A note of wistfulness in her friend’s tone made Sarah frown. Her friend always loved living here. Unlike herself and Whitney, Jessica had never talked about moving away. She had everything she needed—wanted—right here with her own company and all her family still living in town. But suddenly Sarah wasn’t as convinced of her friend’s happiness.

“Well, why don’t you do it? Move to a bigger city, I mean. Fresh blood,” Lia said with a malicious-looking grin.

“Jess is perfectly happy here,” Sarah said, earning her a look from her friend. “I mean, I think she is… Aren’t you?”

Jessica nodded. “Of course. Yes. I just sometimes doubt that I’ll find someone to spend my life with here.”

Sarah sucked in her bottom lip. Jessica was obsessed with connecting with her true love; Sarah just never thought her friend would consider leaving their hometown to find him.

The idea that she didn’t seem to know her friends as well as she thought she did anymore was unsettling. Maybe friends did grow apart over time. Even being in L.A. she hadn’t felt that—hadn’t experienced the sensation of her best friends slipping away like grains of sand under her feet.

But maybe she just hadn’t realized it until being there to see things in a different light. Jessica and Whitney were much more connected, and she longed for that again. Staying in Blue Moon Bay would fulfill that missing element in her life as well.

“You know, I bet that wine is chilled to perfection by now,” Lia said, smiling as she used Sarah’s sore thigh to push herself up off the rocking chair.

The pain was nothing compared to the tightness in her chest.

“You know what, sit tight—catch up some more. I’ll get it,” Sarah said, standing. She needed a second. She hoped once she returned with the wine, the dark cloud that had appeared out of nowhere out on the bay would have passed.

…

The next morning, she found Lia doing what looked like an extreme form of yoga in the front room. The woman’s tiny body was twisted in some sort of pretzel shape that she looked stuck in. “Need some help?”

Lia glanced over her shoulder at her, a peaceful expression on her face, then gracefully maneuvered her body back into a cross-legged position on her yoga mat…that apparently she traveled with.

Because who didn’t travel with a yoga mat?

“Morning yoga is a great way to start the day,” she said, tapping the floor next to her for Sarah to join in the practice.

“Yeah, that’s a no.” She was still hurting from the last workout the woman had forced her to do.

“Aunt Lia!”

Sarah turned and dodged out of the way as the front door to the B&B closed and Marissa ran straight for Lia.