I stretch my arms up to the sky and breathe in the fresh Arizona air. There is a light breeze that keeps me cool and makes the leaves of the trees rustle. I can smell the newly-cut grass. As my toes curl into my yoga mat, I enjoy the feeling of the sun warming my skin, and I dip into the next position.

It’s busy today at Rumsey Park because the weather’s beautiful. It’s the perfect morning to be practicing yoga outdoors. My best friend, Chloe, is running the class, and she raises her eyebrows at my curled-up toes. She shakes her head. “Find balance in your core, Lily.”

I uncurl my toes and immediately begin to wobble. I see Chloe grin as she passes and begins to chastise another student. I’m grateful when we move into ‘child’s pose,’ and I can let my forehead rest against the mat, my butt in the air in my new purple yoga pants.

Chloe returns to the front of the group and brings the session to a close. It’s a relief when I can slouch again. As she says goodbye to the last of her students, I roll up my mat and join her. We’re finally alone.

She nudges me with her hip. “What have I told you about those toes?”

“I keep falling over! Especially in flamingo pose.”

“It’s not called ‘flamingo pose,’ Lily! It’s Lord of the Dance.”

I stifle a giggle, but Chloe catches me and is the first to laugh.

“Hey, I don’t pick the names.” She taps me playfully in the shoulder with her fist.

I smile at her. Out here in the park, in her yoga pants and tight top, she seems in her element. She holds herself with grace and poise, her jet-black hair streaming in the sunlight.

I wish I looked like that. I don’t rate next to Chloe’s dark eyes and smooth brown skin—I’m boyish, petite, and flat-chested. With my shoulder-length dark blonde hair and freckles that come out the minute I go outside, I couldn’t be more ordinary.

We reach the soda stand, and Chloe buys us both a bottle. I take a deep swig and let my body relax. “Is our spot free?”

“It is!”

Our spot is beneath a leafy feather bush tree at the edge of the park. It is the perfect place to people-watch, looking out over the park with gravel paths twisting through the green, benches and soda stands, and water-fountains glistening in the sunlight. We can hear the strikes of a game going on nearby on the softball field.

We sit a while, catching up. “A busy class today,” I say. “Looks like business is picking up.”

“Tell me about it! I’ve had to create two new classes. It always gets like this when the sun comes out, but by Thanksgiving, nobody will be left. I’m going to make the most of it while it lasts. What about you? How’s work going?”

I shrug, and even though work is slow, I smile. “Oh, you know. I’m still working on that mural for the school, and I’ve recently started that commission for the sculpture.”

“Lily, that’s great! See, it’s taking off for you, too.”

I’m not too sure about that. When I chose the artist’s life, I knew times would be hard, but I never realized quite how much I’d have to stretch to make ends meet. I have my own apartment, though, and as long as I can cling to that, I’m satisfied. All a girl needs is her own little corner of the world to fill with dreams.

“How’s the family doing?” Chloe asks.

“Great! Naomi loves it in Tucson. Mom’s still getting used to it, but Dad made some golf buddies already. I think they’re settling in okay.”

“Shame they didn’t want to stick around here.”

“You know my mom. She goes wherever the grandkids are.”

Chloe pokes me in the stomach playfully. “Better pop one out, then.”

I giggle and push her away. “Need a man first. At least, I’ve been told that’s how it works.”

All of a sudden, Chloe gasps and starts to dig around inside her purse. I ask her what she’s remembered, but she holds a finger up over her shoulder to make me wait for it.

She pulls out a new edition of the New York Insider and holds it out in front of her with an excited expression. “Have you read this?”

“Sadly, no. I’m not up-to-date with what’s going on in New York. Why would I read that?”

I turn away to hide my face. Of course, I read the New York Insider. Anyone who went to our high school at the same time as Ethan Steele reads it. Everybody wants to talk about how they once knew the most famous self-made billionaire in America. I hate it when people do that.

Nobody knew him like I did.

“I haven’t read the latest edition. Is it about Ethan?”

“Duh! Who else?”

I recline against the grass pretending I could care less. “And?”

“And, page forty-one.” She pushes the magazine into my hand. “Read.”

I sit up slowly, leaning back against the tree trunk as I lazily flick to the center pages, acting as though my heart hasn’t picked up its pace at the mere mention of Ethan Steele.

There he is, on page forty-one. I stare at his image. I recognize him, but Ethan’s unfamiliar. I mean, where’s that boy who ran around this very park with no shoes on and paint in his hair? Where’s that dork with the mismatched socks?

I recognize the strong, chiseled jaw of my childhood sweetheart. Those are his ivy green eyes with the hazel flecks. His hair is the same sandy-blonde color it always was. But I don’t feel like I know the Ethan in this picture, the one with the intense, cold stare and stoic expression. How can this be the same boy who used to tickle me until I screamed with laughter and threw me into the pool? I can’t imagine this stranger ever laughing at anything. He looks like a stock photo of a businessman, not a real human being. Not my Ethan.

I read, then scoff at the article. “A dating app? Are you kidding me?”

“I know, right? Maybe it’s so he can meet even more upper-class model wannabes with fake asses.”

“According to this, the app is meant to match you with only one person.”

Chloe peers over my shoulder at Ethan’s photograph. “He hardly looks like the poster boy for true love.”

I sit back against the tree, and run my finger over Ethan’s glossed image, letting out a long, nostalgic breath. “He never used to be this cold.”

“I never knew the guy. He was a senior.”

“We grew up on the same street,” I tell her, although I know she’s heard this story before, probably a thousand times. “I remember how we used to be. We used to talk for hours. When I think of Ethan, I remember the dreamer who promised he’d travel the world with me. He used to spend all day painting at my side. He bought me my favorite set of watercolors.”

“That’s sweet.”

“I remember it like it was yesterday. It was the day of my high school graduation. When I opened that little tin, I thought I’d burst with love. You know why?”

“Why?”

“Because everyone was telling me to go to college or go and get a ‘real job.’ They were all telling me that art isn’t a career. Not Ethan. He was buying me paint.” I smile at the memory. “He believed in me.”

Memories of Ethan are always bittersweet. I’ve never stopped loving him, but I’ve also never forgiven him for leaving the small town of Payson without saying goodbye. He simply left one day without a word. A handful of photographs and that old set of watercolors were all I had to remember him by. I’d scraped that palette dry years ago.

“You should try it!” Chloe encourages, sitting up and clapping her hands together with excitement.

“Try what?”

“This!” She prods at the magazine. “This app. Destiny. You should give it a go.”

I close the magazine, place it down on the grass, and make a face. “I don’t think so.”

“Why not?”

“I’m not into online dating.”

“You’re not into dating, period. Come on, Lily! When was the last time you let loose, huh? Somewhere out there is the perfect guy for you. Why not try and find him?”

I found him. And he left me. “I’m concentrating on work right now.”

“I’m sure you can find time for a date or two, Lily. Don’t be a chicken!”

“We both know I’m a disaster at dating.”

“This is true. All the more reason to try a new approach.” She picks up the magazine again, finds the article, and sits back to examine it once more. “Only one match. You should give it a go! If it sucks, it only sucks once. You’ve got nothing to lose.”

Truer words have never been spoken. All I have going on for me right now is the love of my cat, Biscuit, and a growing collection of romantic comedy DVDs.

I shrug. “All right. Maybe.”

Chloe grins. “We’ll find you a man at last.”

I think I’ve agreed, but my heart’s not in it. My heart has always been with him—Ethan Steele. I still don’t understand why he chose to leave without saying goodbye. Times were hard for him, but we’d always faced life together.

Chloe keeps talking, but my mind is eleven years in the past.

* * *

“You’re awfully quiet, Ethan. Is everything okay?”

He’s been sitting blank-eyed and silent on the windowsill for almost an hour, twirling a dry paintbrush between his fingers, not really with me at all.

“Huh?”

“What’s wrong?”

He doesn’t want to tell me. He doesn’t reply.

I join him on the windowsill, pulling myself up to his side, and tilt my head to look him in the eye. He’s staring at the ground.

Ethan’s almost seventeen, but recently, he’s been acting like he’s lived a thousand years. He’s disappearing in front of my eyes.

“Please, Ethan. Talk to me.”

“There’s a lot on my mind, Lily.”

“Your mom?”

“Don’t.”

He jumps down from the windowsill. I think he’s going to leave, but then he turns and holds out his hand. I take it, and he helps me down. He leads me outside.

We sit side by side on the porch step, looking out at the overgrown backyard. Ethan’s mom used to take pride in it before she got sick; now it’s filled with weeds.

“They say she’s not going to make it.”

I feel my heart splitting. It’s hard to draw in even a gasp. Ethan’s mother is like family to me, and Ethan is my whole world.

“Are you okay?”

“No. Not really.”

I hold onto his hand and squeeze. He puts his arm around me. We sit together, wondering what will happen.

* * *

I snap back to the present.

Chloe is coming to the end of some monologue I haven’t listened to. “I wonder what would have happened if he’d stayed in Arizona.”

“I ask myself that question every day.”