“I mean, who the hell does she think she is? You remember the wreck she turned me into, right?” Tristan glanced at Noah, sprawled on the couch wearing a deadpan expression. Noah gazed back at Tristan, who resumed burning a hole in their rug as he paced its length. The sight of nonchalant Noah did nothing to improve Tristan’s mood. “Right?”

“Right, right. My folks lived next door to the Andersons. They got front row seats to your meltdown.”

“Isolde and Angus wouldn’t let me in to talk to Izzie.”

“As I recall, she also didn’t want to get out of her parents’ house and talk to you. Maybe they respected her wishes?”

“I just wanted her to explain to me why. Tell me why I wasn’t good enough, you know? What the fuck was wrong with me that pushed her away. Was it that much to ask?”

“Big T, you didn’t ask. You tear down the fucking garage door with your bare hands.”

“Your dad and Angus had a hard time keeping me down.”

“Dad told me they dragged you kicking and screaming to my parents’ house. Lucky for you, Angus and Isolde loved you like a son, and didn’t press charges.”

“Whose side are you on, anyway?” Tristan fumed. A little sympathy from his childhood friend would be nice.

“Yours. It’s just that fifteen years have gone by and that put things into a new perspective.”

“That is the point I’m trying to make. After fifteen years, she washes up at my door like some fucking driftwood the sea rejected.” Tristan returned to venting and pacing. “What did she expect me to do? Roll over like a fucking puppy and beg for a belly rub? I mean, those days are over. I’m done with her. I’ve been done for years. She has no right to show up out of the blue and demand I listen to her. She’s fifteen years too late, man. That’s what it is. Too damn too little, too damn too late.”

As he turned around for the millionth time, Tristan bumped into Noah’s chest. His friend fastened his hands around Tristan’s upped arms, steadying him as their eyes locked. “Breathe, Tristan. Just breathe. You’re making me dizzy.”

He took a deep breath that came out as a huff. “Happy?” he asked, unapologetic.

Caught by surprise, Tristan didn’t react when Noah shoved him toward the couch. “Sit the fuck down and shut up for a second. For the best part of the day, I’ve been listening to you go back and forth about all the multiple reasons you should never see Izzie again. And the wicked ways she made you suffer. Okay, I get it. She wreaked havoc. She destroyed you. I was there, dude. I witnessed it all, you don’t need to paint me the picture, I watched the live show.” Noah paused and stared into Tristan’s gaze, as if for effect. Or maybe he was waiting for his words to sink in. “Fifteen. Fucking. Years. Ago. I also followed your attempts to get over her.”

“You say it like I’ve failed.”

Noah went on as if Tristan had not interrupted him. “Right here in Florianópolis. Always beside you, going through similar growing pains. I too got my heart ripped out of my chest, remember?”

“I’ll never forget.”

“You know I feel you, right? I’m not a bystander, I’ve been there with you every step of the way, have I not?”

Tristan begrudgingly nodded.

“I’ll tell you something I came to realize quite recently. We both have been running away ever since we moved down here. We never stopped. We’ve spent a decade and a half pretending we moved on, when we have not. The way I see it, we’ve been chasing our own tails like two stupid old dogs.”

“Speak for yourself.”

“I am, but that doesn’t mean my truth is less truthful for you. I’ve done a lot of soul searching lately because of a certain redhead that won’t give me the time of day. She doesn’t trust me because of my serial dating routine. I don’t blame her. That’s what you and I have been doing all this time. Meaningless one-night stands.”

“It’s been working fine,” Tristan muttered, smothering an inner voice that tried to side with Noah. “What I’ve got with Bruna isn’t meaningless.”

Noah rolled his eyes. “Don’t get me started on that. You should be ashamed of the way you lead her on. She deserves better.”

“She deserves the best, no doubt about it. But, I’ve never lied to her. We’ve got an understanding.”

Noah eyeballed him before replying, “You’re not bullshitting me. You believe that crap. Dude! I could smack you right now.”

Tristan didn’t get it. Noah read people quite well, but he was off the mark there.

“What the fuck for? Bruna doesn’t want commitment. We’ve had the talk right off the bat. I’m not a jerk.”

Noah, who had been looming over Tristan, flopped down on the couch. “You’re a hopeless case, Big T. Maybe that was true in the beginning, three years ago, correct?”

“That’s about right.”

“Three years is an awful long time for casual, don’t you think? How many times have you seen Bruna with another man?”

“Shit.” Tristan’s stomach dropped. He had been too self-absorbed to notice. “I’ve no idea.”

“My point exactly. You sweep stuff under the rug, man. You excel at keeping shit apart, neatly stored away from sight, in tiny little compartments. You suck at dealing with crap. That’s not moving on, that’s denial.”

“You sound like my mom.”

“You visited Lilly?”

“I went over there this morning. Except for the part about Bruna, she pretty much delivered the same message as you. Have you been talking to her?”

“I wish,” Noah chuckled. “I miss her insightful comments.”

“She misses you too.”

Noah’s hand clamped around Tristan’s shoulder. “I guess what I’m trying to say here is that life is too short. You’ve already spent fifteen years pretending you moved on, when you clearly haven’t.”

“You think I haven’t gotten over Izzie because I didn’t settle down? That’s not true. I had made peace with the past. I was fine until she reappeared.”

“If you had made peace with the past, you wouldn’t be hurting the way you are now.”

Damn the man. Now he’s quoting Bruna. What the fuck?

Tristan shook his head. “You’re wrong,” he insisted, less vehemently.

“You know I’m right. You owe it to yourself to set the record straight. That’s the only way you will make peace with the past. You should give Izzie a chance to talk.”

“When hell freezes over, I’ll think about it.” Tristan stood and left the living room, without so much as a glance Noah’s way.

He didn’t want to see his friend’s smug expression.

Knowing Noah was right didn’t make it easy for Tristan to accept it.