“They can say all they want; they don’t know what she’s really like.”

“But what is she really like, though?”

“What do you mean?” Phil gave her a puzzled look. He had blindly put all his allegiance behind Lou as soon as she’d told him about Mia’s past antics.

“I’m beginning to think that she’s not the same person anymore. These days, it seems she spends her days helping people, even trying to rescue Annie’s Bookshop. She respects the boundaries I set completely, and then some. If anything, it’s me who is making her feel excluded. It makes me wonder whether people can change. A notion I wasn’t even willing to consider after seeing her again, but as time goes by, and I see more of her and what she’s like today, I ask myself whether I’m the one being too hard on her now.”

“Seriously?” Phil downed the wine he had just poured. “You’re willing to forgive and forget?”

Lou shook her head. “No, of course not, but I’m not sure I’m willing to hate for much longer. Hate is just such a… corrosive emotion.”

“You’ve been a yoga teacher for too long.”

“Why are you giving me such a hard time about this?” Lou asked because this wasn’t Phil’s style. He was usually such an easy-going guy, willing to give everyone the benefit of the doubt.

“I’m doing no such thing, but I know you, Lou. I met you not long after you escaped Mia Miller’s evil clutches, and you have come such a long way since then. You put yourself together again, but it took many long and hard years to do so. I wouldn’t want to see that jeopardized in any way.”

“But that’s just the point. I’ve changed. I’m not that girl I once was. Maybe she has changed as well.”

“She’d better have.” Phil shook his head. “But the two are so completely different.”

“I’m not so sure. We both had to change to survive.”

“No, Lou, she changed you first by diminishing you and lowering your self-esteem and turning you into a nervous mess.”

“I was already a nervous mess.”

“That’s of no importance.” Phil cocked his head. “I feel like you have changed since the last time we spoke. Who is this person standing in the kitchen with me? Did Mia get to you in any way?”

“Don’t be silly. I—I just… I don’t know how to explain it.” Lou couldn’t quite put into words the feeling she’d had when Mia had walked away from her in the Pink Bean after she had invited her to Glow. It was a strange blend of pity, unexpected kindness, and an eagerness to understand.

“Please don’t tell me you have the hots for her,” Phil said.

Lou scoffed. “That would be ludicrous.”