“I really don’t know,” I tell her.
She bites her bottom lip and turns toward her window.
It’s a quiet drive.
We get to my house and we’re barely through the front door when Ash starts, “It’s always been like this. As long as I can remember, they’ve been pulling something and I’ve never seen either of them take sincere responsibility for anything.”
“That must have been rough,” I say.
She narrows her eyes a little then widens them again, saying, “I’m not trying to say that I had a worse—I’m not trying to compare our situations.”
“I’m not saying you are,” I tell her. “I honestly think it must have been tough growing up the way you did.”
“It kind of was,” she says. “I know that must sound so stupid and out-of-touch coming from someone like me.”
“Not at all,” I tell her. “I wouldn’t want that kind of childhood.”
She’s looking at me with those narrowed eyes again, this time turning her head a little to the side. “If you don’t want me to talk about this, I don’t have to,” she says.
“No,” I tell her. “I like hearing you talk.”
“I never know when you’re being sarcastic,” she says.
“Really,” I laugh, “I’m being serious. What’s on your mind?”
“They’re leaving the country, you know,” she says. “They’re actually trying to skip town, state, and nation to avoid taking any kind of responsibility for what they’re doing, and you know what’s funny? I don’t really blame them. If I’d been committing stupid crimes as long as they have and suddenly it looked like everything might come out, I’d probably want to get the heck out of town, too. No offense,” she says.
I furrow my brow. “None taken,” I say, more a question than reassurance not knowing which part of that was supposed to have offended me. She was referencing Chris, but it’s not like I didn’t know my big brother gets into a lot more than his fair share of trouble.
“Have you talked to him?” she asks.
“No,” I answer. “He hasn’t called me and I haven’t called him. Honestly, I think he’s embarrassed or ashamed or something.”
“All the time I was growing up, I spent most of my time with the maids,” Ash says, returning to her original topic. “If it weren’t for them, I might have turned out more like my parents.”
“Eww,” I say, with an exaggerated shudder.
“Right?” she says. “Can you imagine what that would be like?”
“Thanks to most of the people on reality TV shows, I can make a decent guess,” I answer.
She smiles.
“You know,” I tell her, “before I found out my girlfriend was in the slammer, I was on my way to talk to you.”
“Who’s your girlfriend?” she asks.
I try to exude the lack of being impressed, but I’m not so sure that’s how it’s coming across as Ash is now holding her hand over her mouth, trying to stifle laughter.
“What were you coming to talk to me about?” she asks.
“I wanted to tell you some things,” I answer. “Now’s not the time, though. Now, we need to figure out what we’re going to do about your situation.”
“Hey, we can work on a conspiracy charge,” she says. “Sounds like fun.”
“I didn’t mean we should plan a crime,” I say. “I mean we should figure out how we’re going to approach this.”
She lifts one eyebrow a little and the corners of her lips rise a little. “I have to tell you,” she says, “I like how you keep saying ‘we’ here.”
I smile back at her. “I kind of like you,” I tell her. “Don’t let that go to your head or anything, though.”
“I’ll do what I can,” she says and lets out a long sigh.
She takes a step toward me and opens her arms. I pull her into me and we embrace.
“When we’re a little further out from your whole just-got-out-of-jail thing, I should probably tell you about my session today,” I mention.
“Oh yeah, how’d that go?” she asks, resting her head against my shoulder.
I close my eyes a moment and shake my head. “It was interesting,” I answer. “One thing at a time, though. What do you want to do?”
“They’re leaving the country,” she says. “I’m not going with them, so that probably means I should try to find my own lawyer. They didn’t say anything, but I get the feeling their guy isn’t really going to do his best work for me.”
“Okay,” I tell her.
“They’re just going to get into the same stuff when they’re in South America, though,” she says.
I can’t help but laugh a little.
Ash pulls away enough to look into my eyes, but she doesn’t say anything.
“I’m sorry,” I tell her. “It’s just a little strange to hear someone say that and know they’re not joking. It’s the sort of thing people talk about in mafia flicks.”
“I guess,” she says, resting her head back against my shoulder. “I just know they’re going to try something stupid while they’re down there and they’re not going to be able to play the system the way they can here. I’m starting to think the best thing to do for them is to rat them out.”
“Why did you agree to go out with me that first time?” I blurt.
“What?” she asks, pulling away again. “Where did that come from?”
“Nowhere,” I answer honestly. “I don’t know. It’s just something that’s been on my mind for a while. Even before I got to know you, it was pretty clear you weren’t the type that’s into fighting and when we first met I wasn’t exactly in a position to make a great impression. We don’t have to talk about this right now.” He repeats, “It’s just something that’s been on my mind.”
“At first I was just screwing with Jana,” Ash says. “Then you were kind of charming and I thought that was rather off-putting, if we’re being honest here. After that, I don’t know. It just seemed like there was more to you than the troglodyte you looked like.”
“I don’t know what that means, but I’ll take it as a compliment,” I tell her.
“We’ve really got to get you a dictionary,” she says. With that, she lets her arms drop and we release the embrace. “I’ve got to make a phone call,” she says.
“Who are you calling?” I ask.
She already has her phone out, and she doesn’t look up at me when she says, “I’m calling the police. I don’t know if they’re actually planning on scapegoating me or not, but I’m not going to take the chance.”
“Okay,” I tell her. “Do what you think is right.”
She puts the phone to her ear and I get an idea.
I may not know anyone as high up on the legal food chain as Ash’s parents have, but I do know a guy. Okay, so he’s not really the kind of lawyer I’d hire if I knew anyone else, but he did help a few club owners get out of charges for holding our matches in their buildings.