Chapter Twenty-Eight

Ashley was tapping her pencil repeatedly on her desk as she waited for the operator to connect her to Arthur’s phone line. She wasn’t sure what she was going to say exactly but knew she had to talk to Spencer’s father as soon as possible. She listened as the phone rang: once, twice, then a third time. She was about to just hang up but a deep caring voice came through the other end of the phone.

“Hello, Carlin Residence?”

“Mr. C…I mean Mr. Carlin. This is Ashley Davies.” Ashley nervously spoke.

“Ashley…what a wonderful surprise! How are you doing? How’s my daughter?” Arthur asked happily.

“Oh we are doing great. I was calling because I wanted to find out if you were available to have lunch with me today.” Ashley held her breath as she waited for his reply.

“Lunch? With this old man? I would love that. Do you and Spencer want to meet me somewhere? I could find out if my wife would like to join us too.”

“Oh…actually…I was hoping you and I could eat lunch alone. I have something I need to speak with you about.”

“Is something the matter? Nothing is wrong with Spencer is there?” Arthur said with some concern.

“No…no…Spencer is just fine.” Ashley said quickly.

“Ok…well sure…I was hoping I could get to know Spencer’s special new someone a little bit better…so this is a perfect opportunity.”

“Fantastic. I can get some reservations set and I will call you back with the details.”

“Sounds like a plan. I will see you later Ashley.”

“Bye Mr. C.” Ashley held the receiver in her hand a second before letting out the air she had been holding the whole time on the phone.

She called and set up the reservations for lunch. She called Arthur back to give him directions to the restaurant. She knew that this lunch was going to be very important and now she felt like her insides were going to turn inside out.

****

Spencer walked into her class to find most of her students set up and ready to go. She noticed that more of her students were showing up to class now maybe hoping to run into her musician girlfriend. She couldn’t help but smile at the thought of Ashley.