Read Dreaming of Forever Online
Authors: Jennifer Muller
Dreaming of Forever (5 page)
It was late on Friday afternoon when Ashley began working on Sara's story for Sunday’s paper. She couldn't believe it had taken her all week to get to the article but she’d been busy with other stories. At least now she was able to work on it.
Jason came strutting through the door without knocking this time, a big smile on his face. “So do you want to go the Bears game this Sunday? I know that you've been working extremely hard lately.” He held up two tickets for the Chicago Bears game.
“You have the worst timing ever.” She smiled at him tiredly.
“I'm going to take that as a no then?” His smile quickly faded from his face.
“I would really love to Jason but I can't. My editor for my book just called me and he needs me to fly to New York tomorrow morning.”
“We’ll go to a game before the seasons over,” Jason said.
“I promise. I’m looking forward to getting this book done and published.” She smiled at him, glad that he understood.
“So how's the big story coming along? I'm sure Sara told you a lot about Zach and the trial.”
“It’s going to be a great story. I’m just putting the finishing touches on it. I’ll probably be out of here in an hour,” Ashley said.
“That’s great. Well, I'm working late tonight and I’ll probably be the last one out the door.”
“Aw, I’m sorry.”
“It’s my own fault. I took a long lunch today. Were you able to record the interview?” Jason asked, still standing in the doorway.
“Of course I did.” She gave him a funny look.
“Can I take a listen to it? I’d like to hear what she had to say about Ellis.”
Ashley hesitated before she answered him. She knew that Jason was still a very big Chicago Bears fan. Bigger than she was and she was sure that he would nit-pick at it and be biased, taking Zach Ellis's side. He was always asking her what if Zach was still the quarterback. How many Super Bowls would he have won?
She debated whether or not she should say something to him. She bit her tongue and took her recorder out of her drawer, handing it over to him. She had a copy so she could finish her work anyway.
“Thanks.” Jason took the tape quickly, and went back to his office.
After a long weekend in New York City, Ashley was glad that she was finally going home. Heading back to her hotel in Manhattan, she grabbed a copy of her newspaper to have a look at her article in print. She could hardly wait to see it.
Inside her hotel room, she opened up the newspaper to the sports section and she almost fainted. She couldn't believe what she was looking at. It was nothing like what she had written. It was all different.
Closing her eyes for a brief second she opened them again, looking at a picture of Sara right after the trial. Underneath the picture was the caption:
“Zach's Was Hungry For Fame And Money!”
Below the headline was Ashley's name along with her photo, right beside Jason's name and photo.
Jason used the recording to put his own spin on the story. Her face was red with anger and her heart was racing. She couldn't believe that Jason would do such a thing to her.
Ashley looked over the rest of the article, having a hard time reading what she didn't write. She was being blamed for Zach's early retirement all over again.
With shaking hands, she picked up her cell-phone and dialed Sara's number. She needed to explain what happened.
Sara didn't pick up the phone. After about ten rings Ashley hung up praying that Sara hadn't seen the article just yet. She needed to explain before Sara got a chance to look at it.
Before heading back home to Chicago, Ashley tried Sara's phone number. Again there was no answer.
After her flight back home, Ashley got into a taxi and tried to call Sara again. There was no answer.
She must have read the article.
Ashley felt sick to her stomach.
On Sunday morning Ashley called work and left a message for Dave saying that she wouldn’t be in on Monday. She didn't take any days off unless she was really under the weather so she knew it wouldn’t be a problem. Ashley couldn't face seeing Jason after what he did.
Ashley knew that if she was to confront Jason she would either lose her cool or lose her job. Maybe even both so she decided not to risk it. She needed time to calm down.
After calling Sara at least five more times with no answer Ashley decided that the only way she would get to talk to Sara was in person and if that was how it had to be, then that was how it had to be.
On Monday, Ashley drove her rental car to the Pueblo Riding Academy. Looking around as she got out of the car, she couldn't see Sara anywhere.
She walked over to Sara’s cabin and rang the doorbell. She saw Sara's car in the drive way so she knew that Sara was home. Either she was ignoring the door or she was out riding.
Ashley sat down on the porch steps waiting for Sara to get back. Her stomach was doing flip flops. She didn’t know what she was going to say to Sara. Ashley mentally went through all the things she could possibly say.
She looked at her watch. She’d been sitting there for almost two hours. Ashley knew that she must've been furious about the article but she had to let Sara know that this wasn’t her intention.
Stretching her legs, Ashley stood up. In the distance she could see Sara coming up the trail on a brown horse. Ashley waved but Sara rode right passed her, completely ignoring her.
Sara took the horse back to the barn and got down, not even turning around to acknowledge Ashley’s presence.
Ashley gave her a few minutes before following her into the barn. She hoped that Sara would give her a chance to explain.
“Sara, look that article-” Ashley started.
“I don't want to hear a single thing you have to say. Now, I realize that every journalist is the same. It's about the headlines and selling more copies!” Sara yelled, her eyes full of anger.
“I didn't write that article! I submitted an article that defended you to the fullest. Jason and my editor messed with it without my consent. They must have listened to the recording and then decided to rewrite it. I had nothing to do with it!” she explained desperately as Sara was getting her horse back in its stall.
“I knew that I shouldn't have trusted you.” Sara didn't seem as mad as Ashley thought she was going to be. Sara tried walking away from her.
“If you think that everyone is the same when it comes to the media then why did you trust me to write your story? If you hate reporters and journalists so much then you never should've called me!” Ashley stepped in front of Sara before she could walk past.
Sara continued to try to get past Ashley. She finally gave up. “The only reason I let you interview me is because I was attracted to you. I let that cloud my judgment. I've learned my lesson. I won't make that mistake again.” Sara confessed, brushing past her.
Ashley was shocked that Sara felt that way about her.
At least she did before I screwed everything up.
Standing by herself in the barn, she was still shocked that Sara was attracted to her. She didn't know what she was going to say but she turned around and began jogging after Sara.
“Sara, wait a minute. Please!” Ashley called after her.
Sara pretended not to hear her. The last thing she wanted was to have Ashley ask her what she meant by that comment when it was perfectly clear.
When she caught up with Sara, Ashley grabbed her arm and spun her around quickly. They were face to face, just inches away from each other.
She was about to tell Ashley to leave when she took a step closer to her. Ashley stood on her toes and kissed her slowly.
Sara let her hands rest on Ashley’s hips as she kissed the blonde. Ashley wrapped her arms around her neck, kissing her with more passion as her confidence grew.
Sara felt Ashley’s tongue part her lips. She let out a soft moan when her tongue met Ashley’s.
Finally Ashley broke the kiss. Sara could see the tears in her eyes.
“I’m sorry about the article. I had no idea that Jason was going to do that. You have to believe me,” Ashley said with tears in her eyes. “I am truly sorry. I wish things turned out differently,” Ashley whispered, choking back the sobs that were threatening to escape her mouth.
Sara didn't know what to say, so she said nothing at all. She was still shocked by Ashley’s kiss. Sara hadn’t expected her to feel the same way about her.
“I have to go. I came to tell you that I'm sorry and to see if you were okay. I have to catch my flight back to Chicago tonight.”
Ashley walked away, completely distraught, knowing that she’d never see Sara again.
Ashley was sitting at her desk Tuesday morning thinking about everything that had happened, from Jason and the article to Sara and their kiss. There was so much going on that she couldn't concentrate on her work.
Ashley had been avoiding Jason since she got back to work. At the end of the day Jason walked into her office to sit down and talk to her.
“You had no right changing my story,” she lashed out at him.
“You're right. It was my idea to change it but I think I made the right call. I don't think that I did anything wrong.” Jason shrugged his shoulders.
“Are you kidding me? You gave the article a completely different angle!” she shouted at him, getting up from her desk.
“The article was way too personal, Ashley. Not to mention it was poorly written. There was just too much emotion in the article. A lot of emotion and not enough facts isn't what makes an article,” Jason explained to her.
“It stated all the facts. All the facts from her side Jason! There's two sides to every story.”
“There's only one story Ashley. She messed up as a surgeon and Zach Ellis's career ended way too soon! The courts proved that. I changed it to improve the damn article!” Jason yelled.
Ashley pushed her way past him to get out of her own office. It seemed like he wasn't going to leave and she needed some time and space to think about what he had done to her. They were supposed to be friends. She was supposed to be able to trust him.
Ashley decided to take the rest of the day off because she couldn't even fathom going back to the office and being around Jason. She knew that she would do something that she would regret.
She went home to finish her biography on Zach Ellis. It had to get done. She added in Sara's story because she had to turn it into her editor the next day. She knew that she could trust her book editor.
Looking at the phone sitting on her desk, she thought about calling Sara. She missed her.
What she needed to do was forget about Sara and move on with her life.
Three Months Later
Ashley couldn’t believe her book was finally out there for people to read. Today was her first book signing and he was happy with the way the biography turned out.
Before the line got too big Ashley took one of her books from the stack beside her and put it under the table in her bag. She decided to mail a copy to Sara. Sometimes Ashley thought about her and how she was doing. She wanted to talk to her but she always fought back the urge to pick up the phone.
Even though Ashley knew that Sara would probably never forgive her, she still wanted to sign a copy of her book and send it to her. It would be a sort of peace offering.