Page 50 of Summer After Summer

“I was looking after Sophie’s kids.”

“You wanted to avoid Fred.”

“An added bonus. Though it didn’t work.” I take another sip. Do I like Scotch, or is it just a trigger for memories? “He came back to their house with Sophie, Colin, and Lucy. Then drove me home.”

“How did that go?”

“About how you’d expect.”

Ash stands and crosses to my dresser. She reaches for the bottle and pours herself another glass. “Olivia and Fred. Torturing each other summer after summer.”

“Ha.”

“Is it funny?”

“No, it’s sad.”

She cocks her head to the side. “Why the hell is he buying the house?”

“I don’t know. I tried to ask, but …”

“You chickened out?”

I smile. “Maybe you could do it?”

“You want me to talk to him now?”

That stings, as it’s meant to. Ash is so wound up in me and Fred, the catalyst for our meeting, and a role in more than one of our breakups. It’s the reason we aren’t talking, though I guess we are now.

“A conversation for good,” I say lightly, but she grimaces.

“I think I’m going to stay out of this one.”

“That’s probably best. But you must be curious.”

“I’m curious all right. Curious AF as the kids say.”

“Are we not still kids?”

“I wish. I feel like it sometimes. Then a child walks into my room in the middle of the night and calls me mommy, and the illusion shatters.”

I’ve never met Ashley’s kids, only done some light stalking on Facebook. “How are they?”

“They haven’t let me have a full night’s sleep in years.”

“That sounds exhausting.”

“It is. You’ll see.”

I finish my glass. “I doubt it. I guess you heard about me and Wes?”

“What happened there?”

“He swore to me he wasn’t cheating, but it turns out he’s a liar?”

“Ouch.”

“Yeah, well … the last couple of years … the pandemic. His business failed, and it turns out spending months together in a one-bedroom apartment exposed some flaws.”

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