“What?” Mel whipped her glasses off her nose. “You don’t mean that.”

“I do. And I admit that it took me a long time to see it, but I see it clearly now. I was a mess, Mel. I was barely holding it together living with Denise, who stripped away my confidence and sense of self-worth layer by layer. The last time I saw her was something I’ve never forgotten.”

“I can imagine, but—”

“I loved Nate. I really did love him, but the truth is I also depended on him. I used him as support, and that wasn’t healthy.”

“He was everything to you.”

“Exactly. And that’s not healthy, either. No one can be everything.” Joanna stared out to sea. “I’m not surprised Nate felt uncomfortable with the pressure. It wasn’t fair on him. I’m not surprised that he questioned what our love might have looked like had I not been so dependent on him. I’m not surprised that he didn’t trust it. Breaking up was a difficult thing to do for him, and hideous for me, but it was brave. And he did the right thing. Apart from kissing Whitney, of course. That part was...clumsy. Unfortunate.”

Mel sat cross-legged on her towel. “Whitney has been married to Richard Kelly for the past fifteen years. We were on the school committee together for a while. She’s ferociously organized.”

“She always was.”

“She hasn’t changed. It’s exhausting, although useful if you want something done. Her daughter was in Eden’s diving class.”

“I remember Richard. Not sure I would have pictured him with Whitney.”

“I would never have pictured Whitney with Nate.”

“I think it was just a kiss.”

“I’m relieved about that, because a lifetime of spending Thanksgiving with Whitney telling me where I was going wrong and providing me with a spreadsheet so that I could do better next time would have made me move to Hawaii.”

Joanna laughed. “I’ve missed talking like this.”

“Me, too.”

“What else has been going on in my absence?”

Mel smoothed sunscreen onto her arms. “Ellen Grey and Linda Merrick bought the guest house on the corner of Ocean and Sunset.”

“Oh! I loved that place. It was falling down.”

“It’s not falling down now. They’ve turned it into an upmarket boutique B and B. Their breakfasts are to die for. We should go. The view from the terrace is great. They adopted a little girl a while back. Eden babysits sometimes. Did you hear about Dan Little?”

“No? What happened?” Joanna rolled onto her stomach, chin on her palm as she listened, and Mel thought back to all the times they’d done this, to a time when sharing everything with Joanna had been part of her life. One of the best parts.