Z: Ugh. Mine was better!

M: As usual. Get some sleep.

Z: I’m glad you stopped by tonight. It’s going to be a busy weekend. Surprising Hazel by redecorating the living room.

M: Want any help?

Z: Mary, Piper and Tani are coming over tomorrow. We’ll git ’er done!

M: Call if you need me.

Z: I will. G’night.

Call if you need me. It was a normal sentence. Something they’d probably said and texted a hundred times. But it hit her differently tonight.

She hadn’t really thought about what would happen to their friendship as they rebuilt their lives after death and divorce. The truth was, those two things had already changed it. Redefined it. When they were married, they’d been casual friends who saw each other at picnics, parties or weddings. Their spouses had both been understanding of the bond Mike and Zoey shared. She changed into her pajamas and crawled into bed.

When the marriages were over, their friendship slid back into what it was in school, with all the clowning around and hanging out together. If Mike really was at a threshold—ready to find someone new—then no matter what they’d said tonight, their friendship was going to change once more. She lay awake, staring up at the ceiling in the dark. She’d miss what she and Mike had now.

More than she wanted to admit, even to herself.

CHAPTER FIVE

VICKIE GLARED INTO her bathroom mirror and heaved a long, loud sigh. Who was this old woman staring back at her? Where had those new lines come from? She’d had some last week, but not this many. And that vertical crease between her brows had definitely gotten deeper. She was getting older. She was going to have wrinkles. She got that. But new ones every week?

She brushed her teeth, then plucked the one black chin hair that kept growing back, no matter what she did. Her eyebrows were acceptable today—no rebellious strands sticking out half an inch like she’d found last week. Aging was so much weirder than she’d anticipated. She’d never expected to have hair stop growing in some places, only to grow at hypersonic speeds in new places. It hardly seemed fair.

She tugged her old chenille robe more snugly around her waist. She didn’t have anything on her calendar until afternoon, when she was meeting Lena at the marina restaurant for a late lunch on the waterfront. She still had plenty of time to figure out what to wear. It was one of those weird May days that could go either way weather-wise. If the sun stayed out, it would warm up substantially from the current chilly temperatures. Maybe even enough to wear the short-sleeved linen shift she’d worn on Easter Sunday. If the clouds rolled in earlier than expected, it would be blazer and trousers weather.