Darcy kissed her cheek. “I wasn’t talking about you, hon.”

Ryann laughed, shaking their hands again, tuning out a little as Stuart and Jai made plans for another get-together with them later this week. Between the beer, the embarrassing compliments, and her general exhaustion, she was starting to lose the ability to keep up with everyone. Her eyes were still sandy, and the dry air was making her skin and nose tickle. Jai and Stuart stood talking to their friends, and she took the opportunity to slide around to Darcy’s vacated chair in the farthest corner, which gave her a view of the entire room.

It was strangely busy in here for a Wednesday evening, especially this early in the evening, but the excellent beer likely explained the crowd. The room was wide and airy, with exposed brick walls, soft yellow light, and light pine floors. The tables and chairs were also pine and dark metal, the whole place sophisticated and almost urban. Valentine’s decorations were in here, too, though somewhat more subtle than she was used to seeing here in town—a few of those enormous wooden conversation hearts on the walls and some heart-shaped streamers hanging from the rafters.

A pint of dark beer was set in front of her, startling her back into reality, and she smiled up at Erin.

“Nice meeting you, Ryann,” she said. “I’m sure we’ll see more of you soon.”

She started reaching into her purse, but Erin held up a hand. “No charge, of course. You get the friends-and-family discount.”

“Thanks.”

After Erin and Darcy left, the men sat down in their chairs again across from her. Now, seeing them side by side, she couldn’t stop the stab of happy melancholy piercing her heart. Watching Stuart was enough to tell her everything. He was wholeheartedly, gloriously happy—more so than she’d seen him in the entire twenty-plus years she’d known him. And he’d changed so tremendously—not just the clothes and the beard, but everything about him. It was almost like meeting someone new, someone better, as if this person had emerged from inside her old friend.

“Do I have something in my teeth?” he asked, scrubbing at them with a finger.

“No,” she said, smiling. “No—I’m getting used to you again.”

He took her hand in his. “God, I missed you.”

“Me, too.”

“So, Ryann,” Jai said. “Tell me all about yourself.”

“What do you want to know?”

“Well, Stuart told me some of the details, but I want to hear them from you, too. I know you two grew up in Cold Spring and moved to the city together for college. And now you’re in marketing, and you own your own business.”

Ryann laughed. “That’s me in a nutshell. Not much more to tell, really.”

Jai rolled his eyes. “Yes, yes—but I want the rest of it. Family? Girlfriend?”