Free IN THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS by Julie Bechtel Page A

plate across the kitchen smashing it on the floor. On normal circumstances Ashley would have gotten up to clean it up, but not today. She just got up away from the table and walked out the door. By now she was crying uncontrollably at his cold and callused attitude. She walked to walk that was three block away extra slow to try and regain her composure. About a block away from work she had finally started to calm down enough that she could catch her breath. She must look a mess she thought to herself. Her only hope was that she could sneak into the bathroom before her shift and fix up her face before anyone saw her. Things didn’t work out that way though.
    Right before she made it to the deli she walked right into Joe. In Ashley’s mind Joe was the most adorable man that walked the earth. With his curly blonde hair, his beautiful brown eyes, and his muscular build. He was the last person she would want to see her looking like this. “Can this day get any worse?” she thought to herself as she tried to hide her face. “Are you okay?” Joe asked noticing that her makeup had been smeared. He knew without a doubt that her makeup had been smeared from her tears.  There was no question that she had been crying. “I’m fine.” She replied as he studied her face for any kind of emotion one way or another. “If you don’t mind me saying, you don’t look okay. Tell me who was stupid enough to make such a beautiful woman cry?” he said with a smile. Ashley was speechless by his compliment. No one had ever said she was pretty before let alone call her a woman. Everyone around her treated her like a little girl. She thought for a second on what to say then she responded. “I just had a fight with my boyfriend.” She lied not wanting to tell him about her dad. She knew that if she told Joe about her dad’s rants he wouldn’t like him. As upset as she was at him. She still loved him and the thought of anyone saying anything bad about her made her sick to her stomach.
    After thinking about her comment she started to feel ill all over again. She had just told the most wonderful man in the world that she had a boyfriend. Any chance as slim as they may have been to be with him was now out the window. Why had she been so stupid? She thought to herself. “Well do me a favor. Tell that boyfriend of yours that he’s an idiot for making you cry.” He said as he stuck his hand in his pocket in search of something. Ashley was too distracted by what he had said to pay any attention to what he was doing. He then pulled out a piece of paper out of his pocket.
    CHAPTER:3
    “Do you have a pen?” he asked with half a smile. Ashley fumbled around in her purse for what seemed like forever in desperate search of a pen. Just when she was about to give up she found one and handed it to him. He took the pen and jotted something down on the piece of paper. Then he handed it to her. “This is my phone number. Call me if things don’t work out between you two. I’m just going to keep this to make sure I hear from you.” He said as he stuck the pen in his pocket with an evil grin. “Besides it will give me something to remember you by if I don’t hear from you.” He said as he waited for a response. Ashley stood there for a moment like a deer caught in the headlights desperately searching for the right words to say. At this point they didn’t have to be the right words. Any words at all would have done just fine. However she seemed to forget how to speak. The truth is no man had ever paid her any kind of attention. Not because she was ugly. She was anything but ugly. With her long blonde hair, her baby blue eyes, her height of 5’7 weighing 120 pounds. It was just that her self -esteem had been beaten out of her at a very young age leaving her self-conscience and painfully shy. Joe could tell that about her from the moment that he saw her. That was one of the things that drew him to her. After what seemed like a lifetime Ashley finally