“You must have been so stressed about seeing him, but you did it, anyway.” The pieces fell into place, and she realized just how stressful that meeting must have been for Joanna. “You put yourself through that for me. You did that for me.” She felt a twinge of sympathy and guilt. “Was it something you’d been dreading? Seeing Nate again?”

“I hadn’t thought much about it.” Joanna fiddled with the spoon in her hand and then put it down on the table. “I’ve been dreading it ever since I arrived here. Otter’s Nest—this whole place—is full of memories for me. It’s like going back in time.”

“Was Nate one of the reasons you weren’t leaving the house?” She was talking in a low voice now and she glanced over Joanna’s shoulder, but there was no sign of Nate.

“Maybe. Mostly I was avoiding the press, but I certainly wasn’t in a hurry to run into anyone from my old life here, either. And then Mel showed up. That was unexpected.”

“And you were close. She was your best friend. You told each other everything. You braided each other’s hair. You did each other’s makeup. And you were dating her brother.” Ashley sat back in her chair. “When you saw Nate, you had to have been thinking about the past. It had to have been an awkward moment. I keep thinking about what I’m going to say and do when I see Jon again, because I guess it’s got to happen sometime. And obviously I hope I’m looking my best and have some time to prepare so I don’t just blurt something out and then spend the rest of my life regretting it, but even so the thought of it makes me feel a little sick. He’s left loads of voice mails on my phone.”

“What did he say?”

“I don’t know. I haven’t listened to them because I’m scared and cowardly and once I listen that will be it. Right now I can still dream that things might work out.”

“He’s probably worried about you.”

“No. I did send him a message saying I was okay and that I’d call soon. I didn’t want him to worry. I’m dreading seeing him again, though. I don’t think I’ll be as cool as you were with Nate. Were you nervous? It didn’t show.” She realized that however stressful the last twenty-four hours had been for her it had been equally, if not more, stressful for Joanna. “How did it feel, seeing him again?”

“I don’t know. Do you want more food? You ate that quickly.”

“No, thanks.” Ashley wasn’t thinking about food. “Had he changed much?”

“Twenty years is a long time. We’ve all changed.”

“But you both still had feelings. That was obvious.”