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CHAPTER SIX
Melody
Asher and I sat on the floor in the middle of his mom’s living room going through some of her old boxes of stuff. Thank goodness she didn’t have a whole lot of stuff, and what she did have was well organized. We were just about finished. There were only two boxes left in the house. The rest had all been put on a truck and given to Goodwill. There’d been a few things Asher kept of hers, but not much, mostly pictures and a small case that held some of her jewelry.
“Mel, why can’t you take my word for it, Alex is bad news for you.”
I ignored his question. Or tried to. All day, Asher had seemed hell-bent on talking to me about my upcoming date with Alex. Actually, hell-bent on talking me out of it was more like it. Why couldn’t he just let it go? I eyed the green clock in the shape of a frog hanging on the kitchen wall. That clock had been around as long as I could remember. I loved that clock. It made me think of Nora every afternoon after school, telling us we needed to do our homework before our mother got home from work. Nora worked evenings, and our mom worked days. They took turns watching us. “Are you going to take the frog clock?”
He glanced up at it and shook his head then continued to search through the box in front of him. We sat in silence for a few minutes then I asked. “Why do you care so much that I’m going to sleep with Alex?”
“Oh, so now you’ve just resigned yourself to the fact that you are definitely going to let him screw you?”
“I fail to see how it’s any of your concern. You really need to get off my case about it. I’m going out with him Friday night whether you like it or not. He’s taking me to a concert. A concert that I really want to go to. If we end up doing it, that’s none of your business. And just so you know, if we do, you can be sure I’ll spare you the details.”
“He’s a creep and he’s only going to hurt you.”
“I’ll take my chances.”
I was looking through another box of pictures. I found several photos of Ash, Ted, and me. A bunch more of just Ash at different stages of his childhood. One for every year at Christmas from the time Ash was an infant. I smiled at the sweet newborn picture of him. His hair so thick and dark, even back then. There was one with him and a man who I assumed was his dad. I’d never met him so I wasn’t sure, but who else could it be? Asher looked to be about three or four maybe. He didn’t talk about his dad often. I don’t suppose he knew much about him. We’d moved next door to Ash and his mom shortly after my dad left us. We were lucky the day Nora called and told my mom that the house next door to hers was available to rent. I think my mom had us packing our bags before she’d even hung up the phone.
“Is this your dad?” I asked, holding up the photo so he could see it.
Ash nodded and grabbed the snapshot.
“How old are you there?”
“Four, I think. This was probably the last time I ever saw him.” He took out his wallet and tucked the picture inside one of the flaps. I felt bad for him. He’d never really had a chance to get to know his dad.
“I miss Teddy already,” I said to change the subject. Plus, I was looking at different pictures of the three of us. I picked up another photo of Ash and studied it. I remembered the day it had been taken. It was his seventh birthday. We were both dressed as Star Wars characters. He was Luke and I was Leia. He’d been such a cute boy. I’d always thought so. He still was, but now I wouldn’t call him cute. Now…I’d call him rather yummy looking. Especially the way he looked right at that moment. His black t-shirt hugged his chest and arms, showing off his sexy, taut muscles as he breathed in and out. I had to blink to stop my mind from wandering back to the vision of his bare chest that I’d seen last night. I stared at him for a bit, wondering what it was that had been capturing his attention for the past several minutes. His head was bent down, his hair falling over his forehead, his eyes intent, focused on something he was reading.
“I miss him, too,” Asher said, finally. The way his brows knitted together gave his beautiful face a sour expression.
“What’s that?”
He didn’t look up. He didn’t even acknowledge that I had asked him a question. He just stared at a piece of paper.
“Asher. What is that?”
“Huh?” He still didn’t look up.
I got up, walked to where he sat, and plopped down beside him. He handed the paper to me and I began to read. It was a handwritten letter to Asher. I knew from the very first sentence that it was from Nora, his mom. It wasn’t a long letter, just a couple of paragraphs. But what was contained in those two paragraphs had been enough to render my best friend speechless. Nora wanted him to find his two half-brothers. She’d supplied their addresses for Asher to go see them. It was the last few sentences of the note that choked me up.
“Asher, please, I beg you. Don’t live your life as a lonely, bitter man. Find your brothers, Jackson and Brodie. You have to believe that they had nothing to do with the way your father treated you or me. Remember, he abandoned them the same way he deserted you.”
I didn’t say anything at first. I waited, wanting to hear something from Ash. Instead of saying something, he grabbed the letter back, crumpled it into a ball, and tossed it overhanded across the room and into the wastebasket. Normally, I would have laughed and said “good shot.” Then I would have picked up another piece of paper and crumpled it too before sending it across the room to the trash. Then we’d take turns until someone lost, which was usually me.
“What are you going to do?” I said at the risk of being told to mind my own business. Asher hated those two guys, though from what Nora had told my mom, I knew they probably didn’t even know Ash existed.
“Nothing. That’s what I’m going to do. I don’t need them, and they, sure as shit, don’t need me.”
I bit my lower lip. I was lucky to have Ted. But I knew that if Teddy and I ever found out we had another sibling somewhere, we’d want to meet them. Maybe get to know them. “I think you should do what your mother wanted.”
“I didn’t ask you.” He closed up the box and stood, ready to leave. I closed the one I was looking through and stood, as well.
“No. You didn’t. But I’m your best friend. And as your best friend, I’m telling you to go find them. If for no other reason than to look them in the eyes and say, ‘phooey on you, assholes.’”
Ash laughed. “That’s what you think I should say?”
