For the Love of Ash (44 page)

"I'm all right. How are you?" I pulled out my stack of notecards and began running through the cards, attempting to memorize parts of the brain from my psychology class. It was so fuzzy up there that I doubted anything was sticking. I was distracted.

"Better than you it seems. Spill." She grabbed the notecards from my hands and put them on the other side of her, forcing me to look up.
 

"Give them back. I have to study," I told her while holding my hand out, palm up. She shook her head and then pretended to look at a watch on her wrist.
 

"You've never looked worse, Maggie. I can help. But you gotta give me something." She smoothed down her slicked back dark hair.

"That's definitely a way to make me feel good," I drawled, rolling my eyes at her. I stacked the remaining notecards on my lap and sighed. "Luke broke up with me."

"Oh no." She scooted closer to me and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. "Why did he do it? Y'all seemed so perfect together."

"He got scared off by Asher." I looked behind me, paranoid that someone would hear. "Asher called him dad, and he just bailed. He has some family issues, so he was worried he'd turn into his father. I guess his therapist convinced him he was a dumb-ass, and he came back. But I can't trust him now."

"Of course you can't, sweetie. But that doesn't mean you shouldn't give him another chance."
 

"But—"

"No. You listen, 'cause I got a lot to say. I've really come to like you, Maggie. You're so innocent and loyal. But that's your fault, right there. The boy learned his lesson! Every man has to be trained." Her light blue eyes landed on me with pity in their glare.
 

"He's not a dog."

"Every man has faults. And yours just learned his lesson, and now he's running back with his tail between his legs. Sounds like a dog to me." She raised her eyebrow and half smiled. I pursed my lips because I didn't want to be laughing at a time like this. My heart was broken!
 

"If it was just me, then you're right. I'd take the time to give him another shot. But you didn't see Asher when Luke didn't show up for Thanksgiving. You didn't see the tears in his eyes. I can't do that to him again."

"Asher is nine-years-old. Take it slowly, then. Build a friendship. I'm not saying marry the guy. Trust me, marriage only leads to more problems." She shook her head as if speaking from experience.
 

"Is that what you did with Michael?" I asked her, hoping that I wasn't digging too deep.
 

"Michael and I have a strange relationship. But it works for us. When he's here, it's great, and when he's gone, well…he's gone. We make it work. I'd hardly call what we have a healthy relationship, though. What you and Luke have shown me, that's true love."

"How do you know that?" I asked her as I leaned against her side.
 

"I mean, I don't really. But I saw you two together. It felt right; it looked right. Something just clicked when I saw you two. There's no explanation."

"I need an explanation to know I'm doing something right."
 

"You're thinking too systematically. Just stop trying to plan and organize things and control it all. Just live. At the end of the day, things just happen. And I believe it all happens for a reason. You two were brought together. Do you think it was just so he could break your heart?" She raised both her brows as she waited for my answer.

"No. I guess not."

"So what are you going to do now?" she asked as she placed both her hands on her lap, rubbing them up and down her legs to get them warm. I shoved mine into the front pocket of my sweatshirt.

"I don't know."

"Maggie!" She reached over and slapped my arm. "You're going to give the boy another chance, because if it's meant to be, he'll prove you wrong."

"Right. That." I nodded, although I wasn't quite sure I had made up my mind. I still had many doubts about my relationship with Luke and I just wasn't ready to move on. "Can I have my notecards back?" I stuck my hand out, braving the cold.
 

"Fine." She sighed and handled them over.

"Thanks for the chat," I said as I cycled through the foreign words.

"Any time, Mags."

Chapter Forty-Six

Luke

"Hey, buddy." Asher walked over to me with a Cheshire cat smile on his face. I reached my hand out and high-fived him. Things were starting to return to normal with Asher and me. He came to class early, helped me. During recess I helped him outside with his stick handling.
 

He threw his bag in the corner of the gym and bent down to tie his shoe. I let him assist me setting up the workshop for the day. We were doing basketball for another week, so Ash helped me pull out the ball racks and cones.

I grabbed Asher and Lynn, another student who liked to help me, and used them to demonstrate different plays and stances. The kids loved basketball the most so far. Asher was laughing with a group of boys as they shot baskets when the bell rang, signaling the end of the class period.
 

"We'll continue tomorrow!" I yelled over the noise of the students shuffling around and chatting. "If you get a chance, practice and pick your favorite type of shot so we can show tomorrow."
 

I started gathering the balls and put them on a rack in the corner of the room. My fifth grade class was next, and they did the same units as my fourth, so I left the balls out, just stacked them nicely.

"Shut up,
Ass
. Go kiss Stinky Lynny, again."
 

Immediately, I turned around. Asher was surrounded by the same group of boys he was just laughing with. He was holding Lynn's hand, almost like he was protecting her.
 

"Leave her alone," Asher said. He wasn't acting affected by their aggressiveness. He was calm. I didn't want to have to go over and save him, but I knew that I should since their safety was my responsibility. I started to walk over.

"We don't wanna leave her alone," the ringleader said. Riley was a bully—simply put. He was super competitive in class, would throw hissy fits when his team lost, and had a poor attitude. There were moments when I saw him help others, but it was rare.

"Go away, Riley." Asher stood his ground. I was proud of him because he wasn't throwing punches yet. He was so different than me, but I knew that was because of Maggie.
 

"You go away,
Ass.
"

"Don't call me that."

"What? Ass?" The other boys laughed, clutching their stomachs. I stepped forward to help, but I didn't need to. Asher shoved Riley backwards. The boys caught him before he fell over, but Riley was livid. "You touch me again,
Ass,
and I'll punch you in the face."

Asher lifted his finger and twirled it in the air, teasing the boy. Lynn was still behind him, biting her fingernails as she clutched her Hello Kitty backpack to her chest. I cleared my throat loud enough for them to hear.

"Hey," I said as I stepped between the two groups. "Let's go." I pointed towards the door.
 

"Go where?" Riley said, acting like an angel. He widened his eyes, looked up at me, pretending like I didn't see anything. His little minions were behind him, faces pale.
 

"My office. Sit on the bench outside."

"We gotta go to lunch, though," Riley whined.
 

"Bench." The boys all listened and ran just outside the gym doors, where a long bench pressed against the wall just outside of my door. Asher may have stood his ground, but I wasn't going to let them get away with bully behavior.
 

"You two okay?" I asked them. Asher was still holding Lynn's hand.
 

"Yeah. Asher got them to go away," Lynn said, blinking up at Ash like he was a hero. I happened to agree with her.
 

"I'm proud of you," I told Asher. "Don't let anyone push you around, okay?" I pulled him into my chest and gave him a one-armed hug.

"I know." I let him go, and he picked up his backpack, slinging it over his shoulder. "I have a hockey game tomorrow…" He looked down at his hands, fidgeting with the loose strap of his bag. "Can you come?"

"I don't know if your mom would like that," I said because I knew it would be bad. She'd make me leave, for sure. I tried to get her to study with me for our final yesterday, but she refused.
 

"Please. You haven't seen me play in so long. I've been practicing a lot. I'll do a wrist shot if you come." His green eyes widened, begging me. "I'm finally allowed to play after my concussion."

"I'll think about it, okay? I just can't upset Maggie. I have a plan."
 

"What kind of plan?" Asher asked. I walked towards the door, knowing Ash had to get to lunch. Lynn followed us. Truthfully, I forgot she was there.
 

"To get her back. I love your mom, and I need her."

"What's the plan?" Lynn asked, pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose. She was cute for Ash, long blonde hair bunched into two pigtails high on her head.
 

"You know how you have to drive all the way to the Twin Rinks for your hockey league? Well, I want to build a rink right here, in town. I can run a fall league and hire some people to help. I already am looking at land. Remember my friend, Finn?"

"Are you kidding me?!" Asher jumped around, skipping in front of me as we made our way towards the double doors.

"You can't tell her yet. I want it to be a surprise."

"I swear, I won't. I'm really good at keeping secrets. Really. I promise."

"I won't tell anyone either. But I don't know who Maggie is…" Lynn said, hiking her pink bag up higher. Asher smiled at her.

"She's my mom." Asher rolled his eyes at Lynn.

"I thought your mom died."

"She did. Maggie's my sister, but my mom now. She takes care of me."

"Oh. Yeah." Lynn nodded, although I didn't think she understood what Asher was talking about.
 

"Can we help you?" Asher asked as we stopped outside of the double doors. I glanced to my right and saw the five boys all sitting on the bench with their heads down and hands on their laps.

"Sure. I'll definitely need your guys' help." They smiled at the same time. "Go eat. I'll see you both tomorrow." I turned and faced the boys.

"Mr. Wilson, I—" I held up my hand for Riley to stop talking.

"I have to report this to Principal T, so you all have to come with me to the office so we can talk to him. I'm sorry, but we don't allow any form of bullying at Woodbury."

"We weren't bullying," Riley said as they all stood up.
 

"When you treat other children poorly, that's bullying."

"But she sucks at sports!"
 

"Why does that matter?" I asked him, cocking my head to the side. "She's probably better at something than you. Would you like it if she made fun of you for that?"

He shook his head, and when I turned my back he mumbled, "She's not good at anything…" I decided to hold my tongue since they were just children and let Principal T deal with an appropriate punishment.
 

I was debating what to do. I didn't want to let Asher down. I had already done that once. We were still recovering from when I left that night, and I couldn't risk him hating me again.
 

"Liam!" I yelled down the hallway. He had made it through the week with no problem. I dropped him off at school on my way to Woodbury Elementary, picked him up late on my way home.
 

He had officially moved into my guest room. The walls were now covered in
Halo
and
League of Legends
posters. His clothes were in piles arranged by dirty, kind of dirty, and clean-ish—his descriptions, not mine.
 

Mother had yet to notice that he was gone—or if she did she just didn't care. When Lindsay found out, she rushed over and started crying the second she saw Liam huddled in my bed. Lilly was next. She refused to leave, stayed the night in my bed while I took the couch, and finally left before school started.