“Every day. I don’t understand why she never contacted you again. We were all hoping she would, even if she didn’t call us, but... I don’t know... She was young, impressionable. Maybe she was too scared because she thought we’d find her through you. Perhaps she got mixed up with the wrong crowd.” She let out a huge sigh before a smile settled on her face. “Or maybe she’s sipping cocktails on a beach a lot farther south than this one. Believe me, I’ve googled and combed every social media platform for years without any luck. I do everything I can to imagine her sitting in the sunshine, deliriously happy, because the hardest thing is not knowing.”

“I understand completely.”

She patted my arm. “Of course. Anyway, I’d better get going.”

After saying our goodbyes, I walked back to Lily, and when she asked me if everything was okay, I hesitated. It didn’t feel right to tell her about Maya and this Dave character, not before I’d spoken to my sister about him. Fiona’s suspicions could be unfounded, or a complete misunderstanding.

“She showed me a postcard,” I said. “Celine sent it from Boston about a year after she left, saying she wouldn’t be back. They haven’t heard from her since.”

Lily shook her head. “I can understand a little how she must feel, having someone they love disappear like that.” She paused, reached over to touch my cheek as she smiled. “I got lucky. Maybe Fiona will, too, and Celine will come home one day.”

Not long after, we gathered our things and walked back to the car, our arms brushing lightly until I reached for Lily’s hand. “Thank you for this,” I said. “For making today feel almost normal.”

“You’re welcome. I had a great time. That little girl with the ball could have given you a run for your money. I bet your dad would have joined in, too.”

“Even though he hated it,” I said with a laugh.

“What? No, that’s not true. You told me you guys played all the time when you were in England. You’d go to the local park. You called them your ‘Sunday Kickabouts.’ And you always watched matches together.”

“Yeah, until he finally confessed he hated everything to do with the sport and couldn’t bear admitting it because I loved it so much.”

Maya had grinned when she’d explained how Dad’s revelation had turned into a standing joke at the house, with him groaning and moaning whenever I turned on a match. In the end he’d always sat down next to me for the whole thing anyway. I couldn’t recall that part. The memory had been swallowed up by the abyss along with so many other things.

“You never shared that with me,” Lily said, looking down.