“No! Not because of the veggie burger. Because...because—”

“Because you’re scared. I know. I get it. But it’s going to be great, Joanna. Once you get past that awkwardness, it’s going to be fun.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I do. These are good people. Whatever happened in the past, you used to enjoy being with them. I think you can enjoy being with them again. If I’m wrong, if you don’t enjoy yourself, then you get to pick where we go next.”

Joanna sighed. “All right.”

Ashley smiled and finished the strawberries.

All she had to do now was make sure Joanna had fun.

15

Joanna

It felt strange to be back in Silver Point, walking along the pretty cobbled streets, gazing into shop windows, some familiar, some new. The old-fashioned candy store that Joanna had visited with her father had been replaced by a gallery, and there was a new coffee shop on the corner of Ocean Drive that hadn’t been there when she left. But much of it was the same. There was the gift shop with its quirky window displays. Frozen Flavor, the ice cream parlor that she and Mel had frequented every week, still there and with the line stretching out of the door. Martinello’s, the Italian bistro that had been in the same spot, run by the same family for three generations. People came and then fell in love with the area and stayed, and today it wasn’t hard to see why. The early-morning mist had cleared, the sun shone and colorful blooms billowed from pots and window boxes. It was fairy-tale pretty, but Joanna found it almost impossible to relax.

When Ashley paused to admire a pair of earrings in a window, Joanna checked over her shoulder. It was a habit that was hard to break, particularly knowing the story that was brewing.

They’d come. She knew they’d come. But that wasn’t the thought uppermost in her mind.

“Do you think the blue ones are pretty?” Ashley pointed at a pair of delicate earrings and Joanna tried to focus.

“Very pretty. You should have them.” Was Nate feeling unsettled, too? Had he felt the same way she had? It was unnerving to feel anything at all after twenty years. Why would that happen? Was it nostalgia? Memories?

It had surprised her to see him there, running the place. He’d had plans. Ambitions. A lust for travel. She hadn’t thought he’d end up running the family restaurant. She hadn’t thought the Surf Café and Silver Point would be enough. She’d been even more surprised to discover that Mel was working there, too. When she was young, she’d had other plans.

But wasn’t that true of all of them?