by Meany, John
Rather, she did not appreciate the way in which he had concluded their relationship. In Sarah’s opinion, sending an email at one o‘clock in the morning, which had only consisted of one paragraph, was a spineless way of pushing someone out of their life.
Throughout the month of August, Sarah had been aware that, now and again, Troy and Ashley Ferguson had continued to meet. In spite of that she had not thought she had grounds to be concerned since Troy kept insisting that their affiliation was strictly platonic.
We just talk, he would often say. There’s nothing more to our friendship than that.
What a liar!
Now Troy would pay.
***
“My name is Sarah,” the customer revealed brashly. “Sarah Kline.” She slapped a ten-dollar bill down on the counter.
Still at a loss, Ashley replied, “So! You say that like I’m supposed to know who you are.” She looked down at the register.
“You should.”
“How do you figure that?”
“Because,” the woman in the attention-grabbing dress explained, “as of three weeks ago, your boyfriend and I were involved in what I had thought was a committed relationship . . . But all that ended when Troy decided he’d rather be with you.”
Ashley was about to tap in the price for the loaf of bread. Then, she suddenly found that she could not move. Did this person just claim that she and Troy had once been lovers? And as recently as of three weeks ago? “What did you say?”
“I take it by the expression on your face, that he never mentioned me?”
“That‘s correct. The only former girlfriend Troy had ever talked about was someone named Naomi Cartwright.”
“Right. Naomi Cartwright.” Disdainfully, Sarah Kline rolled her eyes. “I heard that story too. All about how brokenhearted he was when she ran off to Montana. Swept off her feet by a modern-day John Wayne. By the twentieth time I heard that story I almost gagged.”
Still not thinking clearly, Ashley dipped her hand into the till to get the customer’s change.
“You’re sure he never mentioned me?”
“No. If he had, I would have remembered.”
Now counting her change, Sarah Kline added, “He’s such a two-timer. Looks like he had us both fooled.”
“Oh.” Ashley studied the woman intently. “And what do you mean by that?”
“Did Troy ever tell you why he sought you out? Why he dropped by here at the beginning of the summer?”
Ashley frowned. “No. He didn’t tell me anything.”
“Let‘s see if I can clear it up for you. Originally he came here because your mother had asked him too.”
“What?”
“Yes. One day your mommy, who was worried about you, went into Crown Jewel and told Troy you were an emotional wreck. Possibly even suicidal. She thought that if he talked to you it might help you feel better. Obviously it did.”
“You’re full of it,” Ashley accused. “My mother wouldn’t do such a thing.”
“Sorry.” The customer shook her head. “Have to disagree with you. The only reason why Troy is with you right now is because he feels sorry for you. So don’t think it’s because he loves you. You heard him yourself; his heart still belongs to that gold-digger Naomi.”
“This is ridiculous,” Ashley said, backing away from the counter. Now she refused to comply to Stella‘s policy of being polite. “You’re lying. I don’t know who you are, you outspoken bitch, or what the hell you’re trying to start here, but I know everything you’re telling me is a lie.” Ashley put her hands over her ears, hoping to quell the madness. “So just shut up! I don’t want to listen to anymore of this. Take your stuff and leave!”
“Sure. It‘ll be my pleasure.” Sarah Kline also purchased a large coffee, with cream and sugar. Both the hot beverage and the loaf of French bread were in a medium-size paper bag, which she held in the hand that wasn‘t clutching her purse. “I’ll get out of here. No problem. Just remember what I said though. Because what happened to me could very well happen to you.”
***
Outside, Sarah Kline, who was jealous that Troy’s new girlfriend was almost as pretty as she was, walked over to the front of the bakery where Ashley had her Toyota parked.
For a few seconds, Sarah stared at the car, contemplating what she wanted to do. She considered keying the door, making a long saw-toothed scratch.
But now, rather than do that, with the midday traffic cruising by on the nearby highway, she elected to snap off one of Ashley’s windshield wipers instead, and whip the useless blade onto the concrete pavement. Then Sarah poured her coffee on the hood.
“See you around, basket case!” she said, while hurrying back to her own car. “I hope it doesn‘t rain today because you might have trouble seeing the road.”
Sarah was certain that sometime later, when Troy came into contact with his new blonde girlfriend, he would have a lot of explaining to do. And if everything turned out the way she hoped, he would be dumped in a similar surprising fashion to the way he had dumped her. What a creep!
CHAPTER 44
After work, Ashley went to a Texaco Station and had the attendant fill her car with gas. Then she drove to the Crown Jewel supermarket to confront Troy.
Sarah Kline, that loudmouth!
Ashley didn’t know what upset her more, the part about Troy supposedly only being with her because he felt sorry for her. Or how her mother had allegedly asked him, back in July, to go see her. One day your mommy, who was worried about you, went into Crown Jewel and told Troy you were an emotional wreck. Possibly even suicidal.
Was it possible that Ashley’s mother would really portray her in such a pathetic manner? Making it sound as if she should have been placed on twenty-four hour watch, so that she wouldn’t hurt herself?
As Ashley hurriedly entered the market, she heard, over the store’s intercom, an announcement advertising that Tide laundry detergent was on sale. The absurdity of how this place went about its daily business-regardless of how hurt and confused Ashley was-made it so that she wanted to take something down from one of the shelves and smash it against the floor!
A bag of junk food.
A light bulb.
Anything.
She needed to do something to alleviate her pent up frustration.
When she finally reached the modestly crowded produce aisle, Ashley did not see Troy anywhere. However, she did spot Adam Campbell. The young produce clerk stood loading, onto a wide table display, bags of Idaho potatoes. His butter-yellow hair was parted to the side, and Adam seemed to be totally immersed in the project at hand.
Now, while Ashley made her way in his direction, she noticed that one of Adam’s shoelaces had come untied.
“Better fix that,” she commented, tapping him on the shoulder. “You’re libel to trip.”
Quickly, Adam looked up. “Oh. Hey. What’s up Ashley?”
“Hi Adam.”
“What are you doing here?” He seemed pleased to see her. “Have some shopping to do?”
“No. Actually, I’m looking for Troy. Is he still around?”
“He should be. I saw him not too long ago. Do you want me to go track him down?”
“Yes. If you could. I’d appreciate that.” She turned to leave.
“Hey!” Adam called. “Where’re you going?”
“Just tell Troy to meet me outside. I’ll be waiting by the shopping carts.”
“Okay. You‘ve got it. Will do.”
***
Adam Campbell found Troy inside the cold walk-in refrigerator.
With a clipboard and a ballpoint pen in his hand, Troy was carefully sifting through a massive pallet of fruits and vegetables, which had arrived by truck earlier. Part of his responsibility as manager was to make sure the department had received everything that had been ordered.
“Adam,” Troy spoke, his breath misty from the frosty air, “did you take a box of Bosc pe
ars off of this pallet?”
“Yeah I did,” Adam replied. “I put them out in the aisle. About an hour ago.”
“Cool. What about red delicious apples?”
“I put them out as well. I even changed the price. A lot of shoppers are already buying them.”
“Great.” Troy put his clipboard down. “All right. It looks like my day is about done. Before you punch out, Adam, do me a favor and blitz the floor.” That meant power wash the walk-in. “We’re suppose to be inspected in the next few days. You don’t have to go crazy in here. Mainly focus on getting those blackberry and cherry stains underneath the racks. And make sure there‘s no lettuce, kale, or leeks left in the sinks.”
Adam said he would make sure everything was taken care of. Then, in a dramatic voice, he proclaimed, “Dude, Ashley’s here.”
“She is?” Troy was slightly taken aback.
“Yep.”
“Huh. I wonder what she wants. She usually calls before she stops by.”
“Got me,” said Adam. “Although I feel I should warn you she seemed kind of miffed.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. She barely said two words to me. Which is odd, considering the last couple of times I bumped into you guys she basically talked my ear off?”
“That’s because you were discussing her artwork,” Troy pointed out, smiling. “Once you get her going on that, she’ll talk all day. But that’s one of the things I love about her. She keeps me entertained.”
Adam pushed the rubber Chase door open so that Troy could exit the giant refrigerator.
Troy clapped his number one employee on the back. “So where is Ashley? Is she here in produce?”
“No. She wants you to meet her outside by the shopping carts.”
“Is she alone?”
Adam nodded. “She didn’t have the baby with her, if that’s what you’re wondering. It looked liked she just got off work. She still had her uniform on.”
CHAPTER 45
When Troy met Ashley near the long line of shopping carts, she immediately told him that she wanted to break up with him.
“Which means no dinner tonight. And from now on, Troy, I don’t want you calling me. I don’t want you sending me any more emails. I don’t want you stopping by my house. Or my job. In fact, I want you to stay as far away from me as humanly possible!”
“Wait a minute!” he said, grabbing her by the arm. Ashley had been preparing to march off. Troy stopped her just as she was about to step off the cement curb. “Don’t you think you owe me some kind of explanation? Like for instance did I do something wrong?”
“Okay,” she practically screamed, swinging herself around. “I’ll give you an explanation. Follow me.”
“To where?”
“My car.” As soon as they reached it, Ashley pointed to the windshield. “Your lover Sarah not only exposed you for who you really are, Troy, but that wretched creature also tore my freaking windshield wiper off.” She yanked the door open and then showed him the broken blade. “I hope my insurance covers this.”
“Whoa! Slow down,” Troy pleaded. “Will you please tell me what is going on here? And would you mind giving me the details in plain English?”
Ashley recounted everything that Sarah Kline had said. To her amazement, Troy continued to act innocent.
“Why would you even listen to her?” Uncertainty scrunched his face into a mask of trepidation.
“You lied to me, Troy. That’s the bottom line. Let‘s not forget that.”
“You’re right. I did lie to you. I’ll admit that. But you need to know, Ashley, that when we started hanging out I wanted to tell you about Sarah. I just didn’t know how to go about doing it.” He lowered his head in shame. “I swear. Then before I knew it the days started to pile up and there I found myself sinking deeper and deeper into this, well, snowballing deception.”
“I don’t buy that at all!” she argued, getting in her vehicle. “Now you’re just toying with me.”
“No I’m not.”
“Yes you are.”
“Wait! I‘ve got it,” he said, yanking his cell phone from the pocket of his sweat jacket. “Why don’t I call Sarah right now? That’s how we can get this straightened out. I’ll get her to tell you how this really went down.”
“No! Forget it!” Ashley shot down the idea. “Put your phone away. I don’t want to speak to that rude bitch. And the next time you talk to ‘MISS, I THINK I’M ALL THAT’, tell her to stay the hell away from my car. Because if I find something else wrong with it, like a slashed tire or a busted taillight, whatever, I’m calling the cops. And don’t think I won’t.”
“Ashley, listen to me. Sarah’s not going to do anything else to your car. I swear. I’ll personally see to that.”
“Oh. So now, you’re sticking up for her. Isn’t that just fine and dandy?”
“I’m not sticking up for anyone. I’m just trying to get you to see this situation for what it really is.”
Repulsed, Ashley scowled, thinking that the first thing she would do when she left the plaza was drive to the liquor store and buy a bottle of vodka, with maybe some wine coolers to chase the booze down with. In her present frame of mind, she could care less about remaining rehabilitated. “I trusted you, Troy. I trusted you when I didn’t trust anyone. I thought you were someone special.”
“We can still make this work,” he tried to reassure her. “C‘mon Ashley! It doesn‘t have to end like this. During those last few weeks I was with Sarah, we were constantly at each other’s throats, day and night. The relationship was basically over. I just couldn‘t get rid of her.”
While clenching her fists, Ashley laid her head down on the steering wheel. “Christ, how stupid am I? I should have known this was too good to be true. You got me to come back here to the shopping mall, to face my fears. You talked me into going back into therapy. And in such a short period of time, you also reminded me what it was like to be alive again. But now that feeling is gone because-”
“No!” He wouldn’t allow her to finish. “This is all a big misunderstanding, Ashley. I love you. That’s why I’m with you. I know you might not think it’s possible that I could be in love you after only a couple of months, but I am. Seriously! All I ever do is think about you.” He reached in the car window and ran an eager finger across her delicate cheek.
“Don‘t bother!” she fired back, shoving his hand away. “You don’t love me. You feel sorry for me. For me and the baby.” She gazed into the rearview mirror, at shoppers walking past with loaded carriages. “Though I suppose I shouldn’t really blame you for that. I should blame my mother. She shouldn’t have asked you to console me. And as soon as I get home, I’m damn well going to let her know that.”
Not wishing to prolong the suffering, Ashley started her car and then backed out of her cramped parking space.
“Come back!” Troy hollered, chasing after the Toyota. “Ashley, you can’t let it end this way.”
Instead of going back, “Goodbye,” was all she left him with. A little way up the main road, when Ashley had turned into the A&P liquor store, tears soaked her eyes. It wasn’t long before she was crying hysterically.
Another setback, how much more pain could Ashley possibly take? If Troy thought it was easy for her to tell him goodbye, he was mistaken. There she had been thinking that he had loved her, and had cared about Kimberly, when all along it had turned out to be a hoax.
CHAPTER 46
“Hello.”
“Sarah.”
“Yeah?”
“You’re such a jerk. You know that. I can’t believe how immature you are.”
“Troy. Hello. So kind of you to finally call. How’s life been treating you?”
“Never mind how life’s been treating me.”
“Hey, well excuse me for asking. You’re the one who phoned me. Not the other way around.”
She was right about that. And Troy was about to give Sar
ah a serious verbal lashing. He still stood in front of the busy market, where Ashley’s car had been parked. Before, when she had driven away, Troy had become so mad, he had kicked an empty shopping cart, which had noisily toppled over.
“Sarah, why the hell did you go to Ashley Ferguson’s job today and tell her all this crap about how I’m only dating her because I feel sorry for her?”
Sarah did not respond. She merely chuckled.
“Are you going to give me an answer? Or are you just gonna laugh?”
“Sure Troy. Ever hear of payback?”
That was what he had expected her to say. “So this was all about revenge, huh?”
“Basically.”
“And that’s all you’re going to say?”
“Yes. There‘s really not much more to add. Why? What happened? Did you and Ashley have a lover’s quarrel?
Troy shook his head in rage.
“You must have had a lover’s quarrel. Ha! Ha! Because you suddenly seem to be at a complete loss for words. To which I feel inclined to say, that’s too bad, Troy. You stuck a knife in my back. Now I stuck one in yours.”
“Sarah, how old are you?” Troy was thinking, when they had met, if he had known what a spiteful person Sarah was, he never would have gone out with her. He had learned to tolerate, at least to some degree, her excessive nagging. However, when they were a couple, if she had exhibited this heartless side to her personality, he would have split up with her much sooner.
“Why don’t we leave my age out of this?” she suggested. “Okay? So you think what I did today was immature. That’s your opinion. Me, on the other hand, I believe what I did, by ratting you out, was justified. The fact is those who cross Sarah Kline, at the end of the day, will always get what they deserve.”
“And what’s that?” he asked, appalled.
“I always win, that‘s all there is to it. You’re such a loser, Troy! You know that. I don’t need you. I never did. No wonder Naomi traded you in for a better piece of real estate.” That said she hung up.
