“But that’s just it—it is my problem.” Why couldn’t they both see that? They both had tunnel vision. “Joanna was my best friend. When she ended her relationship with Nate, she ended our friendship, too. I missed her. I missed her so much.” She almost choked on the words. “But I lived with that because I thought she’d broken my brother’s heart. I defended you, Nate! I was protective. Angry with her, and I’ve held on to some of that anger. A few days ago I yelled at her!”

Nate frowned. “You yelled at her?”

“Yes, and I hate myself for it. And I’m going to have to apologize for that and a lot of other things, but none of it would have happened if Nate had told me the truth from the beginning.” She sank her hands into her hair, wishing desperately that she could wind the clock back. Wishing she could erase some of her worst character traits. “That was the night you kissed Whitney. I thought you were drowning your sorrows after Joanna ended it with you. You let me think that. Instead you wanted to let Joanna know it was over.”

He winced visibly. “Kissing Whitney was a mistake.”

“You think?” She looked at him in despair and frustration. “I always wondered why Joanna left with Cliff so suddenly and now I know. You made it impossible for her to stay—”

“That’s not true. I never wanted her to leave. And I didn’t know what was going to happen with Denise.”

“Denise? What happened with Denise?”

“You don’t know?”

“Why would I know? Thanks to you, Joanna doesn’t confide in me anymore.”

Nate ran his hand over the back of his neck. “Let’s just say she wasn’t supportive when she found out we’d broken up—”

“Stop, I can’t hear this.” Mel lifted her hands to her ears. “She had a fight with her stepmother and you didn’t tell me that, either?”

“I only found that part out tonight.”

Taken aback, Mel let her hands drop. “She told you? You talked about it tonight?”

“Yes, we talked about it.”

“Well—good.” Some of the fire vanished. “I hope she gave you hell.”

“She didn’t.”

“She’s too nice. She didn’t have anyone, Nate. She was alone. She didn’t talk to me because you were my brother and she thought I’d have divided loyalties.” It killed her, thinking of how isolated Joanna must have felt. She’d been barely older than Eden.

Nate spread his hands. “What do you want me to say? You want to hear me admit that I screwed up? Yes, I screwed up. I knew that pretty much right away and I’ve known it for the past two decades.”

“Why—why didn’t you tell me the truth?”