Page 122 of Where Roads Lead

“We’re looking for parking.”

Give me a break.

Ava and I walked a few feet behind them while I tried to wrap my head around what the hell was going on. This morning I’d been laying the groundwork to ask Elsie out, and several hours later she’s going on a date with Theo?

I knew it was a date because Elsie looked absolutely stunning in a way that made it hard to look at, because I knew it was for him.

She always looked beautiful, but it was clear she put in more effort than usual tonight. She was in a dress, showing off legs I hadn’t seen before, and while half of me wanted to find her sweatpants to keep her warm in the chilly November air, the other half of me couldn’t help but stare.

Her hair was sleek and shiny, all brushed out and coming down to her mid-back. I hadn’t seen it completely down like this before, and if I hadn’t decided already, after this moment, the precise shade of red that made up Elsie’s hair was now and forever going to be my favorite color.

And her eyes looked…bigger somehow? I don’t know. I didn’t know what the hell girls did when playing around with makeup. All I knew was that the green eyes I’d become particularly fond of staring into were suddenly emphasized to a degree that made me unable to look away from.

Not that she was meeting my eyes too much.

There was a decided shift in her behavior toward me, and no matter what, I wasn’t letting the night go by without clearing the air.

At least to apologize for whatever misunderstanding had happened between us, and promise I wouldn’t try to kiss her again.

And maybe convincing her that even if she didn’t want to date me, she shouldn’t date Theo either.

At least, not where I had to be witness to it.

“Hey,” Ava said, distracting me from my current mission of glaring a hole into Theo’s back as he walked Elsie toward the town square. “Are you okay?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?”

“Well, you sort of look like you’re going to punch something. Or someone.”

“This is how I always look,” I said, maneuvering around a group of kids running headfirst in my direction.

“You’re upset. About Elsie and Theo.”

I said nothing.

“I’m sorry, Will,” she said, keeping an impressive stride beside me. “I really am. I know it’s hard to see her with someone else.”

I paused, letting Elsie and Theo get farther out of range of our conversation before turning to Ava to deny it. But when I opened my mouth, I realized I was too exhausted to lie anymore.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “It sucks.”

“I know,” she said, her words holding more weight than either of us wanted to discuss. “It hurts.”

I didn’t want to feel sorry for Ava. In fact, I’d spent the last five years so furious with her, telling myself that she should’ve had better control over herself. Her emotions. That she should’ve been better at suppressing her feelings for the sake of all parties involved.

But now? Watching Theo reach out to grab Elsie’s dangling hand, I wondered if maybe I could understand her better now.

Because no matter how in control of myself I prided myself on being—there was nothing I could do to suppress the overwhelming, confusing explosion of feelings that the redhead in front of me had drawn out of hiding.

“For what it’s worth,” I said, exhaling five years’ worth of sighs in one, “I am sorry.”

For how I treated you. For holding onto the grudge. For ruining our friendship and never being able to move on from the past.

She shrugged, her slim shoulders moving up and down quickly, trying to brush off what she perceived as my empty words.

But this was important. And I couldn’t let us go on like this any longer. Like it or not, she was family. She would always be family, whether or not Matthew was here. Whether or not they had gotten married. She’d been one of us since we were six years old, and nothing could ever change that.

“No, Ava, listen,” I said, needing her to hear it. “I’m sorry for the way everything happened. And I’m sorry for the way I reacted to it.”