Asher: A Second Chance Novel by Kylie Walker

father was still alive and had a say in it, Asher was sure he wouldn’t want him there but he’s not alive. Fuck!
    He turned towards the Mustang. For a minute he pictured himself as a fourteen-year-old kid. His father had been so excited the day he had brought home the old Mustang. Asher had been beside himself with excitement. His own car! A classic Mustang!
    For the first time in his father’s life he had began to take more time off work so that he could rush home and work on the car with his son. They had shopped for parts together. They had looked through magazines together for ideas on interior and exterior colours. They had talked about chrome and wheels. They had bonded deeper than ever and when they had finished with it, they had something they could both be proud of. It had been a great feeling. Then, less than two years later his mother got sick and his father had started to drink. Asher had gone from a form of hero-worship of his father to a constant, seething anger that threatened to tear him apart.
    Asher had been ashamed of him. He had thought he was weak. Now, seventeen years later he’d had to ask himself, who had his father have to talk to? Asher’s mother had been his father’s best friend. Lily was the one Greg had talked to about everything. When he lost his wife, he had also lost his best friend. Asher questioned whether or not he had been too hard on his father. At least he’d had his friends and Mia, mostly Mia. She had always been his rock throughout his mother’s illness. Maybe he should have tried being there more for his father instead of being so angry with him. Maybe. He was just so young and that was his only defence. He hadn’t known how to handle his mother dying. How was he supposed to understand the pain his father was going through?
    Shit! The guilt was going to eat him up if he didn’t go to the funeral and at least show his father that much respect. He wondered if he was sick and alone before he died. Jesus! He had to go home. He couldn’t help but think about Mia again. Seventeen years is a lifetime. She was probably married by now with children. Fuck!
    He picked up the phone and called Lyle Kentworth back. “Mr. Kentworth, it’s Asher. I just wanted to let you know I’ll be there for the funeral. Is there anything else I will need to take care of regarding the estate?” Asher had no idea if his father had a will or if Asher was even a part of it if one did exist. He would love to have some pictures of his mother, all of them really. He would love to have some of the good memories, before his mother had died and before his entire family fell apart.
    “Yes. Come by my office after the funeral when you’re up to it and we’ll talk. There’s a lot to talk about.”
    Asher wasn’t sure he liked the cryptic sound in Lyle’s tone, but he let it go for now. He went into the house and pulled out his green army duffle bag. He had been carrying the same one since boot camp seventeen years ago. It was faded and held scars from its many travels but like his dog tags, he was attached to it. It gave him a feeling of comfort. They were both part of a life where he felt he had purpose. At least for a while.
    He finished packing and then showered. He dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans and put his dog tags on before grabbing the bag and his keys and heading out to the garage. Haddenfield was only a fourteen hour drive. He decided that instead of flying he would drive. It would give him time to mentally prepare himself for seeing everyone back at home.
    As he drove he thought about Haddenfield. He wondered if the town had grown any. When he had left there were only nine thousand people living there. His parents and Mia’s parents had owned most of the property and real estate in town. Dean’s father and the Proctor’s had been pretty even split on the rest of it. The families had all been there since the beginning of the town. Until all the bad shit happened, it had been a great