Wings From Ashes Trilogy

by Linda Nelson

  Ashley prepared to fight this out. She opened her mouth to speak again with the intention of telling Maggie’s mom off when the phone went dead after a sharp click. She wondered what the hell that was all about. That woman had never hung up on her before. Never in her life had anyone ever hung up on her. She was furious.

  “Everything all right dear?” Ashley’s mom asked when she passed her in the kitchen, still holding the dead receiver in her hand.

  “Oh, Maggie, for some reason can’t talk to me right now. I don’t get it.” Ashley gritted her teeth.

  “Just call her back then. I’m sure it can’t be that urgent that it can’t wait. Maybe she had another doctor appointment. Her mom told me the other day that she had to go two times a week to see some sort of doctor. I know the girl has issues, but I didn’t know her condition was that bad. I hope she feels better soon.”

  “Maggie isn’t sick Mom.”

  “Well she must be if she has to see a doctor twice a week. You know your aunt Helen had to see a doctor twice a week when she was diagnosed with that melanoma cancer years ago.”

  “That was years ago Mom, and Maggie doesn’t have cancer. I’m sure of it. She would have told me.” Ashley was sure of it. Or wouldn’t she?

  Ashley knew that Maggie hadn’t been her usual self this past week. It’s as if she was a totally different person – almost nice. That wasn’t the Maggie she knew.

  What else was there for her to do but wait for Maggie to call her back?

  Chapter 30

  While Ashley was waiting for Maggie to call her back, Karla, on the other hand, was trying to pick out her best outfit for later on that night. She had no idea what to wear. Should she wear a dress or jeans and a sweater?

  “Karla?” Her dad called her from the kitchen.

  “What?” She answered.

  “Don’t be getting huffy now.”

  “I’m not. What do you want?”

  “Are you going to make something to bring to dinner?”

  The idea had not entered Karla’s mind. She looked toward Carrie who was standing beside her dad in the kitchen.

  “I have to make something to bring?”

  “Well it is only proper that when you are invited to someone’s house for dinner that you make something to bring to accompany the meal.”

  “I don’t know. What should we bring?”

  “No, not what should we bring. It is what should You make.”

  “Me? Why do I have to make something?” Can’t we just buy it?”

  Her dad threw his hands up in the air and left the room.

  “What the hell is wrong with him?”

  “Karla, he was only trying to help you out. You like this guy we are meeting. Right?”

  Karla hesitated. “I do.”

  “And, you want to make a good impression for him and his folks right?”

  “Of course.”

  “Well then you need to make something to bring. It doesn’t need to be anything fancy. It just has to come from your own hands. The point you are trying to make is that you can cook.”

  “But I can’t.”

  “You can, and I will help you.”

  “I haven’t even picked out what I’m going to wear yet.”

  “What is wrong with what you have on?”

  “It’s blah and makes me look fat.”

  “No, it doesn’t. It is just missing something.” Carrie thought for a moment before reaching up and taking off her dangling feather earrings and held them before Karla’s ears. “Yes, that’s it. Here go put these on and look in the mirror.”

  Karla took the earrings to the bathroom. Carrie was right. The earrings made the outfit much better. She returned to show Carrie how they looked.

  “Like I said, that is all you need. Now what do you want to make?”

  Karla smiled. Something she didn’t do often. “Carrie do you know how to make brownies?”

  “I do. Is that what you want to make?”

  Karla nodded. The earrings tickled her neck when her head bobbed up and down.

  “Then let’s make them.”

  In the past, Karla had almost always avoided the kitchen when her mom was in it. The two of them had never actually seen eye to eye on anything. Any conversation they had always ended in a disagreement. This was the first time Karla felt comfortable in the kitchen. She even had fun with Carrie. It was like they were mother and daughter all along.

  Karla was laughing and giggling when the mixer sprayed the batter about the counter and not once did Carrie get mad at her for making a mess. Her dad looked on from a distance noting how happy Carrie made her. It wasn’t often that he saw Karla laugh or even smile.

  “Who wants to lick the bowl?” Karla called out to the living room. “Dad - Do you want it?”

  He hopped up from his chair. “I’ll take a beater. You get the bowl.” He dipped his finger into the bowl of batter and smudged it on Karla’s nose.

  “Hey.” Karla protested.

  They laughed. This was going to be the best Saturday she had ever had.

  Chapter 31

  “Oh, what cute earrings,” Neil’s mom said while her son helped Karla take off her coat.

  Karla smiled. “Thanks.” She turned and began to introduce her dad and his girlfriend. It was an awkward moment for her when she came to the realization that she had just introduced Carrie as her mom a moment before.

  Carrie reached out and rubbed Karla between the shoulder blades. “It’s okay Karla. Really.”

  They smiled at each other. Neil’s parents never noticed Karla’s embarrassing moment.

  “What do you have there, Neil?” His mom asked.

  “Karla made brownies for later.”

  “Yum,” His dad said. “They’ll go great with our ice-cream.”

  “We’re going to go watch a movie.” Neil announced to the adults. He was holding Karla by the hand.

  “Neil, we will let you know when dinner is ready. That boy sure does love to eat.” His mom said to Carrie.

  “Most boys do,” she replied.

  Neil searched for a movie for them to watch while Karla eyed up the pool table with a smile.

  “How about we play pool instead?”

  “You don’t want to watch a movie?”

  “I really like playing pool with you.” She said softly.

  He didn’t know if it was the way she said it, or the way she looked at him, but it set his heart on fire. He couldn’t resist. “You know you won’t win.”

  “That’s okay. I’m sure you will help me if I need it. It will be your handicap.”

  Neil swallowed. He set up the table and handed Karla a stick. “Do you remember how to hold it?”

  “I think you need to show me again.”

  He reached his arms around her and placed her hands on the stick. Her body being against his trigger strong feelings like the ones he had that very first time. This time he wasn’t going to hold back. There was no Ashley to feel guilty about. This was the girl he truly liked and wanted to be with.

  Neil moved even closer to her and placed his chin gently in the crook of her neck. Her skin smelled of lilies. She was irresistible. His lips found her neck, and he began to work his way up to her ear.

  She turned around in his arms and without thinking he set the stick down on the table so he could wrap his arms about her. Their lips locked in a long passionate kiss. His hands pressed into the middle of her back pulling her as close to him as he could get her without crushing her.

  Karla’s soft breasts pressed into his chest while her arms wrapped about his neck. Their kiss was so sensual he felt a heat rise in his groin. He thought about picking her up and putting her on the table. But what if his parents came down stairs and saw them? He couldn’t bring himself to do that to Karla. No matter how much he wanted her.

  Neil broke off the kiss and turned away. He had to fix himself before she saw what she had just done to him.

  “Did I do something wrong?” Karla asked.


  “No, but I think we need to watch TV instead.”

  Karla looked perplexed.

  “It’s all right – really. I just don’t want to get carried away with you.” He put his lips close to her ear and whispered. “You’re really hot. Just so you know.”

  Karla’s eyes lit up, and a smile that was big as the world was on her face. Neil placed the remote control in her hands. “I’ll be right back. What kind of soda do you want – root beer or orange?”

  “Orange.”

  Neil kissed her quickly with a peck on her lips. “I will be right back.”

  If both of their parents hadn’t been upstairs, Neil probably would have risked it. What guy wouldn’t? Karla was more than hot. She was sexy and knew some moves with her body that turned a guy on when they kissed. He couldn’t remember if it was the way her breasts pressed into his chest, or the fact that her legs had opened and straddled against his right leg aiming his man hood right for that place.

  Just the thought of how it had felt moments ago began to reactivate his member. He had to think of painful thoughts to get it under control before he left the basement. The thought of dropping a toilet seat on his member did the trick. He had done that a few times when he was small. How he howled for ten or so minutes. His mom felt awful for him, but his dad snickered and told him don’t let the seat go next time. “You have to hold the thing even if you think it is going to stay there, just because.”

  The parents were seated in the living room while his mom was in the kitchen making her final touches for the dinner. “You kids behaving down there or do I need to go down and check on you?”

  “Were good.” He answered her while he took sodas from the fridge.

  “That’s what I like to hear.”

  “How much longer until dinner?”

  She looked to the clock above the sink. “Half an hour I think. How’s the movie?”

  “We are still trying to decide what we are going to watch.”

  “Well maybe there will be something on later. You could play pool you know.”

  Neil felt his face get hot about his cheeks. He had to turn away quickly before his mom noticed. “I know.” He scurried off before she saw the smile on his face along with his bright red cheeks. But before he returned down stairs he had something in his room he had to retrieve. It was that gift he had originally had gotten to give to Ashley at the dance. He scooped up the little box and pocketed it. Hopefully Karla was going to like it.

  Chapter 32

  Parents are not always kind to their children, and they also tend to be unforgiving as in Karla’s case. The problem wasn’t Carrie. She was in Karla’s court, but her dad was another thing.

  What’s the worst possible thing a parent can do to their child while visiting with a possible future boyfriend?

  Talk about embarrassment. It was like he had it out for Karla or maybe he was trying to make either Neil or his parents, not like her.

  They were just five minutes into their meal when he started in on her. First he pointed out to her that she had her elbows on the table. Then he corrected her on the way she chewed her food. Karla considered them all silly things, but they embarrassed her anyway.

  Carrie sat on the other side of her dad so she couldn’t make Karla aware with the use of tact. Unlike her dad, who had to blurt out each time for all to hear.

  Neil’s dad broke the silence and tried to take the focus off of Karla’s eating etiquette by announcing Neil was once again on the Honor Roll. Neil’s mom beamed too about her son’s outstanding academic grades. All Neil could do was roll his eyes. Parents…

  “Karla used to have excellent grades once too. That was before we moved to this town. She’s let her grades slip and has found nothing but trouble. How is it that your son has adjusted so well?”

  Karla wanted to hide under the table. She never told Neil about all the trouble she had been in since moving to Brantwood. Why couldn’t her dad leave well enough alone? At this very moment, she hated him more than she had ever disliked her mom, and that was pretty bad.

  “He’s kept busy every day after school.” Neil’s mom began to explain. “He has no time to get into trouble.”

  “You see my brother has a garage here in town. He agreed to apprentice Neil as an auto mechanic when he learned we were moving here. Neil goes there every day after school.”

  Neil smiled. He was proud to be learning the trade. His Baracuda was almost restored.

  Karla’s dad replied, “That’s a pretty good trade. But why auto mechanic when you are an honor student?”

  Karla wanted to kick her dad for being so – she didn’t know what he was, but she was hating every moment of this meal and conversation. She picked at her food while the conversation went back and forth between Neil and her dad.

  “Well for starters auto mechanics is a high paying job. I can’t expect my parents to pay my way through college, so I have to start saving now. Plus my uncle bought me a 1967 Baracuda Black on Fast Back with a cherry red interior. I am learning how to not only do the mechanics, but also how to restore cars. You should have seen this car when he first got it. It was in terribly bad shape. Now, after a badly needed paint job I will be able to start showing it this summer.

  Pretty cool – huh?” He said when he turned toward Karla.

  “Karla doesn’t do anything after school. Her grades are so bad that I’m afraid that if she had an after school job she wouldn’t pass to the next grade.”

  Not fair – Karla dropped her fork on to her plate. “For your information – Dad – I just got a Ninety-eight on my math mid-term exam. This has brought my grade point average up to 2.5, so I’m gonna pass.”

  “We say going to, not gonna – young lady.” He corrected.

  “Ugh – stop it Dad – enough.” Karla was just shy of leaving the table.

  Carrie came to her rescue. “Just because Karla had a tough start to the school year doesn’t mean that it will stay that way. Give her a chance. She has had some pretty terrible ordeals and mishaps, but that doesn’t have to define who she is.”

  “Well I know for a fact that when Karla came over here for the very first time she was on her best behavior. Neil tutored her in her math and from the sounds of it the tutoring was immensely successful. Who knows, maybe Neil will be able to help her get her grades up higher by the end of the school year? Right Neil?”

  Neil would have answered, but all he could do was nod his head since he had just shoveled a big spoonful of mashed potatoes into it. He was glad that his mom didn’t find the urge to point out how he had just stuffed his mouth. If only he could hurry up and finish his meal and get Karla away from his and her folks before her dad got deeper into her shit she had been through.

  When they finished eating, Neil was ready to take Karla away back down stairs, but her dad stopped them. “Hey now, where do you two think you are going? Karla you have dishes to wash.”

  Karla’s face turned red once again.

  Neil stopped dead in his tracks. His parents had never once told him he had to wash the dishes. They never ever spoke to him the way her dad did.

  “Oh, it’s okay, they can go, I have the dishes.”

  Neil saw the look on Karla’s dad’s face. This was the guy who held the strings to Karla’s life. He was the one who said whether she could go to the movies, a dance or just plain hang out. He also probably was the one who told her whether she could go out with a guy too.

  “It’s all right Mom. We can do them for you.”

  Karla didn’t know what to do. Her dad was being impossible.

  “Karla, how about you wash, and I will wipe and put away,” said Neil.

  So, the two of them spent the next half hour cleaning up the dishes while his parents whisked Karla’s dad and his girlfriend into the other room giving them a reprieve.

  Neil still had the little box in his pocket. Every time he leaned against the cabinets it dug into his thigh reminding him it was there. He was just waiting for the right
opportunity to give it to her.

  “Your dad is pretty hard on you.”

  “He wasn’t always like that.”

  “What happened?”

  “We moved.”

  “It can’t be just that.” Neil said. “My parents are always moving. My dad is in the military. He is always getting reassigned to a new base every so often. It always seems to happen just as I’m about to make friends with someone. It’s a bummer, but it is all I know. It’s been this way since I was small and it’s all I know.”

  “Well that’s a bummer.”

  “What helps, though is the fact that I have aunts and uncles all over the place, and we almost always move to a town that is closest to one of them. So if my dad isn’t around to do stuff with me I spend some time with them instead. But it is still rough.”

  “I don’t think I would like having to live like that, family or not. Before I moved my friends Jody and Sarah were like sisters to me. Now that we moved I hardly ever see them.”

  “I’ve never been around anyone long enough to get that close to them, all except for my cousins because even when you move, cousins will always be there, no matter what. They are family.” Neil placed a plate in the overhead cabinet. “But I do love the fact that I have seen most of the world. I’ve been to Japan and Germany and on the west and east coast. So it has its faults, but it also has its pluses.”

  Karla envied him a smidgen. She always wanted to see the world. If only she could and be able to return home afterwards.

  Just when Neil thought they were about to get their alone time and go watch that movie they were going to watch, his mom announced that their dessert was ready. He still had the box in his pocket. He really wanted to give it to her privately, but things just weren’t going that way.

  He decided to take a chance.

  Dessert was homemade apple pie topped with ice cream. It was one of Neil’s favorites. It turned out to be one of Karla’s too.

  Since Karla’s dad seemed bent on keeping the two of them apart, Neil made a huge effort to take the seat next to Karla forcing her dad to sit across the table from them. He wasn’t sure if this was a good move or not, but he really wanted to give her this gift.