Glen’s POV

I stood outside on Ashley’s patio watching the sunrise.   I had spent the last five hours holding a sobbing Davies in my lap, while she begged me not to desert her.  I was tempted.  I didn’t know what had driven me there in the first place.  The bartender at Spinaker’s had been fairly adamant that she was in need of a friend.  I’d taken a shot in the dark and driven to her house immediately.  What I found there was shocking.  Not much of what she said made any sense.  She missed Kyla, and she knew she’d never forgive her.  What had she done to Kyla?  The rambling only grew more confusing when she mentioned that Chelsea had called to tell her she’d run into her.  She already knew Chelsea was in Chicago.  Why did it matter so much that she’d run into Kyla?  Then there was the comment about the bar and Madison being there.  I can see that being a problem.  Madison is after all an arch nemesis of sorts.  I couldn’t tell if Madison was in Chicago or Los Angeles.  At that point I wasn’t sure where Ashley really was.  She seemed to have all of her pronouns misplaced.  Then the crying had gotten the best of her, and she had fallen asleep in my lap.

I had watched her sleep for a little while, but then she started the snoring and drooling, which I just couldn’t deal with, so I went outside.  The California sunrise was the most beautiful in the world.  Most beautiful, sure, maybe not the most enjoyable.  I remembered the sunrises in Ohio and how the morning dew gave off a sweet smell.  Fresh air and the smell of honeysuckle—that’s an Ohio sunrise.  As I stood there, I yearned for my hometown.  Then I realized that, like Ashley, I was really only yearning for the past.  I did miss the smell of my home, but mostly I missed my family.  I missed how perfect we all seemed to mesh together, and as I thought about how quickly we crumbled, a single tear found its way down the side of my cheek.

I pulled out my phone and I dialed a number that I hadn’t dialed in over a year.  I wasn’t even sure if it would connect, but I dialed it anyway.