Page 149 of Where Roads Lead

He paused.

“I was looking for a ring,” he said, almost abashedly. “To see if you were married.”

Silence fell over us, but not for the reason he thought.

“I’m sorry,” he said quickly. “I didn’t mean to freak you out. It was just a—I don’t know, I hope you don’t think I had ulterior motives right off the bat or something—”

“No, no,” I reassured. “No, it’s not that. It’s just…” I trailed off, biting my lip as if I could keep the words in. How if he’d met me two weeks earlier, I would’ve had a ring on my hand.

But I just couldn’t bring myself to say it.

So, I deflected.

“It’s just that the first thing I noticed about Ava was the ring on her hand. So, really, you’re not so weird at all.”

He let out a huff of a laugh, but I heard the relief in it.

“Oh, yeah. With the size of hers, I’m surprised you didn’t see it from Boston. Matthew was paying that thing off for three years.”

There it was. The mention of his brother had the wheels in my brain turning with curiosity. Was it overstepping to ask what went down all those years ago? Would it be too soon to prod into the intricacies of his family drama?

“You have something to say,” Will noted immediately.

“How the hell do you always know that?”

“Because you open your mouth like you’re about to ask, and then the words don’t come out. You look like a goldfish.”

I swatted at him again.

“A cute goldfish.”

“I guess I just wanted to ask you why sometimes I’ve noticed a weird vibe between you and Ava.”

“I hate the word vibe,” Will said, but the way his body went rigid told me there was a lot more to the story than just town gossip.

“Okay,” I humored him, “let me rephrase. Sometimes, there’s a decidedly hostile air between you and your sister-in-law, and I’ve always been curious as to why that is. Better?”

“Look, I know what you’re talking about, and things have definitely been bad the last few months, but Ava and I actually came to sort of an understanding. I think it will be better now.”

“Okay, but that doesn’t explain why everyone in town seems to think something major went down between you and her at your brother’s wedding.”

“What?” He went rigid. “Who said that?”

“I’ve just heard it around.” I shrugged, not wanting to get Theo into trouble. “But the way you’re reacting makes me think there’s some truth to it.”

“I’m reacting this way because people in this town are nosy as hell to still be talking about something that happened five years ago.”

“So, something did happen?”

“Yes,” he gritted out, reluctant in a way that made me burn to know more.

“Are you going to tell me?”

“It’s not worth talking about. I promise you that.”

“You weren’t in love with her, or anything, were you?” I held my breath, waiting for the answer.

“No,” he said finally.