Asher: A Second Chance Novel by Kylie Walker

himself. He hated that she was signing it because anything they did to her or for her would be extending her time on this earth just a little bit longer. He felt guilty about that, but it was so hard to be unselfish and understanding when it was your mother they were talking about dying.
    Two days before Mia’s seventeenth birthday Asher sat at his mother’s bedside and they both stared at a gameshow on television when she asked weakly, “What are you doing to celebrate Mia’s birthday?”
    “I was hoping you wouldn’t mind if I cooked her dinner here?” Lily no longer made the trip downstairs to the dining room. She pretty much did everything from the master bedroom. His dad had begun sleeping on the couch when he was home and only entering the bedroom for brief daily visits with his wife.
    Lily smiled. “That’s a wonderful idea. You won’t burn down the kitchen, will you?”
    Asher grinned at her and said, “I might set off the smoke alarm like some people I know.”
    Lily laughed. She had made her first Thanksgiving dinner from scratch when Asher was about five years old. She hadn’t covered the turkey pan with a lid or foil and she had cooked it too long. As the skin turned to ash and dripped down onto the bottom of the oven, it had began to smoke. Every smoke detector downstairs began going off. Asher remembered his father teasing her about it and when he saw that she had actual tears in her eyes. He had taken her into his arms and told her how amazing she was. ‘ You don’t have to cook a perfect turkey. I’m actually glad that you didn’t.’
    Looking confused and with tears now rolling down her cheeks, Lily had asked him, ‘Why?’
    Asher remembered his father kissing the side of her face and saying, ‘Because then you would have been too perfect.’ He had taken them all out to dinner that night and it was one of the best Thanksgivings he could remember. He knew even then how much his parents loved each other. He just wished now that his father would stop acting like such a pussy.
     

EIGHT
     
     
    Asher gave his mom her meds and read to her until she went to sleep. Then he kissed her softly on the forehead and went downstairs to check on the dinner he was making for Mia. He had broken the cardinal rule of friendship and had begged his best friend to tell his parents he was taking his sister to the city for dinner and to an under eighteen club. He had rented a hotel room for his best friend and Travis told his mom and dad that he and Mia were going to stay overnight and drive home the next day. It hadn’t been easy convincing him. Travis had made him swear he only wanted Mia to stay over so they could ‘cuddle’ and he wouldn’t take it any further than that. For the first time, Asher had lied to his best friend. He suspected Travis knew he was lying but it made them both feel better that he didn’t know his friend’s real intentions.
    The other thing that helped was that Travis had started dating Stacey Stuart a few months before. Asher knew that they were having sex because Travis had told him. Stacey was a senior like Travis, she had just turned eighteen. A night in the city in a hotel room he hadn’t had to pay for and a nice dinner that Asher footed the bill for too and he couldn’t say no. On his way out of town he had dropped Mia off and when Asher had opened the front door his friend put two fingers to his eyes and pointed them in Asher’s direction. Asher had grinned at him and waited until he was gone to pull Mia into his arms and kiss her deeply.
    “Happy birthday, baby.”
    She smiled and snuggled into his chest. “Thank you.” She giggled and said, “You smell like pasta sauce.”
    “I made eggplant parmigiana.”
    Mia pulled back and looked up at him. “That’s my favourite.”
    “I know,” he said, kissing her on the forehead. “You told me the night I took you to Tony’s for dinner.”
    “You made it all by yourself?”
    He grinned. “Mostly. I ran back and