I'll Take Care Of You

Chapter 15

            It's been a week since my mother's funeral. I was trying to put the Catherine situation out of my mind all week, but now it was time to take action.

            "What are we going to do?" I asked Ash one day in the car on the way home from school.

He was staring out the windshield. I stared at him waiting for an answer. He looked over at me for a second, then back towards the front.

            "Honestly, I don't know." He said with a frown on his beautiful face. I sighed and leaned my head against the back of the seat. I closed my eyes, hoping an idea would come to mind. I came up with nothing.

            We pulled up in front of the house a few minutes later. I unbuckled my seatbelt, grabbed my bag from the back, and then got out of the car; slamming the door behind me. I thought I slammed it really hard. I was waiting for Ashton to say something about it, but when he didn't, I knew I was safe. He walked up beside me and grabbed my hand, leading me into the house.

            Since it was Friday, we had the whole weekend to think of Operation Catherine. Exhausted from a long day at school, I went to lie on the couch. I saw Ash head off towards his favorite place in the house; the kitchen. Of course he would be in there. I shook my head smiling and then closed my eyes for a moment. I noticed it was quiet, almost too quiet. I wondered why that was, but then I remembered the rest of the family were gone for the weekend. Robert and Karen were celebrating their 30th wedding anniversary in Hawaii for a week -they left early this morning-, and the younger kids were at a weekend camp that they go to every year. Lauren on the other hand was with some of her friends, partying it up in Vegas...granny style. And last but not least, Sky was spending the weekend with a few of her friends at a friend of theirs lake house. This left me and Ash in the house for the weekend, alone. This made me nervous. We had never had the house to ourselves yet. I was waiting to see what this weekend will hold.

            "Babe, you hungry?" Ash asked me. I opened my eyes to find him popping his head out around the corner of the kitchen.

            I snapped out of my daydreaming. "Uh, yah." I answered back, getting up and heading to the kitchen.

            I played with my crumbs on the plate, moving them around with my fork. Ash had made his red velvet cake for dessert. It was really amazing. I looked down at my plate, twirling the fork around, when a hand was placed on mine. I looked up to see Ash looking back at me with his beautiful hazel eyes. They were more of a green today, but still beautiful.

            "Are you ok?" He asked, removing his hand from mine. I dropped my fork and then got out of my chair to go over and sit in his lap. He wound his arms around my waist, holding me close to him while I wrapped my arms around his neck. We just stared at each other, lost in one another's eyes. He moved a strand of hair from my face; tucking it behind my right ear.

  I leaned my forehead against his, closing my eyes. I heard my heart pounding, as if it would leap out of my chest at any moment.