Fuck it, she thought, wishing she could sneak off somewhere to smoke a cigarette. But this was a small town and she was a preacher’s daughter, married to the high school football coach, so it would be bad form to be seen smoking in public.

Besides, Will hated it. They were supposed to be trying for a baby. They were trying.

One of them was, anyway.

“Sierra? Oh my gosh. Hi!”

Sierra turned to see Caroline Shelby approaching her. She was so startled that for a moment she couldn’t move. Caroline looked amazing, years younger than her actual age. Her dark hair was a tousled mop tipped in lavender, her jeans perfectly slouchy under a crisp, fitted white blouse. She wore purple-framed glasses and chunky jewelry, wedge ankle boots and a vintage bag. She was with two adorable mixed-race kids.

With a sudden rush of emotion, Sierra opened her arms. “Get over here, stranger. Holy shit. It’s been forever.”

“Forever and a day.” Caroline hugged her.

Sierra sensed something tentative about the embrace, as if she were hugging a stranger. After all this time, they were strangers. But their coming-of-age years together had created a solid foundation. As young teenagers, they had been best friends, as close as sisters. Closer, Caroline used to joke. Sisters without the fighting. There had been a time when they’d known each other so well they could finish each other’s sentences. The inside jokes, the nicknames, the secrets and shared heartbreaks of high school created a bond that felt different from the ones with friends Sierra had made since those days.

After high school, the two of them had drifted apart, a slow and natural seismic progression that sent Caroline to New York and the Fashion Institute of Technology and Sierra into the arms of the man she would eventually marry.

Now here they were again, back in the place they had both longed to leave.

“Join us at our table,” Caroline said. “We’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”

They crossed the bustling dining room, managed under the eagle eye of Caroline’s sister, Georgia, and settled at a table by the window, which framed a view of the dunes, the distant cliffs, and the wild forested headlands to the south.

“Jesus Christ, you’re a mom,” Sierra said, feeling shell-shocked as she regarded the boy and girl.

“Flick and Addie,” Caroline said, helping the little girl clamber into a booster seat. “Kids, this is my friend, Sierra.”

The two of them offered timid waves. Flick, a boy with perfect café au lait skin and enormous dark eyes, said, “She’s not our mom.”

“Oh?” Sierra was tongue-tied. Then what the hell . . . ?

“Our mom died,” the boy added.

“Oh my God.” Sierra was mortified by the statement, its devastating simplicity and the blunt delivery by the little boy. She’d never been good at talking to kids. It just didn’t come naturally to her. “Oh, shit. You guys. I’m so sorry.”

“She said ‘shit,’” Addie said. “That’s a swear.”

“You’re right,” Sierra admitted. “It was rude of me to swear.” She sent a desperate look at Caroline.

“It’s a long story,” Caroline said. “Maybe another time . . .”

“Of course. Sure.” Sierra didn’t bother to mask her relief when a server with a name tag reading nadine came with coffee and hot chocolate. The kids devoured their breakfast while Sierra could only pick at her scone, her appetite lost in a surge of nostalgia and a sense of things unfinished.

Nadine’s hand wobbled as she poured, splashing coffee onto the table in front of Caroline. “Yikes,” she said, blushing furiously. “Oh gosh, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s all right,” Caroline said, using a napkin to sop up the spill before it dripped over the table edge.

Nadine went and got a rag. “I’m really, really sorry.”

Sierra couldn’t help but notice the waitress’s arms. They were marked with an unfortunate constellation of garish tattoos. But the ink didn’t quite mask the bruises. She traded a look with Caroline, and just for that split second, the two of them connected the way they used to in high school.

“Please, don’t give it a thought,” Caroline murmured as Nadine finished.

“Thanks,” said the waitress. “Having an off day, I guess.”

Sierra’s mobile phone pinged, signaling a message. Shoot, she’d forgotten about an appointment to pick out coverings for the downstairs windows. “I have to go,” she said. “Come up to the house one day soon, okay? Bring these two cuties and we’ll catch up.”

“Um, sure. The kids have a lot on their plates right now.” Caroline glanced down at their nearly empty breakfast plates. “Figuratively speaking. Starting school and getting settled in.”

A brush-off? Or the truth? Sierra couldn’t quite tell. “Okay, I get it. And I have a better idea. How about you meet up with Will and me for drinks? There’s a new place down by the docks called Salt. We haven’t tried it yet, but I’ve heard good things.”

There was a beat of hesitation. Sierra couldn’t decipher the beat. She couldn’t decipher the friend she used to know so well. Then Caroline smiled. “I’d love to.”

“That’s great. Let’s make sure we have each other’s digits.” Sierra took out her phone.

“Is this yours?” Caroline turned her phone screen toward Sierra. “Because if it is, I already have it in my contacts.”

“Holy crap,” Sierra said. “I can’t believe you kept me on the list for so long.”

“You were the first kid in town to get her own cell phone. I was so jealous.”

“I got the cell phone, you got the siblings.”

“I would have traded all four of them for my own phone.”

She sighed. “I never liked being an only child. And the preacher’s daughter to boot. God, if you hadn’t rescued me when I first moved to the peninsula, I would have shriveled up and blown away.”

“Rescued you? I think it was more like I commandeered you to be the model for my sewing projects.” Caroline smiled. “So many memories, huh?”

“Well, regardless. They say the friends you make when you’re fourteen are the friends you’ll keep forever.”

Caroline’s gaze cut away. “I’m sorry I’ve been so absent.”

“Well, I’m glad you’re back. It’ll be like old times, you’ll see. Damn, I forgot how much I like hanging out with you.”

“I never forgot,” murmured Caroline.

“Aw, Caroline. I want to hear everything. All your adventures in New York.”

She swirled her spoon in her coffee cup. “It’s a lot.” She glanced at the kids. “Soon, okay?”

Sierra grabbed her bag. “It was nice to meet you guys,” she said to the kids. As she left the restaurant, she saw Caroline gazing out the window, her face stiff with tension.

Chapter 12

Caroline stared at the message on her phone. The week after their icebreaker meeting, Sierra had invited her to bring the kids over for a visit. It was a simple invitation from a friend she hadn’t seen in years. Should she go?