Christy blinked away the tears and stared at the lake in front of them. Right now it reminded her of their friendship. Frozen. Bleak.

“Alix.” Oh this felt so hard. “I need to talk about the wedding. About what you said that day. You never wanted me to marry Seb. You made that clear.”

“That’s history.”

“But it’s not, is it? It’s still there, simmering away between us. You think he’s going to let me down. Some days it feels as if you’re waiting for that moment.” She heard her own voice rise but couldn’t stop it. “You treat him as if he’s on probation.”

“What?” Alix frowned. “That’s not true.”

“It is true. I heard it in your voice that night I rang you in New York and said I needed your help.” The words started to flow. “The first thing that entered your head was that it was something Seb had done.”

“It was something Seb had done. You told me he had a work meeting.”

“But you didn’t believe me. You automatically assumed it was code for my marriage going wrong.” She saw Alix’s cheeks flush.

“Because you didn’t tell me the truth. I couldn’t understand why a work meeting couldn’t be rescheduled for something so important. You failed to tell me Seb had lost his job. You gave me a tiny morsel of incomplete information and then got mad when I was worried.”

Christy was flustered. “Who told you he’d lost his job?” It could only have been one person. They kissed. And it lasted forever. “Zac, I suppose.”

“He knew I was worried about you. He cared enough about me being worried to put my mind at rest.”

He cared enough about me—

Christy decided that revealing comment was something to be tackled later. If they reached later.

“I didn’t feel it was my place to tell you.”

“Right. You didn’t want to talk about it.” Alix’s features were frozen. “You don’t think I would have cared? You don’t think I would have been sympathetic? You knew how worried I was, but you didn’t care to put my mind at rest.”

“It was Seb’s business. And none of this changes the fact that your instinct is always that Seb is going to let me down.” She thought about Seb admitting to feeling vulnerable and felt fiercely protective of him.

“I don’t think that,” Alix said flatly. “But even if I did, it wouldn’t have mattered. The only opinion that matters is yours.”

“You didn’t think that five years ago.”

“That’s what this is about? What I said at the wedding? You said that was behind us.” Alix huddled deeper inside her coat. “It wasn’t, was it? You’ve let it fester. You’ve bottled it up.”

“You know I’m good at that.”

Alix lifted her chin. “If there are things you haven’t said, things you need to get off your chest and—”

“You ruined my wedding.” The words burst out of her, fueled by the pressure of keeping them inside for so long. “The most important day of my life. The day I’d been dreaming of since I was little. The day I’d pictured in my head. The beginning of my life with Seb. You ruined it.”