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“Hey mom.” AJ smiled as his mother climbed into his truck.

Denise smiled at him as she buckled her seatbelt.
“Good morning, sweetie. How’s Ashley doing today?”

“She just feels scared and alone and she doesn’t know how to deal with that. She’s with the counselor right now. I hope that helps her a little.” He frowned not knowing what to do to make things better.

“We’ll all figure this out together. The most important thing right now is that she knows we’re here for her.” She placed her hand on his arm for reassurance. “Ashley is stronger then she thinks. She’ll work threw this.”

They arrived back at the hospital about 20 minutes later. When they got inside they headed toward her room. Dr. Kelley was leaving as they approached. She smiled warmly at both of them.

“You must be Alex and Denise.” She shook each of their hands.“I’m Dr. Kelley, the hospital counselor.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Denise smiled back at her. “How is she doing?”

“We had a very good chat and she was very open with me which is a good sign. I believe she’s just very confused. She’s young and dealing with something this tragic at such a young age can often lead to rash decisions. She regrets what she did and knows it wasn’t the right way to approach the situation. I would like to meet with her weekly though because she does need some counseling to learn how to properly grieve.”

“Can she go home?” AJ asked hopefully.

“Yes, I am allowing her to go home. I don’t believe she will try to hurt herself any more. However, I do want her to be watched over. Make sure she knows that you are there for her if she wants to talk. All she needs is some reassurance that she isn’t alone.”

“We’ll be sure to do just that.” Denise reassured the doctor.

“Okay well it was a pleasure meeting both of you, Ashley had such wonderful things to say about you two. I’m sorry but I must get going I have an appointment soon. Ashley has my card, please call my office to set up an appointment sometime within the next week.”

“I’ll make sure to.” Denise smiled as the doctor walked off.

She knocked on the door and peeked her head in. Ashley was sitting up in her bed watching TV.

“Aunt Denise!” Ashley smiled as she walked in AJ in toe.

“Hey kiddo.” He said as he hugged her and took a seat. “When can you get out of here?”

“As soon as the nurse comes in and gets all these wires unhooked.” She smiled at both of them a little. “I’m really sorry guys. I know I really scared you both.”

Denise hugged her and kissed her forehead. “It’s ok sweetie. I know you’re going threw a rough time but just remember we love you and we want you here with us.”

“Yeah Ash. If you’re not here who am I gonna bug?” AJ teased her causing her to smile a little. “How’s about we go get some McDonalds when we get out of here. I know you have to be starving.”

Her eyes grew wide in anticipation. “Yum. Double cheeseburger!” she laughed a little.

Denise smiled at the two. She was glad to see Ashley smiling. Although she knew the next few months would be tough, deep down she knew everything would be ok.



A short while later Ashley was released from the hospital and as promised they headed straight to McDonalds. They decided to take the food home and eat in peace.

When they arrived back at the house Ashley changed her clothes quickly and then joined Denise and AJ in the kitchen to eat.

“Do you want to rent some movies tonight?” AJ asked as they dug into their food.

“Sure.” Ashley mumbled through a mouthful of food.

“Don’t talk with your mouthful.”

“Sorry.” They both mumbled and swallowed their food.

“When are you going back on tour?” Ashley asked before taking another bite.

“In September.”

The tour. Denise hadn’t even thought about it. She was supposed to join the boys on tour as manager. How could she do that with Ashley in school? She would have to think this threw.

“Mom ya there?” AJ laughed waving his hand in front of Denise’s face pulling her from her thoughts.

“Oh sorry. It’s just been a long couple of days. Did you say something sweetie?”

“I was asking if you wanted me to put some coffee on.” He asked.

“Sure that would be great.”

Ashley took her last bite of food and yawned. “I think I’m gonna take a nap. I’m really tired.” She threw out her garbage and hugged them both.

“Ok sweetie. Let us know if you need anything.” Denise called to her as she headed upstairs to her bedroom. Once she was out of earshot Denise turned to AJ.

“I completely forgot about the tour. Ashley starts school in 2 weeks. How are we going to make this work?”

“She could just come with us.” He said as if there was no problem.

“She has to go to school Alex.”

“I know that." he laughed."I mean she could do home school and come with us.”

“How would that work? We can’t bring along an extra person to tutor her.”

“Mom, things are different then they were when we had to do it. Everything is on the computer now. Aunt Angie had already looked into it because Ashley was bugging her to come on tour with us anyway. She has all the paperwork around here somewhere.”

“I’m sure Ashley would love that, but she’s in a really good school. I don’t want her to fall behind.” Denise frowned.

“It’s the same stuff she would learn in school. There are online teachers that she can talk to if she has any problems and she still has to do all the same work she would do if she were at school. You know Aunt Angie wouldn’t let her do it if it would make her fall behind.” AJ reassured her.

“That’s true. Why don’t you find me all the paperwork and I’ll look it over. If it seems good I’ll talk with Ashley about it and then set it up.”

"Can do." AJ laughed as he headed upstairs to look for it.