Page 12 of Lost in Love

Thankfully, Ashlynn doesn’t hear this. Or maybe she does and chooses to ignore it.

“I love running before work. It relaxes me for the night.”

“She loves running?” Charlee mouths, like she can’t possibly be serious.

I’ve never been a runner, so I don’t know anything about the runners’ high they talk about, but if I had to guess, Ashlynn knows all about it.

“What a beautiful night. The sunset is gorgeous.”

“It’s splendid,” Kate agrees in a mocking tone. Kate can be a bit of a… dick. There, I said it. Kate pours herself another glass of wine and then stores the bottle away. And then she eyes the beauty queen suspiciously. “How do you have this much energy this late at night?”

“I work a lot of nights. Cardio helps me relax.”

And then Kate asks, because we’re all dying to know, “Where do you work?”

Ashlynn’s steps are so bubbly, she’s practically skipping. “Oh, I’m an actress.”

“I’ve never met an actress.” Charlee beams like Ashlynn’s part of the Kardashian family. “Anything we’ve seen?”

Ashlynn waves her hand around and then downs a couple of gulps of water. “Mostly adult entertainment, so I doubt that.”

Kate snorts, her eyes bugging out. “You mean like porn?”

Watching us carefully, like we might reject her presence based on her profession, she replaces the cap to her water bottle wearily. “Yes, I guess, but those of us in the industry, we don’t like to call it that.”

“Why not?”

“Because porn makes it sound cheap and dirty. Adult films is a better description. We have a script and a storyline that we follow, just like any other production.”

“Porn,” Kate blurts. “Any way you look at it, it’s porn.”

I know what you’re thinking. Kelly, your kids are listening and you’re talking about porn? To be fair, Finley is sound asleep (hopefully for the night) and Sevi couldn’t care less. He’s still staring at the dog and has absolutely no clue what we’re talking about. Hazel, on the other hand, she would, but she’s about twenty feet ahead of us collecting flowers from yards as we walk. She can’t hear anything we’re talking about.

“How do you do it?” I ask, because I’m totally curious. “I mean, you’re married. Doesn’t your husband get jealous?”

“I met Bonner in the industry. It’s not personal.”

Kate stops walking and sloshes her wine around in the glass in an attempt at making a statement. “Honey, if a guy puts his dick in your pussy, it’s personal.”

“What do you guys do for a living?” Ashlynn asks, trying to change the subject.

“I’m a food critic. I review restaurants,” Charlee says, jogging toward the mailboxes with her key. It’s a Thursday. I only get my mail on Tuesdays. I don’t like to ruin my weekend with the possibility of getting bills and pissing me off. So I don’t get the mail. Therefore I won’t be upset.

“I make babies,” I say.

And Kate, she downs another glass of wine. “I make it through the day.”

Gretchen, who I thought had ditched us, catches up and tucks her phone into her bra. “What did I miss?”

“Beauty queen’s a porn star,” Kate blurts, glaring at the now empty bottle of wine in my stroller.

Gretchen makes a face. It’s hard to describe it. I can’t tell if it’s surprise or disgust so I’m just going to say Gretchen appears surp-gusted. And super judgey. “Honey, that’s not an honest way to make a living.”

Yep, she went there. I feel bad for Ashlynn for a moment because you can tell it bothers her, but I bet she gets this a lot. “I didn’t ask you for your opinion,” Ashlynn says in quite possibly the nicest voice you can have while telling someone their opinion doesn’t matter. “And there’s nothing dishonest about what I do. I’m a performer. Sure, I have sex with men and I’m recorded doing it, but there is absolutely nothing dishonest about it. My body is my art, and if that means acting a part that involves sex, I do it.”

Kate coughs and reaches up, holding her palm out to Ashlynn. “Can we be best friends now?”

They high-five and laugh while Gretchen rolls her eyes and adjusts her leggings again. “I think these might be yours, Kate. They’re toddler sized.”

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