She remembers the breaking news report during her and Mark’s argument. Dylan had been on that flight. He’d died the same day Mark learned of her betrayal and her marriage ended, and she hadn’t sensed anything. If only she’d been brave enough ten years ago to go after what she wanted: a career she was passionate about, a life in California, and a chance with Dylan. She would have spared herself years of heartache. And Dylan would still be alive.

If only she’d told him then. If only she could have a do-over.

Joy stops, realizing the dangerous direction her thoughts want to take her. Lifting her head, she stares at her reflection in the mirror. Red and swollen eyes stare back at her. Her cheeks are damp. Dylan’s death is a tragedy. She loves him and will miss him terribly. She will regret that they missed their chance to be together. But she can’t fall down the rabbit hole of what-ifs. She lived there for too many years and it isn’t a happy place. She needs to move on. She promised him she would. Life is waiting for her in Manhattan Beach.

Joy turns on the water and rinses her face. She blots it dry with a paper towel, steels herself, and returns to the booth. Chase still waits, his face turned to the window. The waitress brought him a coffee. It’s half-finished. He looks up at her when she sits down.

“You all right?” he asks gently.

“I will be.” She moves her purse from the table to the bench seat.

“You had no idea about him?”

She shakes her head. “We had a deal. No contact for ten years, so I rarely googled him. Seems kind of stupid in retrospect, but I was engaged, then married, and Dylan . . . Well, he had zero interest in settling down.”

The corner of Chase’s mouth quirks and Joy’s heart breaks a little more. He looks so much like Dylan.

“Sounds like him.”

“We were only supposed to meet here today if life didn’t go the way we thought it would. It wasn’t guaranteed we’d both be here. I hoped he would be, though.”

“He would have been here if he hadn’t tried to find you sooner.” Chase looks down at the notebook. He fans the corner. “I wish he was still alive. I wish he was the one sitting across from you.”

Joy’s mouth turns down. “Me too. How did you know I’d be here? Did Dylan tell you?”

Chase shakes his head. He opens Dylan’s notebook and flips it around for Joy to read. Written on the page in Dylan’s bold, choppy scrawl is a reminder.

Meet Joy at Rob’s Diner.

Ludlow, CA

8/5/2020 @ 1:36 p.m.

He’d circled the reminder several times and highlighted the date and time. It was important to him. He didn’t want to forget.