I'd answered the questions. That was the easy part. The hard part was confessing I could end up hurting him when I told him about his family. That had been the reason for wanting to see David because I needed to give Vítor a choice.
"Hey, man," Pedro said, coming from behind the counter to shake my hand, "haven't seen you for a while."
"Yeah, things have been busy with Isaac gone, you know."
"Yeah, yeah, you kids are always busy these days."
We chatted while I waited for David. Pedro had gone to school with David and Joel's moms, and his snack bar by the beach had been their hangout since they were kids.
"Don't let him give you grief," David said as he pulled up a chair to sit next to me. "We come by all the time. He's getting needy in his old age."
Pedro gave David a playful punch before he went back behind the counter.
"So, why the mystery meeting?" he asked.
"I've been thinking… what if Vítor doesn't want to be found?"
David stared at me like I was crazy, but not a moment later, his gaze dropped.
"I hadn't thought of that. I know how much Uncle Mário would love to have his brother back in his life. That's all I was thinking. Do you think we shouldn't search for him?"
He looked like I'd taken the wind out of his sails.
"No, I just think you have to be prepared for the fact that Vítor may not want to have contact with his family."
"Surely once he knows that his parents aren't alive anymore he'd want to see his brother."
That was a possibility, one that I could test out on Vítor, but there were still no guarantees.
"Maybe, but think about it. He was in the hospital for how many days without a visitor, without anyone showing any support or checking if he was okay? He may think that Mário took their father's side."
David exhaled. "You're right, but what does it mean? We stop looking? Continue? What if he's out there and he wants to reconnect, but he's not sure about reaching out?"
I couldn't look my friend in the eye. I hated lies, and I hated secrets. I'd kept many of those for such a long time, thinking I was protecting my family when all it did was destroy it.
My legs were itching to move, so I got up and went to the edge of the pedestrian walkway where it met the sand. David followed me and stopped by my side.
"I used to come to the beach when I was young and look at all the families. Growing up, Joel was like a brother to me, but it wasn't the same, you know? I wanted a brother that was just a brother, someone I could confide in, especially when he started becoming more than my best friend."
He started walking along the pavement, so I followed.
I knew exactly what he meant because I'd been the same kid, asking my mom when I could have a brother to play with and when I would get a dad.
"I can't imagine a life without Joel," he continued. "I think it's pretty perfect that the one person I've known all my life will always be there with me, and I'm ready to move on from the hurt of the past, but I can't, because there's this unfinished chapter."
"You have no idea how much I get it. I really want to do this for you and your family."
I sensed David's gaze on me but kept mine ahead on the people walking, cycling, and running along the paved road by the beach.
"Wait." He pulled on my elbow to turn me around to face him. "You found him, haven't you? You've been talking about what would happen when you find him, but you never said that not finding him was a possibility."
"David." I didn't know what to say. I couldn't lie to him. He was one of my best friends, and this was going to hurt him. I couldn't do it.
"Tiago, please tell me. Have you found him?"
I nodded and found myself wrapped in David's arms.
"Is he okay?"
