Beyond A Reasonable Doubt (2012 Watty Winner)

Perfection (Epilogue)

"Why is she an after thought, Jack? I thought you two were doing good?" I question him.

"We are." He shrugs again. I'm confused.

"So what's the-"

"She told me she loved me." He says cutting me off. Oh.

"And you don't..." I trail off.

"No, I do." He says sitting back down in the chair.

"Then what's the problem?"

"The problem is, that I'm in love with her. I don't fall in love Ash, you know that."

I shrug, "Things are changing, Jack. We've both done a lot of growing up over the past few months. Embrace it." I tell him and smile. He shakes his head but can't help the smile that comes to his face.

"Some more than others." He says and stands again. "I'll see you tonight, Davies." He says walking to my door.

"Don't be late." I yell at his retreating figure.

"Mrs. Davies your mother is on line two." Madison tells me over the intercom.

"Thank you, Madison." I reply as I press the number two button on my phone. "Hello, mother." I greet her.

"Ashley dear, how are you?" My mother says in a surprisingly pleasant tone.

"Uh...I'm fine mother." I answer, a little befuddled.

"I was wondering if you were able to watch Matthew again tomorrow afternoon?" She asks and I roll my eyes. Spencer and I have been keeping him every day from eight in the morning until past five while my mother does...does...actually, I have no idea what she does because she retired from being a lawyer. Not that I don't enjoy spending time with Matty it's just that... you'd have to know my mom to understand. Spencer loves spending time with him too but I feel like my mom is starting to forget that he's her son, not ours.

"For what mom?" I ask her and she sighs.

"Will you do it or not, Ashley?" She asks, her tone changing from pleasant to impatient.

"Of course." I shake my head and sigh. I'd rather have him with me then some random stranger she'd hire to keep him.

"Thanks honey." Her voice is pleasant again. "You're a doll." She adds and hangs up. I feel so bad for Matty, he doesn't have a father and he has a mother, if you can even call her that, that barely wants him.

"Madison." I call over the intercom.

"Yes, Mrs. Davies?"

"Could you come into my office for a moment, there's something I need you to do."

"Right away."

-

"And when exactly were you going to tell me about this?" Spencer asks, wrapping her arms around my waist.

I shrug, "It's really no big deal, Spence." I tell her and she steps back and gasp. I turn to face her.

"It certainly is a big deal, you're going to be on the cover of Los Angeles Lawyer, that's huge, Ash."

"None of that matters to me," I shake my head and move closer to her, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her close to me. "The only thing I care about is the fact that I get to come home to you, every. single. night." I say and kiss her lips sweetly.

"No fair." She whines but kisses me back. "You're using your sweet lady kisses to make me not mad at you." She says and I peck her lips again.

"I seem to recall last night that you quite enjoyed these sweet lady kisses." I say pulling back, raising a brow.