She’d painted until she lost the light, absorbed in her own creation. Finally she locked the door, headed back to the house and remembered to check her phone.

She’d missed two calls from Sean, and a text from Caitlin, asking how long a packet of ham would last once it was opened.

Soon, she thought. Soon she’d talk to them about how she was feeling, but for now she wanted to focus on herself.

She’d fallen asleep, exhausted but happy, and now here she was on the beach with her oldest friend, wondering how they’d ever managed to lose touch. Like so many things in her life, it had happened gradually so that she hadn’t even noticed the change until it had slipped away. Was this what had happened with her mother and Ruth?

“I can’t believe it has been so long.” She stretched out her legs. She was wearing shorts and a T-shirt and her legs and feet were bare. For the first time in as long as she could remember she had nothing tugging at her. No little voice telling her there were things she should be doing, which was good because the only thing she wanted to do was lie with the sun on her face and listen to the waves break onto the shore. She hoped this heat wave wouldn’t end any time soon. “It was at our wedding.”

“I know. And your anniversary was a few days ago. Unbelievable how fast time passes.”

How was it that a friend who she hadn’t seen for almost two decades could remember her anniversary, but her husband couldn’t?

“It was a hot day, do you remember? My hair was limp and my makeup was shiny.”

Angie removed her hat and lay back next to her. “I remember every moment of it. You looked beautiful. And I had never been more envious of anyone in my life.”

Liza turned her head. “Why would you have been envious of me?”

“Because no man had ever looked at me the way Sean looked at you.”

Liza’s heart gave a skip. “It was our wedding day. Every man looks at his bride like that on his wedding day.”

“Not true. This wasn’t a Hey, you look great in that dress look, or anything like that. It was a look that said everything he ever wanted in life was standing right there in front of him. That was the kind of look you read about in romance novels and hardly ever see in real life.” Angie sighed. “Sean was an incredibly sexy guy. Brain and brawn—always a killer combination. Women were falling over themselves to catch his attention, and he literally didn’t see anyone else there. Just you. It was one of those rare weddings where you knew the couple really would be together forever, however long that happened to be. Who doesn’t dream of that?”