And she realized that this wasn’t really about the media, it was about her.

She eased away. “I need to be clear about something. I love being with you, Nate. The time I’ve spent with you is the happiest I’ve been in a long time. But my life is more than my relationship with you. Last time—” she forced herself to remember it “—last time you were everything and I couldn’t picture a life without you. Now, it’s different. I want to carry on seeing you. I want to find out where this leads. But if it doesn’t work out, for either one of us, I know I’ll be fine. I don’t want you to feel pressure or obligation. I don’t want you to feel responsible. I’ll be okay. And I won’t be leaving town, no matter what happens. I won’t run again. I’m building a new life, and I’m going to carry on building it.”

“And what if I want to build that life with you?”

“It’s too soon to—” She felt his fingers cover her lips.

“I’m forty years old, Joanna. I know exactly what I want. And what I want is to carry on seeing you. I want to find out where this leads. But if it doesn’t work out, for either one of us, I know you’ll be fine. And I wouldn’t want you to leave.” He let his hand drop. “I lost you once before, and I’m not losing you again. We can talk about the past, but the past is done. Those four decades behind us—finished. I care about the decades we have ahead. The future. Our future. And we can make this complicated, but really it’s easy because it comes down to one thing. You make me happy. Being with you makes me happy. It always did.”

“Being with you makes me happy, too.”

Was it really that easy?

Could it be that easy?

He kissed her again, more urgently this time, and she felt her past melt away and thought, Maybe it can be this easy. Maybe all I have to do is let it be easy.

They kissed until her heart was racing and she almost forgot where she was. But not quite.

Reluctantly, she pulled away. “We shouldn’t be doing this. I need to open the store again. I’m working. I have responsibilities. I need to serve customers.”

His gaze was fixed on her mouth, as if he wasn’t quite sure if he was ready to give it up.

“Working. Right. So, Joanna Rafferty...” He cleared his throat, plunged his hands into his pockets and glanced at the shelves. “Do you have any books on second chances?”

The question made her heart lift. Right now her whole life felt like a series of second chances.

The beach house, the bookstore, Ashley, her friends, Nate.