Neither Amber nor Lou had expected the Sunday morning classes to be such a success, but apparently quite a number of people like to begin their last day of the weekend with some yoga.

“Do you have any idea what time Amber wakes me up when she doesn’t have a class to teach?” Martha shook her head. “I prefer it like this because she sneaks out silently and I can have a lie-in.” She grinned at Amber.

“Don’t worry, Mia. I promise you’ll have at least one in two relaxing Sunday mornings with Lou soon. I’m very close to finding another suitable teacher.”

“You’ve been saying that for weeks,” Mia said. “I thought yoga teachers grew on trees these days.”

“We’re very particular at Glow.” Lou came to Amber’s rescue. “It needs to be a good fit.”

“She’s just looking for a second Lou,” Martha said. “And that’s proving hard to find.”

Mia refilled Martha’s glass, then said, “I can hardly argue with that, can I?”

Lou leaned into Mia a little closer, then let her gaze wander over the group she was standing in. She remembered going to Glow for the first time, being impressed with the teacher and the whole vibe of the brand new studio around the corner from her parents’ house. So much had changed since then, not least of all the reintroduction of Mia Miller into her life.

“As if you won’t be here bright and early tomorrow morning.” Lou grabbed Mia’s hand. Merging Annie’s with the Newtown branch of the Pink Bean had been Mia’s baby for the past couple of months. It would always be intertwined with Lou’s memories of the beginnings of their relationship.

“Only because my bed will be empty, babe.” She put down the bottle of champagne, turned fully to Lou, and curved her arms around her waist. “You will always come first.” She flashed a smile that touched Lou deep in her core. A smile that said everything and that echoed all the ones that had helped erase the memories from Lou’s mind about the other Mia she once knew, but who had long ceased to exist. So many new memories had been made since then and with every day that had passed, Lou had felt her own confidence grow.

Not only had she picked up the pieces of her life after her break-up with Angie, she had also faced herself, and the person she once was, the scared teenager who would always be a part of her, but who she could see as so much more than all the things she blamed herself for then. That girl had been her and she had grown out of her, but she had only fully become herself—the self she was now—once she had looked Mia in the eye and told her, in a clear and steady voice, that she had forgiven her.