Ashley's POV

Things couldn't have felt worse after my incident with Tristan's grandfather. Tristan was livid about the whole thing, and I couldn't have felt more responsible and guilty about everything.

We didn't spend much time at the resort after that. The next morning, we were on a flight back home. I slept through the entire flight back home so I didn't have to speak to anyone.

After everything he has done for me and the way he has defended me, I really don't know how to tell him the truth. It's going to crush him and hurt him worse than it would hurt me. How did I let things get this far?

We were on our way from the airport, he decided to drop me off at home first.

We hadn't spoken to each other.
I was dosing off, staring out of the window with my head leaned on the side.

"We've arrived now," Tristan said tapping me on the shoulder.

I snapped out of my thoughts to see that we had parked right in front of my house. I hadn't even realized I'd been so trapped in my thoughts.

I sat up straight and then reached to open the car door.
Tristan quickly stopped me.

"You've been quiet the entire time. Are you sure you are alright?" He asked. He looked at me concerned, his eyes searching mine.

"I'm fine. I'm just tired, that's all." I answered wearily, tearing my eyes away from his.

I pushed the door open and stepped out of the car.
I paused in front of our house for a moment. I was back home, right where I should have never left.

I walked into the yard and unlocked the front door using my spare keys.
Something seemed strange about the atmosphere in the house. Either way, I ignored it.

Tristan followed behind me, bringing the one suitcase I'd brought along for the trip.

"Thank you," I thanked Tristan as he placed my suitcase on the staircase.
This was probably the shortest trip in the world.

"I know you probably didn't get to see the city as much as you wanted. So, I have a surprise for you." He smiled. He was probably just trying to cheer me up. I understood he was there to work.

"You don't have to do anything else for me," I answered lowly.

He didn't bother pressing on it, he understood I didn't want to talk. "I'll see you later, you should probably get some rest." He said. He turned around, ready to leave.

"Could you please stop by tomorrow?" I asked.

I think we both need to think about things. Tomorrow seems like the appropriate day to let him know I've been stabbing him in the back.

He stopped in his tracks, turned around and faced me. "Sure," he answered with a smile.
After that, he was on his way to leave again.

"Why don't you just invite him to stay here?" I heard my mother's voice behind me.

She descended the staircase, giving Tristan and I a murderous look. It seemed like it hadn't been too long since she arrived.

My face turned blank.

What was she doing here? Didn't she say she'd be away for at least two weeks? But here she was, in person and not thousands of miles away as I'd anticipated.

She stopped below the staircase, her arms crossed as she stared daggers at Tristan.
This seemed to make Tristan very nervous. I on the other hand didn't have any energy to deal with whatever this was about to turn into.

"You have been making yourself way too comfortable these days, so why don't you just move in?" Mom

Tristan was left speechless. That was a new look for him. He always had something to say. "I didn't realize you would already be back," Tristan answered changing the subject.

"So, you thought you could take advantage?" Mom retorted sarcastically. "I think it's time I finally meet your family. I'm beginning to wonder about the kind of people who raised you."

"They'd be happy to stop by any day, just give them a time and place." Tristan smiled.

"Great, I'll have you and your family here tonight. At six o'clock sharp." Mom answered.

Wait. How had this conversation escalated to this?

"You can't just invite people last minute like that. They are very busy people." I interjected.

"My mother has never worked a day in her life and my dad is retired so I'm sure they will be available," Tristan answered.

Why was he making this harder?

"There are many preparations we need to take care of first. We can't just have them over tonight," I reasoned.

"What, is my house not good enough for them?" Mom asked. This time, Mom redirected her daggers towards me.

"It will be no problem at all, I'll speak to them. I'm sure they would love to come over." Tristan smiled.

"Great," Mom answered.
This wasn't going to end well.

***

"I called and neither of you even bothered to answer your phones." Mom scolded. She took all her anger out of the carrot; she had that habit whenever she was upset. "You, I bet you were eager to run off and move in with that boy. You can't even wait for me to die first."

"I'm not fifteen anymore, I can decide who I want to go out with." I reminded her.

"I'm only scolding you because I love you. I'm your mother. If I don't, you'll probably end up broke with an Onlyfans account and then end up in rehab." She answered. "People get kidnapped. Ms Jennet from down the street, her cousin's friend's sister's daughter was kidnapped. She got her daughter back in a plastic bin and cut her into pieces right at her doorstep. Do you want that to happen to you? You know you can't trust people these days." Mom answered. This was her way of winning arguments, by telling stories that probably didn't happen.

"Isn't that the same Jennet who was sent to a psychiatric hospital by her kids because she was seeing ghosts?" Katy asked.

"Don't even get me started on you." Mom pointed at her with a knife. "I bet you couldn't wait to rob those poor rich people out of every cent. Don't even think for a second, I didn't see all those things you tried to sneak into the house." She added.

"It was barely even two bags; it really didn't hurt anyone's wallet," Katy argued.

"That is why you will return everything you brought," Mom added.

Katy's face instantly went blank. "You can't do that. That's not how things work. I can't return any of those things." Katy answered in alarm.

"If you can't do that, I'm having you donate every single one of those items. I raised you to have dignity. I've always taught you to work hard for what you earn and that won't change." Mom argued.

Katy turned to me for help, but I simply shrugged.

"You can't do that," Katy complained.

"Watch me," Mom dared. "Besides, why are you still sitting there? You should have finished setting the table by now." Mom scolded.

Katy climbed off her stool angrily, following Mom's instructions.

I hope we don't end up with broken dinner plates.

Mom sighed, taking in the moment to calm herself.

While mom prepared supper with Katy setting the table, I had unofficially been deemed useless because I was pregnant.

"There is something very important that we need to do tomorrow." She informed.

I nodded. "Are you ever going to tell me what you were doing when you were away?" I asked calmly.

"You'll find out soon." She answered.

"They are here!" Katy shouted breathlessly.

For the first time this evening, I saw Mom panicking but that look quickly faded.

Mom placed the knife down, going on to remove her apron.

About an hour after Tristan left here, Layla had already texted me letting me know that she would be coming. She seemed way too excited than I would have anticipated, I expected her not to show up.

She sent about ten different outfits asking which would be more appropriate for the occasion. This was a bit out of character on her end. It was absurd at first, but then I found out she had been planning on wearing a necklace worth nearly half a million. We weren't even dressing up, just simply in our casual clothes.

The plan was simple. I've never met them in private and hopefully, we can all get through this evening. This whole thing was ridiculous. Why was I continuing with this?

Mom and I moved out of the kitchen and towards the door.

Katy said they had arrived. They had just parked.
By the time we could to the door, they were just about to ring.

Mom opened the door, welcoming them in with a smile.

Layla stood right in front, her husband, Tristan behind them.

"Please come in," Mom said welcoming them in.

We exchanged our greetings, including a formal introduction. Unfortunately, Tristan's grandmother couldn't make it.

"It's so very nice of you to invite us," Layla smiled.

Tristan's father then went on to hand my mother a bottle of wine.

Mom forced a smile as she accepted the bottle.
It was a nice gesture on their part, but I've really never had an ounce of alcohol in the house since Katy's father left.

"You cannot begin to imagine the kind of day I just had. I'm so exhausted." Layla said. "I was helping with the move of our vacation home to a bigger one a few blocks away. I swear sometimes being rich is a problem. At least when you are poor, you can just pack up a bag or two and you are out.

I've never seen Tristan look more uncomfortable, he looked like he just wanted to disappear from this moment.

"It surely is a lot bigger than the home I grew up in," Layla added.

There was a brief moment of awkward silence.
Mom was the first to break the silence.  "Please excuse me, I'm going to go and check on the food." she excused herself.

I took the moment to excuse myself too, following Mom to the kitchen.

I knew she was upset by the way she manhandled the oven door. "How can you stand to be so calm around that woman? You should have run away Ashley. How are you going to stand to see that woman for the rest of your life?" Mom asked.

"Just try to calm down. I'm sure they will be gone and hopefully, we never have to sit at the same table again." I pleaded.

"Don't tell me you are planning to kill the poor woman." Mom joked.

I shrugged.

"At this rate, you'd probably have to wait for her to die first before you can get married. Imagine her as your in-law?"

"I'm sure she didn't mean it like that and that she really isn't that bad,"  I assured her.

Mom sighed, taking the turkey out of the oven.

I helped with taking some of the other dishes Mom had prepared to the table.
Katy seemed to be doing really well with making a conversation with our guests.
Mom and I set the food on the table.

We invited everyone to the table, and we all took our places.

"I hope you enjoy the meal. Here in this house, we work hard for everything we have including this meal tonight." Mom directed at Layla.

I settled into my seat. If things were already starting like this. I don't think they were going to end well.