Body of Ash Read Online Free

same pink sweater and blue jeans she had selected days before.  She checked her phone at least five times and even offered to help her mot her finish assembling the Caesar salad.
     
    A part of her feared he wouldn’t come, another part worried he would.
     
    Last fall, when Jason stopped her at her locker and asked that she accompany him to homecoming, she was flattered. Despite the chatter that he had a reputation of being a hot head at his old school, Rachel found the way he spoke passionately about the world and his interests, intriguing. Her two closest girlfriends from church, Beth and Nicole, cautioned her about getting involved with him. With his preference for taking the seat in the back row of each class, they feared the dark haired guy with a tattoo across his biceps would be Rachel’s undoing.
     
    Yet they stare and preen when he walks past .
     
    It didn’t take long for word to spread that the dirt biker was into the churchy kid, confusing most cliques. Jason didn’t fit the stereotypes the small school felt comfortable lumping each new student in. Hellion or not, his g rade point average placed him among the top ten of the class and Rachel’s heart raced whenever he flashed his reserved grin just for her.
     
    After the dance, she was overjoyed when he continued to call and ask her out. Although he wasn’t afraid to get in anyone’s face if they talked down to him or showed Rachel any disrespect, Jason was nothing but tender with her. Once they shared their first kiss, Rachel realized her feelings went beyond a budding attraction. Letting go of her worries about what everyone thought was the best thing she had ever done. The courage to discover him freed her to find herself .
     
    Just once she asked him “why her?” Why out of all of Canaan’s single girls, she was the one he picked? With the sweetest of grins, he told her it was because she didn’t judge him. When he moved to the small Connecticut town, she was the first one to genuinely seem interested in who he was. She looked past the rumors and didn’t care about his image. Once he got to know her, he saw she was more than just a pastor’s kid. Rachel was smart and giving and could make him laugh. The thought was still dizzying.
     
    Having Jason separate from her family was like having a life in another worl d. With him she could be as funny and carefree as she wanted because she wasn’t confined to being a pastor’s child.  On the back of his dirt bike or in his arms, she was no longer bound to the pressure of being Pastor Jones ’s only daughter.
     
    Pushing her pasta around on her plate, she couldn’t force herself to eat. The table setting was lovely with its white table cloth and sterling flatware. The silver was polished and the linens were pressed. Even the lasagna was served in a casserole dish instead of the flimsy aluminum pan it came in. It was all for appearances, they never ate together anymore.
     
    Today was her birthday. Tomorrow was Halloween . There were a hundred places she would rather be with Jason. They could share fries and milkshakes with their friends at Lucinda’s Diner , play a round of mini golf at The Cove, or better yet, go to Six Flags.
     
    “Rachel, your father is speaking to you.” Her mother’s tartness brought her back to the room – to her need to please them. “He has your gift.” Angela Jones was wearing a tailored business suit.
     
    She can’t wear jeans and a sweatshirt like most moms.
     
    Her father looked at her. His eyes revealed a distance they both could feel.
     
    When she was younger, she revered him like his Sunday morning worshippers.  With a child’s naivety, she believed Brian Jones walked a narrow path, in route to a higher moral plain. Last week, she heard he was spending evenings in Katie Finch ’s mother’s bedroom, guiding her in a private Bible Study.
     
    “Well, since dinner is over, we might as well give you your gift,” he said. In his hand was a large