The patio of Tony’s Macaroni in Serendipity, Indiana, was busy tonight. Kim Rose sipped her red wine, letting it slide down her throat as she anticipated a delicious meal. The weather was perfect. A warm breeze teased her with the rich, spicy smell of the neighboring table’s lasagna. She glanced at a couple nearby who seemed to be in a romantic world of their own.

When a car horn honked, her friend, Emily Standish, sitting across the table from her, raised a hand in a wave.

A puff of wind blew some hair into Kim’s eyes. She pulled a scrunchie out of her handbag and jerked her hair into a ponytail, hoping all of it would stay under control for once.

“Emily, do you know who that was? Or did you just wave in case you knew?”

Emily laughed. “Her name is Lauren. One of her sisters was in my high school class.”

Kim shook her head in amazement. “I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to living in a small town. You seem to have a connection to everyone in Serendipity.”

Emily leaned back in her chair, smiling. “That’s one result of living in the same place all my life. But, Kim, you know more people every day.” Emily tipped her head, concerned. “I hope you’re not second-guessing your decision to move here.”

Kim put a hand over her friend’s. “Not second-guessing. I’m just still in the adjustment period.” For years, Kim had lived and worked in New Albany, Indiana, a vibrant community minutes away from the culture, shopping, and dining opportunities of Louisville, Kentucky. Except for the incredible speed of the gossip tree, everything in Serendipity moved at a slower pace than Kim was accustomed to. “Serendipity has a very different lifestyle. I’m learning how it works.”

Emily nodded. “Remember when I told you that Serendipity Hospital was looking for nurses? I warned you of what to expect here.”

“Yes, ma’am, I remember, and I told you I was ready for a drastic change. I love Serendipity. I feel happier than I have in a long time.” She sipped more wine, to shut herself up and avoid getting maudlin about the past. “I’ll have to be okay with the possibility that I’ll never know as many people as you do. Sometimes I think you can call every one of Serendipity’s six thousand citizens by name.”

Emily cringed. “In my sordid past, I probably called a few of them some names I shouldn’t have. Good thing you dragged me down the road to recovery after my car wreck and helped me change my attitude.” She shook her head in dismay. “Sometimes I can’t believe how rotten I was back in the day.”

Kim laughed, glad for the change in subject. Before becoming a nurse, she was an aid in the facility where Emily was sent for physical therapy and rehabilitation. At first, nobody wanted to be around the angry, bitter young woman. “You were certainly one of our most well-known patients.”

Emily covered her eyes with her hands and shook her head. Her words were muffled when she spoke. “Okay, I’m really wishing for some brain bleach here. Thank goodness I wasn’t a lost cause.”

“Nobody is a lost cause,” Kim said. That belief was important to her sanity at work, and she had to believe it for herself.

Emily removed her hands and leaned forward, elbows on the table. “Do you ever think about all the connections in our lives, things that happen and we don’t realize the importance until later?”

Kim slowly twirled her wineglass on the table, wishing for the food to arrive or for someone to recognize Emily and interrupt their conversation. Anything. “What kind of connections do you mean?”

Emily’s eyes sparkled. “Well, my wreck for one. It was a terrible thing, for me, for my family. But so much good has come out of it.”

Kim had a flash of Emily’s wedding day. “Your relationship with David sure evolved during your rehab.”

“Absolutely. He and I wouldn’t have gotten together otherwise. But so many things led up to that. And, Kim, getting to know you was a big life changer. You taught me a lot about gratitude and about working hard to achieve a worthwhile goal.”

Kim laughed. “I did? Really, I was just trying to keep you from giving up on yourself.”

Her friend shook a finger at her. “Don’t shrug it off, Kim. I’m serious. Your attitude toward life after losing your mom to breast cancer and going through that yourself—and the boyfriend who dumped you—”

Kim slid down in her chair and whispered, “You’re making me feel pretty awesome right now.”

Emily frowned. “I don’t mean to be negative. I’m talking about being grateful every day even when life is hard. That’s what you taught me, Kim.”

I’d love an instant replay of those lessons. The audio version so I can listen on my phone whenever I need a lift.

Kim cleared her throat. “New topic. The road trip. Are you one hundred percent sure you can’t go?”

An unusual look passed quickly over Emily’s face. “Yes. One hundred percent. I’d love to see that area, and I will someday. But I want to make it a family vacation. Something David and I do together and take Isabel when she’s old enough to enjoy it. I know you’re eager to go, and you’re just being kind.”

“Well, I am looking forward to it, but I’d step aside and let you go. I wouldn’t know Travis and Suzanne without you introducing me. If you were up for it, we could both go. Surely there’s room in their car for four. Not sure about four plus a car seat.” She chuckled at her own joke.

Emily coughed, seemed to narrowly avoid spitting wine. “Oops. Excuse me—wine went down the wrong way.”

She replaced her glass on the table, just as Tony, the restaurant co-owner, appeared with their handmade pizza. It was beautiful and smelled heavenly.

He set it on the table with a flourish. “You ladies need anything else right now?”

Emily looked at Kim and answered for both of them. “We’re good, Tony. Thanks. It’s a perfect night to eat on the patio. I’m so glad you added this.”

He shook his head, chuckling. “Thanks. It hurts to admit it was the wife’s idea, and I kept telling her nobody’d be interested. I’ll be eating crow about that for the rest of my life, I guess.”

“If you get to do that on the patio, it won’t be so bad.”

Tony covered his ears, laughing. “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” He excused himself and checked in with another table.

Emily served a slice of pizza to Kim and put one on her own plate. “Back to the road trip. It’s all yours, Kim. Have a great time. Take loads of photos and text them to me. I know you’re ready for a break. You haven’t taken a real vacation since that island trip with your book club friends, right?”

Kim chewed slowly, picturing scenes from Enchanted Island. “Yes. It’s almost two years. Hard to believe. We were chatting about it online the other night.”

And even harder to believe that some of the girls had actually met the men of their dreams through that ridiculous bottle toss. She hadn’t told anybody outside the group about the message in a bottle. Not even Emily. Emily would probably have a good laugh about it if she heard, and Kim wasn’t ready to provide that comic relief.

Kim was realistic. She didn’t expect a knight in shining armor to sweep her onto his galloping white steed and carry her off to live in a castle. She had to do the best she could with the life she had, and that meant learning, again, to be grateful each day. And being satisfied with experiencing romance by reading about it in novels. The real-life kind was too painful to risk again.

Gratitude changes lives, she’d heard. Evidently, she’d said it a few times, and Emily had paid attention. Maybe it was time Kim re-learned the lessons she had taught her friend.

Nobody is a lost cause. Not even me.