Spencer and the officers that were in the room. However, he wanted to get back on topic. “Now are you going to arrest my daughter or not?” he demanded. Ashley was prepared for either answer.

  Mrs. Spencer shook her head. “No, that’s not necessary,” she replied. “I’m not going to press charges against her. As much as it’s hard for me to trust people, I’m willing to forgive you. However, I still want you to make up for taking the jewelry from my store. I just don’t believe you working for me would be enough. The jewelry costs thousands of dollars. You’re lucky there weren’t many damages from the display cases. How did you manage to pull that off?” Ashley didn’t know how to answer. Mrs. Spencer shook her head in disbelief as she realized Roxanne was the mastermind behind the crime. “Never mind.”

  “I’m sure we can find some way for Ashley to pay off her debt,” Kyle told her as he beckoned Ashley to follow him. “Right now, I want to get out of here. Come along, Ashley. Thank you, officers. Mrs. Spencer. If you don’t need my daughter for anything else, we’re leaving.” The officers let him and Ashley through and he led his daughter outside.

  There was silence until after they were in the car. Neither of them knew what to say. Her father spoke up first. “Of all of the things you did with Roxanne, I never expected you to steal. I don’t know whether to be disappointed in you or proud that you tried to do the right thing and return the jewelry. Even if it was several months later. I think I’m most relieved that you’re okay after what you went through this morning.”

  “That was scary,” Ashley admitted. “But I did try to stay calm. I even tried that psychology stuff Aunt Jennifer used on her patients to try and talk Simon into standing down. I really thought I could get through to him. Just like I tried to get through to Roxanne and convince her to return the jewelry. Not just her mother’s jewelry, but everyone’s jewelry as well. But she didn’t even want to consider it.” Ashley let out a heavy sigh. “I think I finally understood why Ms. Bartlett didn’t force me to return to Emerald. And why she told Lucas to back off.” There was a short pause before she spoke. “Because I was the one who had to make that decision to either go back to my old ways or move on in Emerald.”

  Her father smiled. “It sounds like you’ve learned quite a lot in the last couple of days. But I had no doubt you would come around and realize where you truly belonged. You were never that type of teenager who wanted to do those things in the first place. You only did them because you were mad at me. I wanted to stop you. I wanted to lock you in your bedroom until you graduated from high school.”

  Ashley smiled. “So you decided to do reverse psychology on me? You would let me do it until my phase was over?”

  “You are too smart for your own good,” Kyle answered. “I’m just glad to see that it worked. I was really worried about you for a while. I know you said you were okay with moving to Emerald and getting a fresh start, but I could sense that something was still wrong. I didn’t think you were homesick, but I also didn’t believe you felt like you were happy to be there. I suppose it didn’t help with the rumors about your past.”

  Ashley let out a frustrated groan. “Why can’t people let that go? I didn’t kill that little boy.”

  “Because it sounds like you still can’t let it go,” Kyle replied. “I didn’t put you in counseling so you can relive it over and over again. I wanted you to move on with your life. You have to forgive yourself.”

  Ashley knew there was only one way to do that. She let out a heavy sigh. “Dad, there’s one stop we have to make before we go to the hospital.

  Chapter 23

  Ashley stared at the house, not wanting to move. She thought she was ready. The truth was that she was terrified. What could you say to the young boy that you almost killed? She had apologized to the Johnson family before after the accident, but they were angry at her then. Were they still angry at her now? Would they bring up the memories of that horrible night and make her feel even guiltier than before?

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Kyle asked his daughter, snapping her out of her revere. “I understand you want closure, but maybe you’re not ready. We can always come back if you don’t want to do this right now.”

  Ashley shook her head. “I need to do this.” She didn’t want to walk on eggshells the rest of her life. It was now or never. “If I don’t go up there and talk to them now, then I’ll never be able to do it.”

  Her father smiled. “I’ll be right here if you need me. Good luck.”

  Ashley didn’t reply as she got out of the vehicle and walked up to the house. She took a deep breath, rang the doorbell and waited nervously as the silence surrounded her. It seemed like an eternity before someone opened the door. Ashley recognized the woman as the mother of the young boy she had almost killed during that fateful night. From the look on the woman’s face, she knew who she was too.

  “You’re Ashley Meyer, right?” Mrs. Johnson asked surprised. Ashley nodded. “What are you doing here?”

  “I’m sorry to just drop by like this, but I was in the neighborhood. I was wondering if I could talk to you for a few minutes,” Ashley said. To her surprise, Mrs. Johnson gave her permission to come into the house. Ashley tried to keep her nerves in check as Mrs. Johnson offered her refreshments. “No, I’m fine. Thank you.” She followed Mrs. Johnson into the living room and she sat down on the couch.

  Mrs. Johnson sat down next to her. “What can I do for you?”

  Ashley
stayed silent for a few moments. She wasn’t quite sure how to begin the conversation. She decided to start off with the two words she wanted to say again. “I’m sorry.” As she said those words, more words came out and it became easier to say what she was feeling. “I’m truly and deeply sorry for the car accident. I never should have gotten behind the wheel when I knew I wasn’t sober enough to drive. If I had been a responsible driver, none of this would have happened. You had every right to sue me. I deserved to go to jail, but you allowed the judge to have my license taken away and do community service. Don’t get me wrong. I’m grateful, but I still want to know why you let me off the hook.”

  Mrs. Johnson was quiet for a moment. “I admit that we were angry at you. We wanted to press charges against you. We thought you were just another irresponsible teenager who partied too much and you needed to be taught a lesson. Especially since you were the daughter of a lawyer and we believed you were a spoiled little rich girl.” Ashley couldn’t blame them for believing that. She was quiet as Mrs. Johnson continued.

  “Then we took a step back and we looked to our faith for guidance. And we realized we were lucky. Things could have gone a lot worse. Caleb may have had a concussion, but he was able to make a full recovery.” Ashley smiled as she heard the good news. She was relieved the boy was doing well. “There were a lot of fun activities we were able to accomplish this summer because he was with us. Do you want to see pictures? I have plenty of them.” Ashley didn’t have a chance to respond as Mrs. Johnson got up from the sofa and she grabbed her camera.

  She showed her the many pictures she had of her son and the rest of her family riding the amusement park rides, enjoying the delicious food and meeting the Disney characters. Then there were pictures of water fun at Six Flags. Ashley smiled to herself as she saw Caleb laughing and enjoying himself. There was no sign of any ill effects from the concussion.

  “As you can see, my son is happy and healthy. That was what was important to us,” Mrs. Johnson told her. “Nothing else mattered. And once we realized how remorseful you were for your actions and you were willing to make up for it, we felt in our hearts that we needed to look for forgiveness. And that’s what we did. We forgive you.”

  Ashley was even more relieved than she was before. She gave her a grateful smile. “Thank you,” she replied. That was what she wanted to hear. That was what she needed to hear. Mrs. Johnson smiled in return as they heard the front door open. Ashley recognized Caleb and her heart jumped for a second. She almost didn’t see there were two other kids with him. Both looked younger than him and she realized they were his younger siblings.

  There was excited chatter until they realized there was a guest. Coming face to face with Caleb was nerve-wracking, but the way he was looking at her made her believe he didn’t recognize her. Both Mrs. Johnson and Ashley got up from the couch. Mrs. Johnson went over to Caleb and the other children and introduced them to Ashley. But Ashley’s focus was still on Caleb. She wondered if there would be any reaction from him if he recognized her name.

  Her fears instantly went away as the young boy shook hands with her. He gave her a welcoming smile. “It’s nice to meet you, Ashley.” Ashley returned the smile. “Weren’t you at the community center?”

  Ashley nodded. He did see her after all. “Yes, I was helping Ms. Bartlett supervise the birthday party.”

  “Ms. Bartlett is the best, isn’t she? She makes the best chocolate chip cookies,” Caleb told her. “Chocolate chip cookies are my favorite.”

  “Mine too. And I helped Ms. Bartlett make the cookies that day,” Ashely replied. Caleb smiled in return. They chatted for a few more minutes before Mrs. Johnson sent the kids to the other room to start doing their homework. “I should get going.” There was a short pause. “Thank you for helping me forgive myself for that night. I thought I already had, but I was just fooling myself. I don’t think I truly forgave myself until now.”

  Mrs. Johnson nodded understandingly. “I know. I suppose we both had to learn that we had to let that night go in order to move forward with our lives.”

  “It wasn’t easy, but I’m not going to let anyone get to me anymore,” Ashley replied. Mrs. Johnson gave her a confused look. Ashley shrugged it off. “It’s nothing.” She really didn’t want to explain. “I’m going to go.”

  Mrs. Johnson showed her to the door. “We’ve heard your family moved to Emerald. I wish you the best of luck there.”

  Ashley just gave her a smile, not wanting to explain her situation. They exchanged goodbyes before she walked back to her father’s car. She waved goodbye as she opened the door and climbed into the car. Kyle looked at her with curiosity. “I take it that it went well?”

  Ashley nodded as she let out a relieved sigh. “They found it in their hearts to forgive me.”

  “Did you really believe they would hold a grudge all this time?” Kyle asked. Ashley didn’t know the answer. She hadn’t thought about it until the last couple of weeks. “Do you feel better now?”

  “I feel like I was able to get closure,” Ashley admitted. “And I can finally move on with my life without thinking about it all the time.”

  “What’s your plan now?” Kyle asked.

  Ashley was quiet again. “Can I answer that after we go and see Penny?” she asked. After seeing how sick she was in the bathroom, she wanted to make sure she was alright. Her father nodded and he headed out of the neighborhood.

  Chapter 24

  When Kyle and Ashley arrived at the hospital, they found Lucas in the waiting room. They looked at him for news. However, Lucas shook his head. “The doctor won’t tell me anything because I’m not family. I tried to contact Penny’s parents, but they aren’t answering their phones.”

  “I’ll pull some strings and see what I can find out,” Kyle replied before he went to the front desk.

  Lucas gestured for Ashley to sit down on a chair. “Did everything go okay at the police station?” Ashley nodded and told him about her long day at the police station and then her discussion with Mrs. Johnson. Lucas smiled proudly at her. “Good for you. Does that mean you’re coming home?”

  That was the second time someone asked her in a short time span. She still wasn’t sure of the answer. “Did you get in contact with your aunt and uncle?” Ashley asked as she realized Lucas was alone.

  Lucas nodded. “Yeah, my aunt wanted to come and get me. But I told her that your dad would probably be willing to take me back home. She and my Uncle David weren’t exactly happy with me skipping school in order to warn you about Simon. I can’t blame them. And I’m grounded once we get back. But they are relieved I’m okay. Right now, I’m more worried about Penny.”

  “I’m sure she will be fine,” Ashley assured him. Yet, she remembered how Penny was feeling earlier and how pale she looked. That was a sign something was definitely wrong, and she hoped it wasn’t too serious.

  Lucas looked at her. “Don’t tell me you’re playing the blame game again. You know you’re not responsible for what happened this morning.”

  “No, I’m done playing the blame game,” Ashley told him. “I know I’m responsible for my own actions. And Simon and Roxanne are both responsible for theirs. I just wish Roxanne would stop being so selfish and show some compassion for other people. I don’t know whether she was always this way or she began doing it after her parents kicked her out. But she is not the person who I thought she was.”

  Lucas remained silent as they waited for Kyle to return. It was several minutes before he finally came back to Lucas and Ashley. They looked at him anxiously. He took a deep breath. “I really don’t want you to spread this around, but it looks like Penny was pregnant and she lost the baby.”

  “Penny was pregnant?” Lucas asked.

  Kyle nodded. “The situation traumatized her so much that she had a miscarriage.”

  Ashley felt sorry for Penny. Seeing how terrified Penny was during the whole ordeal made her realize that behind Penny’s tough exterior, there were also times when sh
e was vulnerable. “She’s going to recover, but the doctor wants to keep her overnight for observation.”

  “Can we go see her?” Lucas asked.

  Kyle nodded. “In fact, she has asked for Ashley.”

  Ashley frowned and looked at Lucas. He encouraged her to go ahead and see why Penny was asking for her. Kyle told her the room number, but it barely registered as she went down the hall. She wondered what Penny could possibly want from her.

  Ashley poked her head in the room and saw Penny reading a book. She knocked on the open door and Penny put her book down. She gestured for her to come in and Ashley approached her. She glanced at the book that was lying next to Penny. “What are you reading?” she asked curiously.

  “Twilight,” Penny replied. “It’s my favorite book. I love the series. What about you? Or are you more of a Harry Potter fan?”

  “I have to admit I’m more of a Harry Potter fan than Twilight,” Ashley confessed.

  There was an awkward silence before Penny spoke again. “You can drop the act. I know you’re pissed at me. You have every right to be. I couldn’t let Lucas go. I didn’t tell anybody about Simon. I knew he was seeing a psychologist for some issues he had, but I swear I had no idea she was your aunt. Or that he had more problems than what he was telling me.”

  Ashley gave her a look. “Do you really think I would come to visit you if I was angry at you? Or blamed you?” Penny looked at her surprised. “I was blaming myself for this mess. After all, the robberies didn’t start happening until after I moved into town. That’s a really big coincidence. Can you honestly tell me that you didn’t think I was the one who was stealing things?”

  “Well, I knew you didn’t steal those earrings,” Penny replied. “From the rumors I’ve heard about you, that’s not your style.” Ashley wanted to defend herself, but Penny wasn’t finished. “I let those rumors get to me because I was looking for any excuse to hate you. To get you away from Lucas.” There was a short pause. “Okay, I was jealous of your friendship with Lucas.”