“Imissed you, munchkin.”Lilly reached out her hands and Izzie squeezed them before enveloping the older woman in a tightembrace.
“It’s been too long, AuntieLil.”
“I know you’ve been to hell and back. Tell me how you are nowthough.”
Izzie smiled, but couldn’t keep a weary sigh in as she sagged on the spot Tristan had vacated. “Like I’ve been to hell and back. I’m trying to do the right thing, but he won’t give me the time ofday.”
Lilly’s expression was kind when she reminded Izzie. “Ever thought you might have waited toolong?”
Izzie cast her eyes on the hands she wriggled on her lap. Through the years, she had gotten in touch with Lilly on a couple of occasions, over the phone. Ten years ago, when her mom got killed in a home invasion. Then again, five years later, when her dad passed after a short battle with lung cancer. Her dad had loved her and Arthur, his only grandson, with all his heart, but he had never gotten over her mom’s brutaldeath.
Her only face-to-face contact with Lilly, not long before she moved to Brazil, had not been an easy one for Izzie. She recalled it as if it had happened hoursago.
“When I first started in the NA program, you were the first person I contacted for the ninth step. I wasn’t ready to make amends with Tristan. You were the next bestthing.”
“Are you readynow?”
“I thought I was. He made me doubt it yesterday, but I won’t giveup.”
“I never told him we talked, you know. He wasn’t ready to hear about it, anyway. Then again, it’s not like you confided any secrets tome.”
Izzie studied Lilly’s gaze and saw compassion, no judgment. “I never explained myself to you. Yet you’ve always trusted me, even though I caused Tristan so much heartache. I’m not sure I’d do the same if a girlfriend did that toArthur.”
Lilly stroked the back of Izzie’s hand. “I don’t know how much you heard, but I just told Tristan the two of you were too young and immature to make sounddecisions.”
“You remember MarkKing?”
“Sleazy excuse of a man. Yeah, I remember him. Never trusted the guy, but Tristan used to put him on a pedestal. The man couldn’t do any wrong. Tristan thought Mark had the rocker attitude he wanted to emulate. I tried to warn him, but he didn’t listen tome.”
Izzie nodded. “All that, but he also had a violent temper and hung out with a viciouscrowd.”
“The Crips’ drug dealers? I thanked my stars that was the one thing Tristan did not try tocopy.”
“That didn’t work that well for me, although I really just sank into the drugs after Tristan left me. I had a serious case of death wish even after I learned I was pregnant withArthur.”
“Wait a second. You’re telling me you regretted choosing Mark over Tristan, so you started on drugs? Is thatit?”
“I’m saying I did not choose Mark. At all.Period.”
Lilly’s slack-jawed expression gave Izzie pause. She waited for the older woman to process the information she just dumped on her. “What the fuck,girl?”
A grin spreading across her face, Izzie replied, “There’s so much I need to say to you. Let me backtrack to that night Tristan walked in on me and Mark, and thought we were having anaffair.”
8
Tristan
“Imean,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 yourmeltdown.”
“Isolde and Angus wouldn’t let me in to talk toIzzie.”
“As I recall, she also didn’t want to get out of her parents’ house and talk to you. Maybe they respected herwishes?”
“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 toask?”
“Big T, you didn’t ask. You tear down the fucking garage door with your barehands.”
