AllFreeNovel
Share Us
ChapterEight
Carla had no intention of telling Shawna about Ashley, but when they’d left the restaurant and had been standing out in the cold, waiting for a taxi to drive by, Carla’s eyes landed on Ashley, standing across the street, with another woman’s arm wrapped around her waist.
“You know them?” Shawna had asked her as she leaned out to get a better look down the street.
“No,” Carla said, quickly dismissing the idea, but when she couldn’t look away as the woman reached up to rest a hand on Ashley’s cheek, Carla’s fists balled at her side, her jaw tight, Shawna put two and two together.
Carla thought she’d escaped any further questions but when they got in the back of the taxi, Shawna turned to her.
“I thought,” Shawna said with a sigh, “that after the way tonight had gone, after I’d told you about everything that happened…” Her voice trailed off. “About the mistakes I made. With you. With her. I thought, we were in a place where we might be friends.”
“Hmm.” That was all Carla could manage as she stared out the window, the snow coming down faster now.
“Which one? The blond or the brunette?”
“What?”
“Which one of those women are you seeing?”
Carla inhaled a deep breath. “The blond.” Even in the darkness, she could make out Shawna’s eyebrow quirking. “And don’t even think about mentioning her age. You, of all people, can’t talk.”
Shawna chuckled. “Okay.” She shook her head. “Touchy subject. And after all I’ve told you in the last two hours, I would hope that you would feel comfortable sharing whatever’s going on with you. If you want to.”
More than once in these last few months, Carla had wished she’d had someone to talk to. And not just for some kind of reassurance that she wasn’t making a huge mistake. She wanted to tell someone about all the ways Ashley seemed to fit so perfectly into her life. How good they were together.
“Do you want to come back to mine?” Carla asked, and Shawna nodded.
* * *
Shawna’s jaw dropped. “She’s one of your students?” She draped her arm over the back of the couch, her eyes wide.
“Yes. She is.”
“Wow.” Shawna took a sip of wine. “And how long has this been going on?”
“Since September. Well, there was a break of about seven weeks, because Ashley left that morning, knowing that she shouldn’t have slept with me. That I had no idea, at that time, that she was my student.”
“But since then? This has been a thing?”
Carla nodded. “Yes. We spend the weekends together.”
“But…” Shawna opened and closed her mouth. “Then what was that? On the street?”
Carla expelled a breath. “I have no idea. I mean, we never said we were exclusive or anything, but…” Carla didn’t know whether or not she should have seen this coming. “There have been enough moments where I thought what we were doing was serious. As serious as it could be, anyway. Given the circumstances.”
“Do you think she saw you?”
“Yeah.” Carla brought her glass to her lips, the full-bodied wine warming her as she took another drink. “She did.”
“So…”
“I have no idea. I’m still in shock, honestly.”
“She hasn’t called you?” Shawna asked, glancing at Carla’s phone that was on the coffee table in front of them.
“We’ve agreed not to call or text one another. Just to be safe. It’s technically not against the rules to date a student, but if it was ever looked into, I don’t want there to be dozens of phone calls or texts showing up.” Carla gently swirled her wine. “Ashley was supposed to come over tomorrow morning.”
“Do you think she will?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you want her to?” Shawna asked softly.
“I don’t know that either.”
Shawna took another drink, and Carla could feel her studying her, more questions at the ready.
“Well,” Shawna said. “I’m not really in a position to give advice about relationships, but what I will say is that not communicating is such a waste of time. I wish I’d told you about what was going on with me. I wish she’d told me that what we were doing was never going anywhere. And I can see that you care a lot about her. About Ashley. You should find a way to talk to her. If she doesn’t turn up tomorrow morning.”
Carla nodded. “Yeah.”
“I’m serious. She could have been drunk.” Shawna shrugged. “Just find out what’s really going on.”
Carla exhaled. “I will.”
“Anyway, I better get going,” Shawna said as she finished her wine and stood up. “Thanks for tonight. I had a great time.”
Carla nodded, a faint smile on her lips. “Me too.” She walked Shawna to the door and gave her a hug before pulling the door open to find Ashley with her hand raised, as if she was about to knock.
Ashley’s expression fell when she saw Shawna, and Carla’s breath caught, not at all expecting Ashley to show up here.
Shawna’s eyes found hers, a smirk forming on her lips. “Night, Carla.” She squeezed out between them, and Carla was left staring at Ashley.
“Hi,” Ashley said before she looked back at Shawna heading for the elevator. “I uh…” She opened her mouth to close it again. “I’m sorry if I interrupted.” Her voice was strangled. There was no anger in it. If anything, Ashley seemed surprised to see Shawna here. “I just wanted to explain. What you saw.”
Carla nodded, stepping back to leave room for Ashley to enter. “Let me take your coat.”
Ashley’s fingers hesitated on the top button, almost as if she was wondering if she’d be staying long enough to take it off, but she did shrug out of it, and Carla hung it up for her.
“Wine?” Carla asked, trying to keep her voice even while her heart was pounding in her chest.
“No. I’m fine. Thanks.”
