Free Sunset In Central Park by Sarah Morgan Page B

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, althoughpersonally 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 laidoff 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 backto her teenage years when it had felt as if everyone was staring at her. “We don’t need details.”
    She’d grown up