“Her stepmother hated the place. She hated the fact that it was isolated, that she had to climb in the car to get to town.” Mel could still remember her complaining.

“Still, her husband leaving the place to Joanna? That had to sting.”

Mel knew things about Joanna’s life that other people in town didn’t, but even though they hadn’t spoken for twenty years that didn’t mean she was about to reveal a secret.

“Well, the woman is living up the coast in Carmel now, so I guess she’s happy.”

“Nothing is ever going to make that woman happy. She wouldn’t recognize Otter’s Nest if she visited. It’s so fancy.” Mary-Lou reshelved a book that had been put back in the wrong place. “It won some architectural award.”

“You’ve never seen it. None of us have.”

“I’ve seen pictures. It’s all eco this, and sustainable that. All that money and fuss knocking down the old place and rebuilding. Why hire some fancy architect from San Francisco to turn Otter’s Nest into a coastal paradise if you’re never going to use it?”

“Prime real estate? An investment?”

Mel remembered the long summer days they’d spent on the small curve of sand in front of Otter’s Nest. The beach house itself was perched just above the cove, with a sandy path leading to the beach. The first time Greg had kissed her they’d been sitting on the sand, watching the sun go down. They’d been fourteen years old.

I’m going to marry you, Melanie.

“She doesn’t exactly need the income. Not that I’d swap places. All the money in the world wouldn’t tempt me to be with a man like Cliff Whitman,” Mary-Lou said. “What self-respecting woman stays married to a man like that for two decades?”

That, Mel couldn’t answer and she knew Mary-Lou wasn’t the only one to speculate on that topic.

“I guess none of us really knows what goes on inside another couple’s relationship.”

How was Joanna feeling right now? She’d divorced the man, but Mel knew nothing in life was that simple. Was she heartbroken? Was she opening champagne?

The old Joanna, the Joanna she’d giggled with, surfed with, dreamed about boys with, would have hated the attention. The old Joanna had the kindest, biggest heart. But the person Joanna had become—

Mel didn’t know her.