“No. You challenged Cliff. That was an incredibly brave thing to do. You didn’t deserve what happened. You deserved answers. Later, when we’ve handled this latest story, I can try and give you some. I probably won’t have all the ones you need, but I can do my best to fill in some of the gaps.”

The story. For a moment she’d forgotten about it.

“What will the story say? How much do they know? I’m guessing it’s all about Cliff and my mom, and me.”

When she’d climbed into the car with Cliff she’d felt forgettable and unimportant. She’d wanted his attention, she’d wanted her existence to be acknowledged, but that had never happened. Until now. Her existence was about to be publicly acknowledged.

The irony wasn’t lost on her. This wasn’t the attention she’d wanted.

Joanna nodded. “From what Nessa told me, the writer has pieced it all together. The timing of the affair with your mother, the fact that I was pregnant at the time—it’s going to be a difficult piece to read.”

“The story will be about you, too?” Ashley’s despair was punctuated by a flash of anger. She sniffed, blew her nose and sat up a little straighter. It was bad enough that they were writing about her, but to write about Joanna, too, when none of this was her fault? Joanna had been kind. The only person who had been kind. She’d saved her from all the intrusive questions and press scrutiny, she’d brought her here and protected her, and now it was all going to start again and it was Ashley’s fault. “Why write about you?” She clung to a last desperate hope that Joanna might be wrong about that part.

Joanna gave a faint smile. “Because our stories are linked.”

The anger inside her grew. “I guess he’ll say he’s just doing his job, but why should people make a living out of exposing the worst moments of my life? What have I ever done to this reporter? What have you done to him?”

“Nessa tells me it’s a her. And we’ve done nothing. We’ve never met, but that isn’t relevant. It’s not personal, although I understand that it feels personal when your most intimate secrets are revealed to everyone and anyone.” Joanna sighed. “It always feels personal.”

“I’d like to do the same back to him—I mean, her. I’d like to find what she’s hiding and splash it out there for everyone to see.” Ashley scowled. “See how she likes it.”

“She’s certainly tenacious. It must have taken an enormous amount of digging to uncover the details she has.” Joanna stared at the pool, lost in thought for a moment.

“Can we stop her writing it?”