Ashleigh’s eyes widened in surprise when she recognized the man standing on her porch.
“Oh my gosh! Lance, I haven’t seen you in forever!” She rushed forward and threw her arms around his neck.
“Hey Ash, how’s it going?” he chuckled as he returned her hug. He let her go and gave her a good look over. She looked a lot thinner than she had the last time Lance had seen her. She was wearing gray pajama pants, a baby blue tank top, and a blue bandanna was tied around her head in an attempt to hide her hair. Ashleigh’s once long thick hair was beginning to thin out some. It looked like she had gotten in cut in an attempt to try and hide that fact. She looked tired but when her green eyes met with his, the old sparkle came back instantly.
“Come in,” she invited as she stepped out of the doorway. Lance entered into the familiar house and began to look around. Ashleigh shut the door behind him. She noticed his wondering eyes. “Probably not much has changed since you were here last, maybe just the furniture. My parents love the house the way it is…I don’t think they will ever change it,” she laughed. “Um, why don’t you come into the living room and sit down,” Ashleigh suggested. Lance nodded and followed her. When they walked into the room Ashleigh walked over to the TV and shut it off.
“I hope I’m not disturbing you,” he said when he noticed that she had a pillow and a blanket lying on the couch. The brunette quickly made her way to the couch to clean up her mess.
“No, you aren’t disturbing me. I am glad to see you. When did you get in town?” she asked as she set her stuff down in the chair next to the couch. She then motioned for Lance to sit down, when he took her suggestion, she joined him on the couch.
“Monica and I got here yesterday.”
“Oh she’s here? Wow, I would really like to meet her.”
“Well I would love for the two of you to meet. I will have to bring her down here before we go home.”
“So how have things been?” Ashleigh asked as she tucked her long legs underneath her.
“I’ve been so busy lately! Me and the guys have been in the studio working on the new album and in a couple weeks we hit the road for the new tour.”
“How are the guys doing?” She was looking down at her pant leg as her finger traced the seam.
“They are doing great. Justin is spending all his spare time with his girlfriend Keeley. I think they may get engaged soon.”
“Really? Wow! What are all the little teenies of the world going to do if the men of Nsync all get married?” She glanced up at Lance to see his reaction. She broke into a grin when she saw Lance roll his eyes.
“I think they’ll survive!” He said as he shook his head. He knew how fanatical some of their fans were.
“Lets see, JC has been producing some stuff for some other groups. Joey has been busy with a movie and Chris is always doing something for Fumanskeeto.”
“Wow, it sounds like you all definitely have full plates!” She exclaimed. She shook her head. “I don’t know how you do it.”
“To tell you the truth I don’t either. When I sit back and actually think about it all it gets a little overwhelming. But I just take my schedule day by day, and so far so good.”
“So your mom told me that you just got a new house?” She asked.
“Yeah, we actually just bought a house right across the street from Justin and Keeley. It’s really great, but we still have a ton of unpacking and decorating to do! We haven’t been able to get much done because we bought it right before we got married and then we left on the honeymoon. Hey, when we’re done putting the place together I’ll fly you down for a visit and you can stay with us. How does that sound?”
“That’d be great! I haven’t been down there in ages. I’d love to see the guys too,” she replied with a smile. “So how was the honeymoon?” She looked at him and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively with an evil grin on her face.
He leaned forward and gave her a shove, “Oh come on, it’s not like that! Well, actually…um, nevermind, let’s not go there!” He looked up and smiled at her. “Actually it was great. The weather was beautiful and we stayed in this place that was like a little hut that sat over the water. Each couple that was there got their own hut, so it was very private. We had a jetted hottub in it too.”
“Wow, I think I need to take a vacation there! You even look tan! That’s a big improvement for you!” She exclaimed as she leaned forward and poked him in the ribs.
“Hey missy! You know I have to get you back for that!” He yelled as he reached forward and began to tickle her stomach mercilessly.
“Uncle! Uncle, I give up!” She managed to say in between gasps and giggles.
“That’s what I thought!” He said as he moved back to his seat in satisfaction.
“Hey I missed you at the wedding. You got the invitation right?”
“Yeah, I am sorry I couldn’t make it to the wedding, something came up.”
“It’s ok, I’ve got a ton of pictures at my mom’s house. I’ll bring them over next time.”
The two sat there as a silence fell over them. Lance looked at his friend trying to figure out what he should say next. She seemed to be trying to avoid any conversation about herself and she hadn’t brought up her sickness once. Before Ashleigh had the chance to ask any more questions about him he spoke up.
“Well enough about me, how have you been?”
“Oh, I’ve been great. I am taking a semester off school right now. Trying to pay off some of my school loans, those things can be killer you know!” She said with a smile.
“So what have you been up to?” He pressed on.
Her eyes shifted quickly to her lap. ‘Why is he pressing this?’ She thought to herself. She looked up and tried to give him a reassuring smile. “Oh you know, a little of this, a little of that.”
“Ash,” Lance said quietly.
Her eyes shifted to her lap once again. She picked up the drawstring to her pants and began to tie it in little knots. “Oh did I tell you that I changed my major?”
“Ashleigh,” Lance said again, a little firmer this time.
“Yeah, I decided that Psychology wasn’t for me. I’ve decided to look into Anthropology. I think it would be awesome to get to go to a foreign place and study their people. I was thinking I’d like to go to…”
“Ashleigh,” Lance yelled.
She jerked up in surprise. She was not expecting him to yell at her. “What?”
“You can talk to me,” he said as he leaned forward and placed his hand on her knee.
“I was! I was telling you about my major! Anyways, as I was saying, I think I want…”
“Ashleigh you can talk to me!” Lance said again.
“Fine, what do you want to talk about?” She said in exasperation.
“I want to know how you’re doing.”
She looked at him in confusion. All of a sudden it dawned on her what he was talking about. “Well, I’ve uh…been a little under the weather lately.”
“So I hear. Wanna talk about it?” Lance asked.
“How did you find out?” She looked at him as her green eyes narrowed. She didn’t like people talking about her behind her back, and this was definitely something she didn’t want a lot of people to know about.
“My mom told me. Ashleigh I wish I would have known sooner. Why didn’t you ever let me know?”
“What was I supposed to do Lance? Call you up one day out of the blue and say ‘Hey Lance, long time no see. Just wanted to let you know I have cancer.’ That would have gone over well. Besides, I don’t want people to feel sorry for me,” she sighed. She pulled her legs up in front of her and wrapped her arms protectively around them. She leaned forward and rested her chin on top of her knees.
“I didn’t mean for you to call me so I could feel sorry for you. I meant you should have called me so I could have been there for you from the start. I know we haven’t been very good at keeping in touch, but I still consider you one of my closest friends.”
“I consider you one of mine too,” she said quietly. She reached over and picked up his hand and gave it a squeeze.
“I’m sorry if I made you mad. I didn’t mean to.” She nodded slightly.
The two sat there in silence for a moment. The air seemed to have gotten a lot heavier.
“Uh, Can I ask you a question?” He asked. She nodded quietly. “How did you find out?”
She knew the question was coming, but it didn’t make it any easier to answer it. “Um. Well about six months ago I went in for my yearly physical and during the examination the doctor found a lump in my breast. At first, because of my age, she was sure it was a cyst. But after doing tests they found out it was a tumor.”
“Have you started treatments yet?” he asked with concern in his voice.
“Well after the lumped was removed I started radiation. That lasted for about 2 months.”
“Was it bad?”
“The radiation wasn’t too bad. It made me kinda tired. There wasn’t much to the radiation. You go in the room and the shoot radiation beams at the spot the tumor was,” she paused to yawn. “After it was over I started chemo. That has been tons of fun,” she said as she rolled her eyes before she yawned again.
“That bad huh?”
“Other than the nausea and getting tired easily? I am just thankful that I could take the medicine by mouth. I hate needles about as much as JC does. I guess it could be worse though. Some women go bald. Mine just got thin,” she kind of chuckled. Then she sat for a minute and got serious again. “I didn’t get to come to your wedding because I was in the middle of a round of chemotherapy.” He could tell it was hard on her to talk about it. The sparkle that had been in her eyes when he had first gotten there had faded.
“I understand,” he reassured her. He looked her over and realized that she was beginning to look tired again. Ashleigh had also yawned several times in the past couple of minutes. “You look like you are tired,” he pointed out. She sighed and nodded.
“Yeah a little. It doesn’t take much to drain my energy,” she informed him.
“Maybe I should go. I don’t want to wear you out,” he joked.
“You don’t have to rush off,” she said trying to stifle another yawn. He laughed when she wasn’t successful.
“I think you need a nap,” he said as he stood up and grabbed her pillow off the chair and placed it where he had been sitting. He motioned for her to lie down. Lance figured that she would protest but she yawned again before stretching out across the couch, never saying a word. He laid the blanket across her before squatting down in front of her. “Oh by the way, my mom said to tell you and your mom both hello. I’ll come back and see you later ok?” She simply nodded. “I’ll bring Monica back with me next time. It will save me some money if I do!” he laughed. She looked up and gave him a strange look. “Oh I didn’t tell you? She is out shopping with my mom and my sister!” Ashleigh groaned. She had gone shopping with Stacy before, she completely understood. “Ok, I am gonna run,” he informed her. She leaned up and hugged him.
“Thank you so much for coming. It was really good to get to see you.”
“You too. Take care of yourself,” he said hugging her tight. He let her go and she fell asleep almost instantly when her head hit the pillow. He smiled at the sight. ‘Please God, let her be ok,’ he silently prayed as he walked to the door and let himself out.
Lance was lying on the couch reminiscing about his past some more when his mom, his sister, and his wife walked in the door. Their laughing chatter brought him out of his daze of thought. He was about to open his eyes and greet them when a weight landed on his chest.
“Umph,” he grunted, “Monica get off me,” he scolded. His eyes flew open to see Monica leaning over the back of the couch. She laughed before kissing him on the nose.
“Not me this time sweetie,” she smiled. He reached up and moved her head and was surprised to find his sister sitting on him.
“Sup Lil’ Bro?” she asked laughing. He rolled his eyes before replying.
“You have been hanging around Monica too long.” Stacy laughed before getting up and walking towards the kitchen where her mother had disappeared.
“Geez! Why is it that I get blamed for everything?” Monica asked as she walked around the couch. “It wasn’t even my idea. This however,” she said as she plopped down on top of his legs, “is. Payback’s a bitch!” She then began to tickle his ribs. He squirmed and then focused on grabbing her hands. Once he succeeded she got serious. “How did things with Ashleigh go?” Lance sat up and wrapped his arms around his wife’s waist and then rested his chin on her shoulder.
“It went pretty good I guess. She had lost weight since I had seen her last. She told me that the chemo was wearing her out. Before I left, Ash could hardly keep her eyes open. Ashleigh did want me to tell you that she really wants to meet you before we leave. I think we ought to go over there tomorrow since we are leaving the day after that.”
“Sounds like a plan to me Sweetie,” she smiled and leaned her head against his. Then it hit him that she had been shopping all day.
“I have a question,” he said as he leaned his head up. She turned her head and looked him in the eyes, with her eyebrows raised in question. “How much damage did you do to our credit card?” She laughed at him before rolling her eyes.
“A member of the eighth wonder of the world, better known as Nsync is worried about money,” she scoffed. “That is too funny.” He rolled his eyes at her comment.
“Don’t make me tickle you. You can’t get away from me,” he informed her. She stuck her tongue out at him and scrunched up her nose in response. “You think I am joking?” She giggled at him before finally answering the question.
“I didn’t buy much. I only brought one suitcase with me…even though I could’ve used two. So I don’t have room for much more. I seriously thought about buying another suitcase.” Lance groaned before she continued, “But I knew you would get bitchy about it…so what I did get can go in your suitcase.” To this he banged his forehead against her shoulder a couple of times.
“Why me, Lord?” he asked.
The next afternoon Monica and Lance left his parents’ home and began to walk down the street towards Ashleigh’s house. Both of their arms were full of photo albums containing the pictures from the wedding and the honeymoon. As they strolled slowly through the neighborhood, Lance was pointing things out to his wife. He told her about his neighbors and about some of the kids he used to hang out with on his block. He pointed out the house of the old widow who used to invite all the neighbor kids over for cookies.
“You know, they weren’t even very good. But we all knew she just wanted some company.”
She could tell he was enjoying his literal trip down memory lane. She could tell that memories were flooding his brain…he would be in the middle of one story when another one would hit him and he would just abruptly start telling a different story. Monica was in a state of complete confusion during over half the walk to Ashleigh’s, but she never once complained. She just let him enjoy the moment.
They finally made it to Ashleigh’s door. Monica was a little nervous about meeting her for the first time. Lance glanced at her right before he knocked and noticed the worry on her face.
“Mony, you aren’t gonna go getting all shy on me are you?” Lance chuckled.
“You know meeting new people scares me to death,” she replied quietly while looking around at the house.
“It’s just Ashleigh. I promise she won’t bite!” he laughed.
“Just knock. If she saw us walk up she is gonna think that we are idiots just standing here,” she said after she rolled her eyes at him. He just laughed at her again before raising his hand to knock on the door. The couple heard movements coming from the inside and then the door was open. A woman in her early forties was standing on the other side.
“Lance? My gosh is it really you?” the woman said in astonishment and then reached out and pulled Lance into a hug. Lance just grinned and tried not to drop the albums that loaded down his arms. Monica just looked at the two like they were crazy. She was hoping that the woman that had pounced on her husband was Ashleigh’s mom. Otherwise she was just scared!
“It’s me Mrs. Reynolds,” he answered. Monica breathed a sigh of relief.
“It’s has been so long since I’ve seen you. Ashleigh told me that you had stopped by yesterday. She said that you were coming back and bringing your wife with you.”
“Yes ma’am. This is my wife, Monica,” he said and he nodded to Monica who was standing to his left.
“Well, it’s nice to meet you Monica,” she exclaimed. Then reached out to shake her hand when it finally hit her that both of their hands were full. “Where are my manners?” she laughed. “Come on in and set your stuff down,” she said as she moved out of the way and directed them into the living room. She shut the door behind them and then walked into the living room close behind them. Lance and Monica both placed the photo albums on the coffee table. Monica mustered up her courage and walked back over to Mrs. Reynolds and offered her hand to her. She wasn’t about to give Lance something else to rag her about.
“Hi, I’m Monica,” she said with a smile on her face. The woman took her hand and shook it.
“And I’m Ashleigh’s mom, Katherine. Ashleigh is really looking forward to meeting you,” she told her. She led Monica back over to the couch and then motion for both her and Lance to sit down. They took their seats and then Ashleigh’s mother took a seat in the chair beside the couch. “Lance I can’t even begin to describe how much your visit yesterday meant to Ashleigh. I haven’t seen her that happy in weeks,” she gushed. The excitement could clearly be read on her face. The past couple of months had been really hard on them all and she thrived on anything that brought a smile to Ashleigh’s face.
“I really enjoyed our visit too. It had been too long since I had last seen her,” he said with sorrow in his voice. She gave him a reassuring smile before continuing.
“Ashleigh’s upstairs. I’ll run up and tell her that you two are here,” she said and then stood up and excused herself from the room.
The two were only alone for a minute or two before Ashleigh emerged down the stairs. As she rounded the corner she broke into a huge grin. She rushed over to Lance and Monica who were getting up from the couch. She hugged Lance and when she pulled away she reached out and pulled Monica into her arms for a tight hug as well.
“It’s so great to finally meet you! I’ve heard so much about you!” Ashleigh said as she released the other woman and stepped back to look at them.
“I’ve heard tons about you too! And I’ve seen pictures to go with everything too!”
“All good I hope!” Ashleigh replied as she leaned over and punched Lance lightly in the shoulder.
“You’d better believe it! I wouldn’t want you two to be swapping Lance stories later! I want to stay on both of your good sides!” He said as he raised his arms to shield himself from her playful attack.
“So what’d you bring me?” Ashleigh said as she spotted the huge stack of photo albums sitting on the coffee table.
“Those are the albums with all of the pictures from the wedding and the honeymoon,” Monica replied as she sat back down. Ashleigh took a seat in between her and Lance so they could tell her about each picture.
Ashleigh slowly shook her head as she counted the albums; there were 10 in all. “Damn you guys, how many pictures did you take?”
Lance and Monica chuckled at the look of shock and amazement plastered on the dark-haired girl. “Well it only happens once so we figured we needed to take as many pictures as possible,” Monica said with a smile. She sat there for a moment before the smile dropped off her face as she turned to Lance. “It is only going to happen once…right? You’re not getting married again?”
“Not unless it’s to you baby!” He said reassuringly. To that Monica smiled once again.
The trio continued to look through pictures while Lance and Monica told Ashleigh the stories behind some of them. Ashleigh thought one of the funniest was the one of the couple where they were supposed to be feeding each other cake. The picture was taken just as Monica smashed the cake in Lance’s face. There was a look of pure shock on his face.
“I knew that if I didn’t get him first, he was going to do it to me. I just beat him to it. That and Keeley dared me too!”
“What?” Lance asked in astonishment. “You just wait until I get my hands on that girl!” Monica and Ashleigh laughed at him before Ashleigh gave Monica a high five. Lance watched the two and then groaned. “Great. They haven’t even known each other a day and they are already ganging up on me!” This just caused the two girls to laugh even harder.
“It must suck to be you Lancie.” Ashleigh almost snorted.
“Lancie?”
“Don’t get any idea’s Monica. Sonic is bad enough,” Lance chided Monica.
As they continued to flip through the pictures they came across a picture of the entire wedding party. Everyone was smiling happily at the camera with their glasses raised in a toast. Lance began pointing out people to Ashleigh.
“You remember the four guys of course. And that’s JC’s um…ex-girlfriend I guess, Cari.” Ashleigh gave him a weird look before asking.
“What do you mean ex-girlfriend you guess?”
“I’m not exactly sure where they stand. Cari moved across country and they are both dating other people now,” he explained and then shrugged his shoulders before continuing. “That’s Keeley. She’s Justin’s girlfriend, the one I was telling you about.”
They were in the middle of flipping through the third photo album when Ashleigh’s mom walked into the living room. “Hey can I offer you guys anything to eat or drink?” She smiled at the three sitting close together on the sofa.
“Um yeah mom, can I just have a glass of water?” Ashleigh asked. Her mother looked over her daughter with concern. She noticed the dark circles beginning to form under her eyes. She turned to look at the other two.
“Lance, Monica, how about you?”
“Water would be great Mrs. Reynolds,” Monica replied.
“Oh dear, please call me Katherine!” She turned to Lance and he nodded that he’d like some water as well. “I’ll be right back.” Katherine disappeared but was back in only a few moments carrying three glasses of water. Lance jumped up to offer help when he saw her walk into the room. “Always the gentleman,” Katherine laughed as she accepted the help.
“Thanks for the drinks Mom,” Ashleigh replied as she accepted her drink.
“No problem. Um, Ashleigh are you feeling ok? You look tired,” Mrs. Reynolds pointed out. Ashleigh shook her head and chuckled.
“I’m a little tired Mom, but I’m ok. I promise I take a nap after they leave ok?” Her mother nodded her approval before excusing herself from the room again.
“Ashleigh if we are wearing you out too much we can go,” Lance told her.
“No, no. I don’t want you to go. I am enjoying getting to spend time with you both.”
Lance looked at her uncertainly, “Alright, but let us know if you get too tired.”
A couple hours later they had finally finished looking through the photo albums. Monica leaned forward and stacked the last book on top of the pile of the others. She turned to Ashleigh and a frown crossed her face.
“Ashleigh, you look really tired. I think we should probably give you a break.”
“No, it’s ok. Like I was telling Lance yesterday, I just get really tired. I don’t have too much energy these days,” Ashleigh replied, stifling a yawn.
“You are taking good care of yourself though, right?” Lance asked in his protective older brother voice.
“Yeah, I’m eating healthy and I try to get exercise when I’m not tired.”
“What about your mental health? You are talking to people about this right, like a support system? It’s not good to keep something like this bottled up inside you,” he asked.
“Yeah, I talk to a couple of my friends, and of course my mom. I’m fine really.”
“Have you talked to your pastor about it? Are you getting help from your church?” Monica asked, joining in on the conversation.
“Oh wow, I haven’t been to church since like junior high!” Ashleigh said with a smile.
“But you do believe in God right?” Lance asked, suddenly a little more concerned for his friend.
“Well, not really, I don’t have time in my life for stuff like that,” she replied her smile fading from her face. The twinkle that had been in her eyes just a moment before disappeared and cold eyes replaced them.
“So,” she said trying to change the subject to a lighter one, “when do I get to come visit you guys in Florida?”
Lance looked his friend up and down. He wasn’t ready to drop the subject yet. He decided he’d talk to her about it later. “You are more than welcome to come out and visit any time. But you’ll probably want to come before we go on tour so I’d say in the next couple weeks or so.”
“Ok, I’ll call the airlines later and book a flight,” she replied cheerfully. “I can’t wait to see the guys and meet everyone else. I want to see that new house of yours too.”
Monica looked at her and tried to give her a smile. She was worried about Ashleigh too.
“Well,” Lance said looking down at his watch, “we should probably get going.” He didn’t realize how much time had gone by, it was already 5:00 PM and he told his mom they’d be home a half-hour ago.
“Wow, I can’t believe that much time went by!” Ashleigh said. She stood up along with the other two and walked them to the door. She turned to Monica first.
“Monica, it was so great to finally meet you!” She exclaimed as she leaned forward and pulled the blond girl into a hug.
“I know! I can’t wait for you to come visit us!” Monica replied as she returned her hug while balancing half of the albums on one arm.
A minute later the two separated and Ashleigh stepped over in front of Lance. “Wow, I’m going to miss you! You have to keep in touch better this time.”
“You don’t think you’re going to get rid of me this easily do you? We aren’t leaving until tomorrow afternoon. Would it be alright if I stopped by in the morning to say goodbye?”
“Sure that sounds great!” She pulled him into a hug and then opened the door for the two.
“Bye you guys! I’ll see you soon!” The couple turned around and waved before descending down the driveway. They walked down the driveway in complete silence and then began to head back to Lance’s parents’ house. Finally Monica just had to ask the question that was about to eat her alive.
“Lance? Has Ashleigh always not believed in God?” she asked almost in a whisper. Thoughts began to rush around in Lance’s head. He remembered the two of them playing together before Sunday school. He also vividly remembered how they used to get in trouble for talking during Sunday school. Their families used to sit together during the service so Lance and Ashleigh could sit together. As he thought he realized that she never gave off the appearance that she didn’t believe. However she never gave off the appearance that she did either.
“You know Mony, I honestly don’t know. I always thought she did. Did you notice how quickly she wanted to change the subject? There is more going on there then what she is saying. I’ll try to talk to her more about it tomorrow, ok?” Monica simply nodded. A few minutes later they arrived back at Lance’s house and quickly made their way up the stairs. Lance opened the door and tried his best not to drop the albums in his hands. They both quickly made their way over to the couch and set them all down.
“Have you called Justin and Keeley to tell them what time to meet us at the airport tomorrow?” Lance sighed. He had completely forgotten.
“No, but I’ll go do it right now.”
The next morning Lance and Monica got up and ate breakfast with his parents and then packed up. Monica, as promised, loaded up Lance’s suitcase with the stuff that she had bought that wouldn’t fit in her bag. Around ten, Lance decided to go over and visit Ashleigh one last time. Their flight left from Jackson International at 2 pm so he had plenty of time.
Ashleigh answered the door when Lance arrived at the house. Lance looked her over. She looked like she had just gotten out of the shower. Her curly hair was still damp and ringlets were beginning to form all over her head. The dark circles under her eyes, that would be evident on her face later in the day, hadn’t begun to form yet. His eyes however had traces of dark circles. He hadn’t slept well the night before. He couldn’t get Ashleigh’s words out of his head. ‘I don’t have time in my life for stuff like that.’ Now of all times, she needed to make time for stuff like that, he thought to himself over and over. Monica, who was also rather worried by Ash’s words, didn’t sleep well the night before either. Partly because she was worried about her new friend, but partly because Lance was tossing and turning almost the entire night.
“Hey Lancie!” she exclaimed before she hugged him. Ashleigh had really enjoyed spending the last three days with Lance. Thinking about the happy times of her past almost made her forget about her troubles of the present.
“Girl, how many times have I told you not to call me Lancie?” Lance laughed as he hugged her back. Once they let go she led him in the house and invited him into the kitchen for a cup of coffee. He gladly accepted the offer, he needed all the caffeine he could find.
“You know you love that nickname,” Ashleigh informed him as the two sat down at the table.
“Yeah sure I do,” Lance replied as he rolled his eyes. “I think Monica really likes it though. I haven’t decided which is worse…Lancie or Sonic,” he chuckled. The two friends chatted about whatever came to mind and soon the conversion turned to Lance leaving that afternoon.
“You know I’m kinda sad to be leaving. Being home is nice,” he told her right before taking a sip of his coffee. “However getting back to my own house and making some kind of order out of it will be nice too.” Ashleigh giggled at his remark.
Time flew for the pair of friends and soon Lance’s watch started beeping alerting him it was time to leave. He had set it before he went over Ashleigh’s. He knew how easily time got away from him. She walked him to the door and they began to say their goodbyes. Lance gave Ashleigh his new number in Orlando and told her to call when she got her plans set for her visit. He was walking away when the feeling that he had to ask her about what she had said became overwhelming. Lance knew he was probably about to start a fight but he had to know.
“Ash?” he called as he turned around. He saw that she almost had the door closed.
“Yeah?” she said as she pulled the door back open.
“Did you really mean what you said about not having time in your life for God?” Ashleigh shifted uncomfortably.
‘He just isn’t going to let this rest is he?’ she thought to herself. She sighed before answering him. “Yeah Lance I meant it. I don’t have time for things that don’t really exist. If God did exist he wouldn’t have let this happen to me. So I am convinced that there is no God.”
“Ashleigh!” Lance exclaimed. “How could you say something like that?”
“That’s just the way I feel Lance. I’m sorry if you don’t approve.”
“Ash, don’t be mad at me. I just think that you’re hurting and you want to lash out at something and think that ignoring God is the way to go. I just think you are wrong. I think that maybe you should at least try to pray about it. It really might help.”
“Lance, really…I’m fine. I don’t need it. I’m doing just fine without it.” She gave him a small smile. “Have a safe trip home. I’ll call you in a couple of days.” Lance simply nodded but couldn't ignore the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach as he watched her close the door.