In the wake of losing Melanie, Scarlett’s mind searches for the next thing to cling to, and arrives at Ashley. When she finds him, however, he is not what she always fantasized him to be. She’s always imagined him as the perfect man: stronger than her, and smarter about love. She finds that he has no strength without Melanie, and she realizes that he loved Melanie but never realized it and never came out and told Scarlett this. With this, Scarlett’s shining image of Ashley shatters.