Ashley felt like an idiot by the end of Xander's explanation. And greatly embarrassed as her cousins suddenly popped into her head, "My cousins must've thought I was the biggest fool." Shame pricked at her eyes in the form of tears that she battled to keep back because her own grandparents had made a fool of her and Ashley had been clueless about it for nearly two decades. The fact that they clearly hadn't trusted a three-year-old made her give up the fight against the tears. She bolted to her feet, not because she'd been repulsed by Xander, but because the anger that quickly boiled to the surface again needed an outlet of some kind.
Pacing aimlessly around the salon, her sniffles cutting through the quiet, she gave a dry laugh, "All my life I've been told how bad the Cranes were. The limited interaction I had with them supported that because they creep the hell out of me. How could they ever think I'd be influenced by them — They scare the shit out of me, Xander!"
Ashley had paused long enough to face the millionaire as she said the last before the pacing resumed, "I mean, come on, I was three for cryin' out loud! They've lied to me my entire life, which that in itself is now a whole lie!"
The waitress deflated, flopping back down to her original spot on the couch to stare angrily at the ceiling for a heartbeat before an idea came to her and she shot back up to a proper sitting position.
"Can you undo what you did?" She asked, scooting forward to the edge of the couch, "I want you to undo what you did, if it's possible."