Ansley was in a moment of reflection; this year had been crazy for her. She’d been fired and then hired at a new publication that she loved, fallen in and out of love, involved in a scandal and had a health scare that shook her core. She couldn’t believe the year was about to come to an end. Ansley had become so engrossed in her work it seemed like September came and went without notice, and October seemed to come to a close before it started. Using work as a distraction proved to be effective in more ways than one. Jason took notice of the work she put in and she received glowing reviews from readers. That was one plus that came out of all the madness.
She hadn’t heard from Davis since he asked her to get him an attorney back in September. With any luck, she could close out the year with no further interaction with him. She hoped next year would bring more ups than downs, but first she had to make it through this year. Being with her family for the holidays would be a start to closing the year out right.
Ansley went into her closet to grab a pair of tweed dress pants and a hunter green sweater. She was packing an overnight bag. She would be heading to her parent’s house to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with them. A part of her family’s tradition was to take family photos the day after Thanksgiving. She packed a few outfits to choose from for the photo shoot. Her mother wanted everyone in earth tones.
She drove to her family’s home in Alpharetta where she had grown up. She loved coming here, this was exactly what she needed—the love of family. When she spoke to her mother earlier, she said that she had a big surprise waiting for her. She wasn’t sure what it could be, but she assumed that her mother had made her favorite dessert.
Simeon was planning to come by later, which she did every year for Thanksgiving. Simeon never spoke much about her family. All Ansley really knew was that Simeon’s mother was deceased and she only spoke about her brother. From the pained look on Simeon’s face whenever she mentioned her father, Ansley knew her friend had been terribly hurt by him. She never asked and Simeon never told. She just made sure that Simeon always felt welcome to join her family on the holidays.
Ansley pulled into the driveway and grabbed the candied yams and Oreo cheesecake she made for dinner. She walked inside using her key, which she refused to give back once she left the nest for good. The idea of just coming home whenever she wanted to get away from her life, was a perk that she wasn’t ready to relinquish.
“Hello family! The favorite is here,” she joked, knowing that her sister would have a rebuttal. She walked toward the chatter in the family room and stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Davis sitting with her family looking at an old photo album.
“Well, well—look what we found. Mm-hmm, caught your behind. I can’t believe you had a boyfriend all this time and didn’t tell anyone. No wonder you’ve been M.I.A.,” her sister Reagan chided.
Reagan was four years younger than Ansley, and a freshman at the University of Georgia, she was in their Dance Program. Her plan was to travel to New York to audition for Julliard next fall, she had just submitted her application and was planning to audition in the spring.
Ansley signaled for her sister to come closer so they could have some privacy. Walking into the kitchen to put the side dish on the oven and the dessert in the fridge, she turned to her sister and said, “Reagan, how long has he been here?”
She had never introduced him to her family. They had only been dating, officially, for about five months and the first month was rocky. They hadn’t gotten around to any introductions outside of him having dinner with Ansley’s friends. As Ansley began to think about things, she had never met any of his friends. He was always at her place and they frequented her regular spots, but not once had he taken her to some place that he said frequented on the regular.
The only man to ever meet her parents was Ryan. He was the one they all expected her to marry and she didn’t want to bring just anyone home to meet her parents. That man had to be someone special in order for her family to meet him, Davis was special alright, but not in a way that she wanted to expose to her family.
“He’s been here for maybe thirty minutes,” Reagan said and added. “He seems nice enough, but I’ll let you know what I really think once I get to grill him. Mom said I had to wait until you arrived to do a thorough investigation.”
Ansley gritted her teeth, she was beyond furious. He’d gotten her family to befriend him under false terms and had now placed her in an awkward position.
Reagan’s eyebrows rose. “Why do you look upset? Did you guys have a little fight or something? He said you probably wouldn’t be happy about getting surprised like this, but he knew you were apprehensive about bringing him here and he just couldn’t wait anymore. It’s kind of sweet—if you like the pushy type,” Reagan said with a smirk before walking away.
Ansley took her phone out of her purse and used the Yellow Pages app to find the number to a cab service. “Hello, yes I need a cab at 101 Meadowlark Drive. Would a ten-minute window work for you to be here?”
She was glad she was able to get a taxi secured. Ansley wanted to make sure after she confronted Davis, he had a way to get out of her face fast.
When she returned to the living room, Davis was chatting with her mother.
“Sorry to interrupt this lovely bonding moment, but Davis can I speak to you outside for a moment,” said Ansley, as she plastered on a fake smile. Her mother stood, and walked over to give her a hug.
“Honey are you so enthralled with this man that you have forgotten your manners. You haven’t given your father and me a hug,” said her mother Millicent.
“I apologize,” Ansley expressed her regrets. “I should’ve slowed down to speak to my two favorite people in the world. I wanted to put the food in the kitchen. Daddy I made your favorite.”
“Oo-wee, my Oreo cheesecake. I’ll just go get a sample to make sure it’s right.”
He attempted to brush pass Ansley and her mother to make a beeline for the kitchen.
“No Jeff,” she fussed, with a slight tug of his arm. “You can wait until after dinner like the rest of us.”
Ansley gave both of her parents a genuine hug and then turned her attention back to Davis. He excused himself and walked outside with Ansley. Once on the front lawn, she wasted no time expressing her anger with him. “You have no right to come here and push yourself on my family. For you to come here and think it’s okay—the audacity to even find this acceptable is beyond my level of comprehension. Ansley squeezed her eyes shut and grabbed the center of her nose. She could feel a headache coming. “Please explain to me, why are you here? Shouldn’t you be in jail anyway?”
Davis grimaced at the mention of jail. “I got an attorney and I did like you suggested, and gave the police the information they wanted to lock Beau away. I’m on probation and had to pay a fine. Thank you for encour—”
Ansley tapped her foot, her patience was null and void upon the sight of him. She interrupted his little speech. “Davis, I don’t care about you ratting out your cousin with your sorry behind. I need you to explain why you’re here and do it fast because your ride is on the way.”
He put his hands in his pocket, shifting his weight. “Ansley you wouldn’t return any of my calls, it’s been a couple of months. I had to do something drastic so I could get your attention. Before you ask, you mentioned your family lived in Alpharetta and their names. I was able to look them up and managed to find the Wright family… literally,” he said laughing at his own joke.
Ansley’s eyebrow shot up. She was not amused and wanted him to get to the point and go away.
When he saw she wasn’t laughing he pulled out a rectangular, white gift box with her name on it. It wasn’t wrapped, outside of the two pieces of tape holding the box in place. She didn’t take it from him. Instead, she stared him down and crossed her arms over her chest.
“What stunt is this? I don’t want anything from you. Can’t believe you had the gall to show up at my parent’s home.”
“Ansley please take it. It’s what you deserve and more.” She took the box from his hands and opened it. The box was full of money. She looked up at him with pure disgust.
Ansley sneered. “What poor, unsuspecting woman did you rob to get this money? Yes, you do owe me money, but I don’t want any dirty money. All I want is to enjoy this time with my family, but here you are robbing me of that too.”
He clenched and unclenched his fist. “I’m sorry,” he pounded his chest with his hands. “I know my apology will never be enough. I deserve all of that anger, and I’m not going to make any excuses about my actions. Just please let me make this right and keep the money,” he begged.
Just as Ansley was about to protest, the taxi and Simeon both pulled up to the house. Davis turned and followed Ansley’s eyes to see the awaiting car. He turned to leave and headed toward the vehicle.
Ansley watched as Simeon glared at him in passing. She shook her head and continued up the driveway, and stood with her arms crossed over her chest next to Ansley. He locked eyes with Ansley one last time before getting inside the car.
Simeon did a pivot turn towards Ansley. “What was that about?”
Ansley held up the box. “He dropped by unannounced to return the money he stole,” she sighed. “Come on girl let’s go eat. Nothing like drama to work up an appetite.”