Sunset In Central Park

“Then we’ll make this quick because I can’t see myself in Seattle. I’d love the coffee, but the climate would kill me.” Paige stepped into the street and Frankie followed her, grabbing her arm.

“Is she on her own?”

“No.”

“Is he younger than us?”

“Hard to tell, but he’s certainly a long way from retirement.” Paige braced her shoulders, the way she did when she handled a difficult client. “Good morning, Mrs. Cole.”

“Paige!” Gina Cole teetered up to them, clutching the arm of a man Frankie guessed to be in his midtwenties. “How many times have I told you to call me Gina? Mrs. Cole makes me sound so old. You’re looking very pale, Paige. I hope you’re not sick again, honey.”

“I’m not sick.” Paige kept her tone civil. “It’s five thirty in the morning and—”

“You need a good foundation. I can recommend one, although personally I like to layer different products and I’m a total fan of strobing. Look at my skin. You wouldn’t guess I haven’t been to sleep yet, would you?” She tugged at the arm of the man next to her. “Have you met Dev? Dev, meet Paige and Frankie. Frankie is—” there was a brief moment of hesitation “—my daughter.”

“No way.” Dev responded with the appropriate amount of disbelief, and Frankie caught Paige’s eye.

Seeing her friend’s amusement made her feel better, until she saw her mother slide her hand over Dev’s butt and squeeze.

“Mom—”

“Have you girls been up all night partying, too?”

“No. We’re working.”

“Well, I guess that explains your appearance. These things matter, Frankie! You don’t want to let yourself go, honey. You are never going to attract a man looking as if you raided a charity store. I could transform you if you’d let me. Underneath that shaggy hair and those baggy clothes—” Gina waved a manicured hand and the bangles on her wrist jangled “—you have the same body shape as me. You could look like me if you tried harder.”

Horrified, Frankie backed away. She’d spent her life trying hard not to look, or be, anything like her mother. “I like the way I am.”

“You could be pretty. Don’t you think she could be pretty, Dev?”

To his credit, Dev had more sense than to answer that.

“It’s good to see you, Mrs. Cole,” Paige intervened, “but I hope you’ll excuse us now. We’re choosing flowers for an event and we’re on a deadline.”

“What event? I found out this week that Star Events laid off a bunch of staff. You lost your job over two months ago and you didn’t even tell me? I’m your mother. I was worried about you.”

Frankie was thrown. Her mother never worried about her. If anything, it was the other way around. “That’s why you’ve been calling so often?”

“Of course. I wanted to tell you you’re better off without them. The hours they made you work. Inhuman. Not getting enough rest is bad for your skin and no one is going to fall in love with you if you’re looking old and ugly. Don’t worry about the money. Dev could give you a loan. He’s in banking.” She snuggled closer to Dev and patted his arm. “Only twenty-nine and already on his way to the top, can you believe that? Right now I’m his favorite way of spending money. Fortunately, he’s nothing like your father. Lord, that man was miserly. I expected him to charge me rent just for sitting on my own sofa. That’s one of the advantages of dating much younger men. They know how to live in the moment. He lives very close to here, by the way.”

Frankie felt the color drain from her cheeks. “My father?”

“No! That man is so lily-livered he hasn’t been in touch since the day he walked out, you know that!” Her laugh was high-pitched. “I’m talking about Dev!”

“You should go, Mom. If you haven’t been to bed yet, you must be tired.”

“I didn’t say we hadn’t been to bed. I said we hadn’t been to sleep.” Gina gave Dev a playful nudge. “This man is an animal I tell you. He exhausts even me, and I have more stamina than most. That’s another reason I love younger men. You have no idea how many times he can—”

“Mom!” Frankie barked out the word, mortified. Heads around her turned in curiosity and she was transported back to her teenage years when it had felt as if everyone was staring at her. “We don’t need details.”

She’d grown up with details. They were scarred into her brain.

Would she have had fewer issues if her mother hadn’t been so free with the details?

“How I ever raised such a prude I will never know. You need to loosen up. People say it’s impossible to meet a man in Manhattan, but I say they’re looking in the wrong place.”

“Mom—”

“Use it or lose it. Who was it who said that? I can’t remember.” Gina Cole frowned, until she remembered that frowning was bad for her and quickly smoothed her forehead with her fingers. “If you need money or a place to stay—”

“I don’t. I make my own money and I have my own place.”

And she had her own issues, personal to her.

Thanks, Mom.

“Of course you do! Owned by Paige’s handsome brother.” Gina winked and stepped closer to Frankie. “Now that’s a man with brains, looks and money. Matt is that irresistible combination of smart and sexy. I read a feature on him the other day. He was wearing a tool belt and making a seat out of a log. Those abs. I swear I—”

“Please, Mom!”

“Please what? Oh, don’t worry about Dev. He’s not the jealous type.”

Shame spread over her like a rash, not least because she’d had the same thoughts herself and the idea of having anything in common with her mother was horrifying. And mingled in with the shame was anger that her mother could contaminate a relationship that was precious to her. What if she said something similar to Matt? Frankie would die. It had been the same growing up. The embarrassment and shame had clung to her like a cloak, visible to everyone who looked. Like mother, like daughter.

“We have to go. We’re working.”

“So you got another job?”

“That’s right. And I need to do it right now. Have a good day, Mom.” Frankie started to walk away, nausea churning in her stomach.

“Wait! When are you going to invite us around? We’re family, Frankie.”

Frankie paused, wishing the burning in her gut would ease and trying not to imagine the horror of her mother bumping into Matt. What if she said something embarrassing? Or worse. What if she flirted?

This was the reality of family and it wasn’t the cozy, comforting thing Eva fantasized about. It was like opening a bag expecting to find sugar, only to discover that someone had substituted salt.

“I have a lot going on right now.”

“It’s been ages. And how is dear, sweet Eva? Still missing her grandmother? We should go out together one night. All the girls together. It would be fun. Call me to arrange it and for goodness’ sake throw away those hideous glasses and get yourself contacts. No man is going to want to sleep with you in those. See you soon!” She walked away and Frankie sagged against the wall.

“What is wrong with her? She invented inappropriate. I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say.”

“What are you sorry for?”

“All of it. For her tactless remarks about your health, for spouting the lurid details of her sex life around the flower market and for saying those things about Matt. I want to die, but then she’d take charge of my body and do something unspeakable with it.”

“You don’t have to apologize.” Paige slid her arm through her friend’s. “You’re not responsible for your mother.”