Page 39 of Phillip

“No need,” Mother added shortly.

“His nonprofit has stepped up to help with—”

“And rightly so after the mess he caused,” Mother said.

“It was an accident.” Ashley defended Phillip against the same words she’d lobbed at him earlier.

Sean checked his Patek Philippe watch. “We should get going. But it was nice to see you again.”

“We’ll talk later,” Mother said as way of saying goodbye. “Try answering your phone when I call.”

The pair left as smoothly as they’d rolled in. Ashley dropped to the heavy metal chair like a wet sandbag.

“Wow,” Mary Beth muttered as she dropped into her chair as well and quickly lapped her melted ice cream off of the cone. “If I had known that would happen, I would have told you to stop sending her to voice mail.”

Ashley shook her head as she cleaned up the side of her cone. A series of scenarios tumbled through her thoughts. “Her arrival has nothing to do with my avoiding her phone calls.”

Two lines creased above Mary Beth’s nose. “Then what?” She groaned. “Don’t tell me it’s because of…”

Of course it was. “She’s here because of Phillip.”

Mary Beth groaned again. “I was afraid you would say that.”

“I’m going to eat my ice cream and pretend that didn’t just happen.” There had to be a ratio of happiness to ice cream. The more ice cream she ate, the happier she was.

“That’ll definitely work.” Mary Beth snorted then licked her lips.

“Maybe my mother needs an ice cream cone to lighten her mood up.”

“Ha. She needs more than a sweet treat to do that.”

“True.” Even if Mother enjoyed the lemon Prosecco lavender sorbet that had made the front cover of her magazine this month, that wouldn’t clarify the situation.

Ice cream and happiness weren’t a solution, and Phillip wasn’t the problem. Her mother’s controlling obsession was, and Ashley didn’t know how to make anything change.

“What are you thinking?” Mary Beth crunched her cone. “You look like things need to be deciphered.”

Deciphered was always the right word when it came to Ashley’s mother. Until today. “No need to decipher. She’s an open book this time.”

Mary Beth arched her strawberry-blonde eyebrow. “Then what has your wheels turning?”

“What she’s doing with Robert Paget, Sean Paget, and Phillip.” Ashley took a messy bite of her ice cream cone. “She’s strengthening alliances and inserting herself into the situation.”

“Because that’s a perfectly normal and sane thing to do.”

They ate what remained of their ice cream cones in silence until the treats were gone. Then Mary Beth asked, “Were you ever serious with Sean?”

Ashley shook her head, unable to recall a single instance in which she considered the possibility of a future with him. “Not even a little bit.”

“Did he know that?”

Ashley shrugged. “He didn’t really care.”

Mary Beth’s mouth formed a silent O, then she added, “I’m not surprised actually.”

Ashley sighed. “Neither was I.”

Mary Beth wiped her mouth with a napkin. “Guys like Sean marry for connections and then dilly wherever their fun takes them.”

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