Chapter 13

Dana laid in her bed regretting every decision she had made tonight. She never realized what Sam coming back really meant for her and her family. She definitely didn't expect "The Ghost" argument to come back up after all these years.

She was about 10 when a familiar conversation came up one she had heard many times and normally she would sleep through it. However, this time she chose not to. She went as far down the stairs as she could without exposing herself to her parents. She planned to stop her parents argument in its tracks but that wasn't the case.

*3 Years Earlier*

Carly stormed into the kitchen where Freddie was sitting doing work from the office. She threw a stack of papers down on the table right in front him.

"Carly, what the hell?" Freddie exclaimed as the papers flew all over the place.

"You've been looking for her again." Carly all but yelled at him.

Freddie sighed as he noticed what the papers were. They were all his research over the past few weeks in his search for Sam. "What were you doing going through my files?"

"Don't turn this around on me Freddie. I was looking for paperwork on the house that you keep on your laptop and I found the damn folder they were in!" She said back. "You lied to me! You told me you were done looking for her and I find this shit."

"I only lied to you because I knew you would react like this." Freddie said.

"I only react like this Freddie because you keep doing it. It's been ten years, the first two years were understanding, but now you're obsessed with a ghost."

"Look you may be okay with not knowing whether she is alive or okay, but it's killing me."

"Why do you care so much huh?" She asked.

"She's our best friend Carly."

"She left Freddie! She left in the middle of our wedding reception and didn't say a word. How much of a friend could she be?"

"Carly, I'm worried about her okay. Anything could've happened to her. She could've died years ago for all we know and you may be okay with acting like she never existed, but I can't do that."

"Yeah, Freddie I would like to act like she never existed, but I can't because she seems to be in every damn inch of our relationship and she's not even here anymore."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Freddie asked standing up.

"Nothing Freddie… God!" She exclaimed putting her face in her hands. Wishing she had never uttered those words. "Freddie the whole point of this is that you made me a promise. You said that it would stop yet here you are yet again."

"Does a promise not mean anything to you anymore?" She said walking across the room to the sink looking for anything to keep her mind occupied as the thoughts ran through her head.

"Okay, now what the hell does that mean and don't say nothing." Freddie

"It means you have been breaking the promises to your family since day one Freddie. You have missed preschool graduations, basketball games, family trips to Yakima because of your job and now this."

"That is not fair Carly. I was starting up a business we all had to make sacrifices to get it done. I'm not making up excuses for missing those activities, but I have tried to attend everything I can."

"And, that excuse only works for back then, but what about now?"

"What…"

"Freddie I have to beg you to stop working and spend an hour with your family, but you've been spending hours and hours searching for a girl who doesn't want to be found."

"I'm done… I'm tired of fighting a ghost for you."

"Okay, Carly now you just sound crazy." Freddie said turning around looking out the kitchen window.

"Do I really Freddie? Or are my eyes just finally seeing through this bullshit of a relationship. It's obvious Freddie you don't want to be here, and now you don't have to be… Get Out."

"So just like that we're over?"

"Freddie we need to stop lying to ourselves... we've been over before we even really started. I can't do it anymore" Carly stated.

"You know if I walk out that door there will be no turning back this time." Freddie said giving her one last chance to change her mind.

"Leave Freddie." She said turning her back to him, so she wouldn't have to watch him walk out the door.

Freddie scoffed before grabbing his keys and walking out the door.

Carly looked up after a few seconds to see a very stunned Dana standing at the end of the stairs.

"Oh sweetie…" Carly started, but Dana ran past her and ran out the door to try and stop Freddie before he left. She screamed out daddy as he backed out before speeding into the night.

She turned and stared at her mom. "You made him leave…" Was all she could say.

"Oh honey I am so sorry." Carly said, but Dana could only shake her head and repeat "You made him leave.

Carly quickly wrapped her daughter in her arms as she broke down in tears. Praying that one day she would understand.

*Back to the Present*

Dana closed her eyes. If she had known Sam was the start of the end she probably wouldn't have wished so hard for her mom to find out.

"Carly, I said I was sorry." Freddie said as he rubbed his head. He had headed straight to Carly's as soon as he finished up apologizing to Lily's parents and paying for the entire meal to make it up to them.

"Oh please, you're only sorry because you got caught." Carly said back. "I can't believe this. I can't believe after thirteen years she just comes back and you knew. You knew and didn't tell me. Do you hate me that much Freddie, that you would conspire to get her back here…"

"Conspire? Carly for the thousandth time I didn't know it was her."

"And for the hundred thousandth time I don't fucking believe you Freddie." Carly retorted causing Freddie to throw his hands in the air.

"You spent years obsessively searching for her, and you're telling me that Gibby 'coincidentally' stumbled on her, but didn't tell you that he accidently found her."

"He didn't tell threatened him within an inch of his life."

"Whatever Freddie, you still lied to me about it for months and what's worse my kids were lying to me."

"I tried to tell you. You weren't ready to hear it."

"It doesn't matter! The day she met my children, you should've opened your damn mouth and said something."

Freddie sighed. "You're right… I should've told you. I'm sorry… again." It fell silent as both parties collected their thoughts.

"So what now," Carly asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Am I just supposed to accept the fact that you two are together?"

"I never said we were together." Carly gave him a knowing look.. "Accepting it would be the easiest thing to do. Which means you're probably not going to."

"Freddie she destroyed our marriage."

"She didn't destroy our marriage Carly I did."

"Yeah, because of her," Carly finished.

"Thought we always said our marriage ended for multiple reasons?"

Carly fell silent. Freddie stood up from his seat and walked to Carly pulling her into a reluctant hug. After a few seconds of resisting she finally relaxed into it.

"She's here for 3 more months." HE finally said.

"3 more months and then that's it? She's gone?"

"I don't know. For now her plan is to go back…" He said looking down to the ground not knowing if he should further talk about his thoughts deciding against it. "I need to know that you can handle that."

Carly studied Freddie very closely. He wasn't asking permission to see her. No, he wanted her understanding, something she wasn't sure she had. Her heart hurt and she wasn't sure why. She had put Sam out of her mind years ago. And, the only times she did randomly pop up in her head led to an extreme rage. Now here she was back in Seattle for the next 3 months and she was being asked to play nice.

She sighed deeply. "Just 3 more months," She asked to confirm. Freddie nodded his head. "Fine, under a few stipulation. I want to know when she is going to be around OUR kids, and no sleepovers while they are with you on your weekends."

"Fair enough," Freddie said happy to get what he got out of her. He took in her still stress demeanor.

"You know you might feel better if you sat down with her and talk everything out."

"Okay now you're pushing it." She said walking away from him.

"I'm just saying at one point in time yall were best friends, and it kills me on the inside that ended," He said feeling responsible.

"Well all was said the day she ran off on my wedding day without saying a word to me." Carly stated. Freddie shrugged at least he had tried. "Speaking of which, while you're busy fighting for her don't you need to I don't know talk to her? You lied to her too." Carly said.

She honestly didn't care, but she was tired of talking about her and needed sometime to digest everything.

"Yeah, I'm going to head that way now."

He went towards her and kissed her on the forehead. As he did after every fight while they were married. "Thank you for understanding." He said. See you guys Tuesday.

"Yep," Carly said.

Freddie nodded and walked out the back door. Carly watched from the window as he climbed in his car and sped off into the night. She sat over her sink and tried to wash her dishes, but as everything replayed in her head she found herself getting angry all over again. She paused as she picked up one of the plates that her and Freddie received when they first got married before she realized it, it was across the room smashed into pieces. She slid down to the floor in tears. Unsure of how she was going to survive the next three months.