Read Online Ashes to Ashes by Jenny Han - Free Book Online Page B

Ash goes back in to get abottle of wine from her parents’ cellar, and I’m testing how hot the water is when Alex walks up.
    â€œHow’s the water?” he asks me, peeling off his peacoat. He pulls his sweater over his head, and I go over and turn on the jets.
    â€œPretty hot,” I say.
    Alex throws his clothes onto a lounge chair. He looks around to make sure we’re alone, and then says, “Hey, can I talk to you about something?”
    â€œSure.”
    He slides into the water. “There’s something I’ve been wanting to say to you for a while, but I didn’t want to bring it up at the wrong time.”
    It’s suddenly very hard to swallow.
    I look around for Ash, but she hasn’t come back yet, and there’s no sign of Reeve and Derek yet. So I slip off her bathrobe and quickly step inside the hot tub. The hot water pricks my skin. I put my hair up into a high bun so it won’t get wet. “Umm. Okay.”
    â€œI know you and Rennie had a fight the night she died.” I go still in the water. “I just want to say that you shouldn’t let that be the thing that defines your friendship. I mean, friends fight. It happens. Look at me and Reeve. Things have been weird with us ever since . . . ever since Christmas.” Alex colors, and I canfeel myself blush too. “But I know we’ll hash it out at some point. The same way I know that if Ren hadn’t had that accident, you guys would have too.”
    No, we wouldn’t have. Rennie would never have forgiven me for taking Reeve away from her, not in a million years. Alex doesn’t know her like I do. I mean he didn’t , he didn’t know her like I did. But it’s nice of him to say, and it’s so Lindy of him to say it. I offer him a smile and say, “Maybe.”
    He can tell I don’t mean it. He says, “Listen to what I’m telling you, Lil. Rennie loved you. And you loved her. It would have worked out. When people love each other as much as you did, the love doesn’t just go away. No matter what.”
    Tears spring to my eyes. Alex sounds so sure, it gives me hope, even when I have no right to hope for anything. If I’d had the chance to explain, to try to make Ren understand, could we have gotten past it? We were best friends. More than best friends. We were like sisters. That has to count for something.
    â€œAlex . . . thank you for saying that.” I really, truly mean it. He reaches over and gives my hand a squeeze, and the tightness inside me feels a little bit loosened.
    We’re still talking when Reeve arrives. I don’t look at him, but I can feel his eyes on me. He strips down and lowers himself into the water and sits at the corner opposite Alex and me. “What are you guys talking about?” he asks.
    â€œNothing,” I say, staring down at the foamy water. It gurgles and bubbles like soup that’s about to boil over.
    â€œNew bikini?” he asks me.
    I give him a funny look. “It’s Ash’s. She gave it to me.”
    â€œI like it.”
    What is he doing? Especially in front of Alex, of all people. Alex is watching Reeve with narrowed eyes now.
    Ash and Derek come out of the house with the wine and beach towels. When they climb into the hot tub, Alex scoots closer to me to make room, and our shoulders touch. Alex bumps my shoulder again, this time on purpose, and he smiles at me, and I smile back. A true smile.
    â€œDo you have any beer, Ash?” Reeve asks suddenly.
    â€œYeah, there should be some in the fridge,” Ash says, stretching out her arms. “Just make sure you replace them with the beers in the pantry, or my dad will notice.”
    â€œGet me a beer too,” Derek says.
    Reeve gets up. “Cho, come help me.”
    I don’t look at him as I say, “I’m not getting out of the water. It’s too cold.”
    Reeve frowns at me, which I pretend