“It was nothing like that. He saw that I was upset. He waited until the end of my shift and then we went for a walk. I told him everything. Cliff was a really good listener when he wanted to be, and I was in a bad place. I told him I was going to leave. I’d already decided I wasn’t going home to Otter’s Nest that night. I’d packed a bag and stowed it in the back of the café. I didn’t want to spend another night under the same roof as Denise.”

“You could have come to me. You could have stayed with me.”

“When Nate had just broken up with me?”

Mel had to admit it would have been complicated. “Damn it. I hate that you were in that position. I hate that you felt you had to leave, and that you didn’t talk to me about it. I was a bad friend.”

Joanna reached across and touched her arm. “You were a great friend. The best. None of this was about you.”

“If I’d been the best I would have known all this.” Mel couldn’t forgive herself so easily. “I would have been there blocking the road when you tried to leave Silver Point. I wouldn’t have let you leave.”

“You wouldn’t have been able to stop me. I was desperate to put Silver Point behind me.”

Mel sat up. Enough. Enough regrets and self-punishment. “So what happened with Cliff?”

“He loaded my small bag into his car and we drove down the coast with the top down, listening to music and breathing in the air, and the farther we got from Silver Point, the more I thought I might actually survive. We spent two weeks in a beach cottage somewhere north of San Diego.”

“Are you telling me that Cliff Whitman saved you? Because I’ve been hating him for treating you badly for years and I’m not sure I can make that mental readjustment, too.” It was hard to accept that she’d got it all so wrong.

“I suppose you could say he helped me save myself. At least at the beginning. And I’m not even sure I regret it. What would the alternative have been? Staying with Denise? Allowing her to erode my confidence layer by layer? No. I did the right thing. I know that for sure now.” Joanna pulled off her hat and secured her hair in a twist. “Let’s not talk about Denise. Or Cliff. He’s my past and right now I’m enjoying my present. Let’s swim.”

Swimming. Wasn’t that exactly what they would have done in the days when their friendship was simple and uncomplicated?