Asher: A Second Chance Novel Read Online Free Page B

to do that to you. Maybe I should just take you home.”
    “Do you need to get home?”
    “No but…” His voice trailed off. He didn’t want to be a downer on their first date but he really didn’t want to be alone. He hoped she didn’t want to end the date.
    “Do you have somewhere else you need to be?”
    “No.”
    “Someone you would rather talk to?”
    He looked at her then with a look in his eyes that she hoped he would never lose. It was almost reverent. “There is no one I would rather talk to.”
    “Good.” she smiled. “Tell you what. Take me by the Outpost and I’ll run in and grab us some sandwiches and we’ll go eat them at the park and talk.”
    “Are you sure?”
    She smiled and said, “There is no one that I would rather be with tonight Asher. I’d like to be here for you, if you’ll let me.”
    “I’d like that too,” he said.
    They went to the sandwich shop and they each ordered a sub sandwich and chips. They took them and a couple of sodas and headed to the park. The evening was warm, but as they walked inside the gates of the park, a slight breeze rustled and scattered the leaves around them. The breeze carried the scent of the flowers that all seemed to be in bloom and the freshly cut grass competed with the smell of them. The beams of moonlight and the lamps that lit the walkway shone down on them as they walked across the playground and found a bench to sit on. Asher was staring at his sandwich like he didn’t know what to do with it. Mia’s heart was breaking for him. She finally reached over and took it from his hands. He looked at her and she offered him a smile and replaced the sandwich with her hand. He squeezed it and said, “I think I’m just in shock, you know?”
    She nodded. Mia knew that she couldn’t begin to imagine what he was feeling, but she also knew that if it were her, she would be in shock too. Cancer was something that happened to other people’s families. “How is she doing with it?” Mia asked him.
    He smiled then. “She’s such a mom. She’s worried about me and worried about my dad. She always comes last. She says she wants everything to go on normally as long as it can. She’ll do the treatments but if the cancer keeps progressing she doesn’t want to go to the hospital. She wants to…” His voice trailed off. He swallowed hard and acted like it took all his strength to say it. “She wants to die at home.”
    Mia hated seeing him so torn up. The fact that he was so strong made it even worse she thought. He should be crying but she had a feeling that would never happen when anyone else was around. She was bright enough to know that nothing she said was going to take away his pain and anger and frustration. So she didn’t say anything. Instead she opened her arms and he moved into them and she wrapped him up in an embrace. She laid her head against his chest and squeezed her arms around his warm, hard body. His arms were large and strong and he was warm and for a second the way he held her made her feel like he was the one protecting and comforting her. The world around them seemed to fade as they held onto each other. Neither of them wanted the moment to end.

FOUR
     
     
    “Where’s Dad?” It was Sunday afternoon, almost two weeks after Asher’s mother had announced her diagnosis. He had gone out for a run in the morning and when he got back, his mother was making breakfast and simultaneously cleaning the kitchen.
    “He went out. Do you want waffles?”
    Asher walked into the kitchen and took the orange juice out of the fridge. He thought about drinking it from the carton but one look from his mother and he walked over and took a glass from the cabinet.
    “Mom, you don’t have to make me breakfast.”
    “I always make you breakfast on Sunday mornings.”
    He poured the O.J. and leaned against the counter as he drank it. “I know, but.” His voice trailed off. He didn’t want to say it out loud.
    She put down her spatula and