Chapter Nineteen

Rebecca squeezed a quarter-sized amount of conditioner into her palm and massaged it into her hair, trying to tell herself that it was worth it. But trying to keep her hair in good shape was useless. Even as she gently combed her fingers through her hair before rinsing it out, tufts of it appeared in her hand. And all these years of growing my hair out…for nothing, she thought, fighting tears.

Not for nothing, Daughter.

She found comfort in the words that seemed to echo in her head. They reminded her that God did know every hair on her head, and every single one of them was a gift, not a mistake. Thank you, Lord. Once again, you are right. Why should I be sad over the loss of something that was a gift in the first place?

That morning she would check her emails from her website, encouraged by Aaron's words. But would he return to her site? Would she be able to let herself speak freely without having to worry about who would be reading on the other end of the internet? He had been proud of her because of her website, but still she knew she wouldn't be able to update the site and reply to emails the same way. She would still be thinking about what Aaron would be thinking…

Rebecca, why are you so worried about what he thinks? she asked herself. If he thinks of me differently after he sees another side of me, that is his loss… right?

Even though he had much schoolwork to do and most of his hours were still taken up by school, Aaron found himself thinking more and more about Rebecca. When was she going to start telling people about her sickness? What game would he bring over this afternoon?

His parents had begun to get upset over how much time he was spending with her. True, he went there right after school until seven or eight in the evening, depending on how much homework he had. Rebecca needs me. After witnessing the unpleasantness of the aftermath of yet another round of chemotherapy, he'd been convinced of that even more.

Sundays were entirely his 'family day', though, and Aaron's mother had firmly told him that he could see not one member of the Pier family during that day. Every minute of every hour was to be spent with his family, whom he seemed to be seeing less and less of as the weeks went by.

Christmas was approaching fast, with less than two weeks until break. The changes in the months had zoomed by, from September into October into November, and recently into December. The dates on his school papers had changed, and tests and homework had seemed miniscule compared to the girl waiting for him five miles east of his high school.

"Hi, Ruth," Aaron said with a grin. Since he'd become 'expected' just after three in the afternoons every weekday, he'd let himself in as usual. Rebecca's smiling sister sat cross-legged on the couch with the remote in hand. "How're you?"

"Since you saw me last?" she teased. "I'm doing fine."

Mrs. Pier called from inside the kitchen, "Long time no see, Aaron."

"It's nice to see you too, Mrs. Pier," Aaron shot back the friendly retort.

He turned to see Rebecca coming from her bedroom, pajamas on and rubbing her eyes groggily. She'd obviously just gotten up from a nap. He smiled at her as she brought both arms up over her head in a catlike stretch. Greeting her with her usual warm hug, she took his hand and tugged him onto the couch and sat beside him. "How is school going?"

"Boring as usual," Aaron rolled his eyes. "And your home-school?"

"Not any different than yours," she replied.

Conversations like these were typical, though he never asked the same questions every day. Sometimes they ran out of things to say and just watched TV or concentrate on the board game. Most of the time they found things to talk about.

"What are your plans for this wonderful Friday evening, Ruth?" asked Aaron.

Ruth only blushed and smiled, and was about to explain herself when her sister did so for her. "Ruth's got a date on this wonderfully Friday evening."

He tried to look astounded. "Ruth? On a date?" He grinned and teased her, "I didn't think Ruth believed in dating."

This sent both sisters into gales of laughter, and Aaron settled back to watch the television.