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They all sat down, Ashley taking the nearest end of the sectional, while Paige and Julian took the farthest end and David sitting down in the middle with Jacob.
Ashley cleared her throat, suddenly feeling more anxious than she’d ever felt in her life as four people watched her. Julian, in particular, seemed curious, as if trying to reconcile the fact that his father had had a relationship with someone other than Paige, and that this someone had pretty much appeared out of nowhere and was now sitting on their couch.
“I know you have dinner plans, so I won’t take up much of your time,” Ashley said, glancing from person to person and stopping on Jacob. “I just wanted to wish you a happy 18th birthday, and bring you this.” She held the small gift out to him.
Jacob looked at the nicely wrapped present for a moment, before accepting it from her. As he started to open it, Ashley was suddenly struck by a wave of uncertainty and began second-guessing the gift; the last time she’d given someone an expensive watch, they’d hardly worn it. “You don’t have to open it now. You can wait until later if you want.”
He stopped and blinked at her. “You don’t want me to open it while you’re here?”
“I was just saying … you didn’t have to.”
Even to her own ears, her explanation sounded lame, because if she hadn’t wanted to see him open it in person, she could’ve obviously just put it in the mail. After a few more blinks at her, Jacob resumed tearing through the blue wrapping paper and when he opened the box, his expression turned to one that Ashley couldn’t decipher.
“If you don’t like it,” she quickly told him, “you don’t have to keep it—”
“No, I do like it,” he said.
“What is it?” David asked, curious.
Jacob passed him the box, and when David saw what was in it, he chuckled softly. “Now you have two,” he said, handing the box back to Jacob.
Ashley felt a twinge of disappointment. “You already have a watch?”
“Yes. The one you gave my dad.”
Stunned to hear the Breitling hadn’t been thrown in the garbage, and thrilled Jacob now owned it, she turned to David. “You kept it?”
“For Jacob, in case he wanted it when he was older. When he turned sixteen, I showed it to him and asked if he wanted it, and he … decided he did.”
“That’s … that’s really nice.” She felt her eyes tingle (and not because of the cat in the room) and blinked the threat of tears away. “But you probably don’t want two Breitlings, even if they’re different models,” she said to Jacob. “I can return it, and—”
“No. I’d like to keep it.”
“You would? Are you sure?”
He nodded. “I really do like it,” he said, setting the box on the couch, next to him. “Thank you for coming over and bringing it to me. It was very thoughtful.”
“You’re welcome.” Fighting off another wave of tears, she took a deep breath. “That’s not the only reason I wanted to come here, though.”
“It’s not?” Paige’s expression turned slightly wary.
When Ashley had gotten the green light to visit today, it had been with the understanding that the visit would be relatively short, due to the family’s dinner plans, and would be about Jacob’s birthday gift and little else. However, Ashley had told herself if the moment felt right (and she had the balls), she’d take the opportunity to say something that needed to be said to him.
That moment was here.
“No. I also wanted to, um, apologize to you.” Ashley directed the words to Jacob, who gazed back at her, his head tilting slightly. She didn’t know how much he remembered—of Liam, or of her leaving—but it stood to reason he had some memory of it, since he’d been four years old at the time. “For the bad choices I made,” she explained, hearing a tremor in her voice. “Which led me to giving up custody. I could’ve fought for you, and I didn’t because I was … not a good mother.”
A heavy silence descended over the room, and while Jacob, David, and Paige all looked shocked at Ashley’s blunt admissions, Julian’s expression was almost comical. Instead of being shocked, he seemed more baffled, his expression one of What’s going on? I thought she was just here to hand over a birthday gift.
“I appreciate the apology,” Jacob told her carefully, staring down at the floor between his feet. “I’m not going to lie and say all that didn’t have an impact on me, because it did … but I came to terms with everything that happened a long time ago.” He raised his head and gave her a brief, hesitant smile. “And I ended up with the parents I was meant to be with.”
He said the words without any anger and she was momentarily at a loss, because she’d expected some—or residual traces of it—from him. But there weren’t any.
It was so very humbling.
Clearing her throat again, she smiled gratefully at Jacob. “Yes, you did.”
Slowly, Ashley got to her feet. She’d done what she’d come here to do, and it felt like it was time to leave. “Thank you for welcoming me into your home,” she said to Paige. “But I should be going. I don’t want to interfere with your dinner plans.”
