“Contact you?”

“Well, yes. After I friended her, she sent me a message.” Jess sipped her wine.

“What did she say?”

“She told me that she’d heard Dare was in town for a couple of months working on a business deal and asked if I’d run into him. I told her no.”

A chill ran through Ashley. “You didn’t say anything about the fact that he and I … uh…” She bit her lip. “Well, of course, I know you wouldn’t.”

“No, I didn’t say anything about you and him. Not even that you’ve seen him. Especially since I don’t know why she was so interested in whether I’d seen him or not, or that I’m connecting with him at all.”

Ashley plumped up the pillow behind her, then leaned back.

“I think you’re reading more into it than there is. She probably just saw that he friended you and it made her think it would be nice to connect with you again.”

A part of Ashley was jealous that Helen hadn’t thought to contact Ashley, too. Helen and Ashley had been best friends for years before Jessica moved to town when they were in their early teens.

Ever since Ashley’s mom had died when she was eight, her dad had always pushed her to watch out for herself. To keep her emotions in check and deal with them on her own. Not to depend too much on anyone. But sometimes, she’d needed to talk to someone about her feelings. And Helen had always been there for her. She had understood Ashley’s pain.

But when Jessica showed up, suddenly Jessica and Helen had been best buddies and Ashley had felt like an outsider. Not that they hadn’t included her, but the two of them seemed to share so much more. Jessica was always willing to try new things and push the limits, getting them all into trouble more than once. That fascinated Helen, who wanted to break free of her nerdy, smart-girl image and become more popular. Then the year before graduation, it was Helen who seemed to be the one looking for trouble. Near the end, she seemed to pull back from both of them. That was when Jessica and Ashley became closer.

But now that Helen was in touch with Jessica again, Ashley felt really left out.

* * *

Dare parked his car, then walked to the bench facing the small pond in the park where Ashley had asked to meet him. She was already sitting there, throwing small chunks of bread to some ducks. She glanced up as he approached.

She’d told him on the phone that she wanted to talk to him outside of their sessions. He suspected she wanted to end their mentoring. She probably found dealing with her newly discovered arousal at being punished a little too difficult to deal with.

He was determined to talk her into continuing.

“Thanks for coming,” she said as he sat down beside her.

“Of course. What did you want to talk about?”