She talked, telling Joanna everything that she could recall, from small scandals to big changes, and when she finally paused for breath Joanna smiled.

“Does anything happen in Silver Point that you don’t know about?”

“Greg has his finger on the pulse, obviously, not that I repeat anything he tells me. But this is a small town so if you’re arrested people are going to find out. Also, I’m an interfering busybody so I volunteer everywhere, not because I’m a caring person but because it means I know everything that’s happening.”

“You’re a caring person, Mel. You always have been.” Joanna pulled her hat off and Mel thought that without makeup, or newly styled hair, she looked more like the Joanna she’d grown up with. The Joanna she knew.

“My life here must seem pretty boring compared to yours. All those fancy events you attended. All those famous people you mixed with.” And now she was curious. “Was it exciting?”

Joanna sat up. “Sometimes. And sometimes it was lonely.”

“Did you have good friends?”

“I spent time with people. But there was no one I was close to.”

“Hey, are you saying you never replaced me?”

Joanna laughed. “You were irreplaceable.” She looked at Mel. “I should probably be apologizing to you, for leaving town without getting in touch. But I was crushed by breaking up with Nate, and my stepmother was vile, and it was all too raw and I didn’t want to put you in the middle of it. I knew you’d be angry with him. I didn’t want to be the cause of a rift between you, and I didn’t want you to try and persuade him to change his mind.”

“If Cliff hadn’t charmed you that night, what would you have done?” It was something she’d often wondered. How big a part had fate played in Joanna’s departure? If Cliff hadn’t shown up, would she have stayed in Silver Point?

Joanna lay back on the towel and stared up at the sky. “He didn’t charm me that night. That wasn’t what happened.”

“But that’s the story that he always told when anyone asked him.”

“I guess he thought it sounded better than This girl was crying into my chowder so I took her for a walk on the beach.”

“He took you for a walk? I thought it was an amazing whirlwind seduction. Sexy older man and all that.”