Page 36 of Where Roads Lead

“He wasn’t just my husband,” she said, sounding exhausted. “He was my best friend. Probably the best man anyone could ever meet. I didn’t deserve him.”

I didn’t know what to say. Sometimes, even for me, there weren’t words.

“Anyway,” Ava continued, recomposing herself, “I think Will has some sort of bizarre sense of guilt about it all. And thinks he can make up for it by taking care of everyone else. Even if he doesn’t want to. That’s why I try to take the load off whenever I can.”

“Like now?” I asked, pulling a package off the shelf. “I doubt helping me pick out a carbon monoxide alarm is how you wanted to spend your day.”

“I don’t mind,” she said. “Sometimes it’s nice to have a little change in routine. And like I said, Will would’ve felt obligated to go himself if I didn’t.”

Obligated. Right.

I nodded, thinking I had to do whatever I could to show him I was self-sufficient enough to handle myself.

I couldn’t have him thinking I was some pitiful, lonely girl who needed his help all the time. Not when he clearly already had so many other priorities. Namely, a booming business and a hurting sister-in-law to take care of.

She was lucky, I thought, to have someone like Will to watch out for her. From the little I knew of him, he seemed like the type of guy anyone would want in their corner.

Reliable and capable and strong—

“Ava?” A voice tugged me from my thoughts, and I almost fell to my knees thanking them because why the hell did I start thinking about the arms of the man who hated me right as his sister-in-law was divulging their tragic backstory?

“Theo!” Ava beamed. “Hi.”

The man in question was tall and lean, with a Carhartt jacket and a shadow of stubble darkening the lower half of his face.

“What are you doing in the hardware store?” He looked at her with amusement.

“Oh, you know,” she said with a grin. “Sephora was closed, so I came to the next best place.”

He rolled his eyes and let out a laugh before turning to introduce himself to me, pausing momentarily as his eyes settled on me. I shuffled my feet self-consciously.

“Hi,” he said, extending a hand. “I’m Theo. I don’t think we’ve met.”

“Or maybe we did, and I’m just entirely forgettable.” I shrugged.

He quirked a brow, letting out a laugh. “I doubt that.”

Theo was handsome, I noted unbiasedly. He was tall, like Will, but where Will was solid and broad shouldered, Theo was lean—the type of guy you could imagine probably did track in high school. He had that distinct vibe about him.

Not like Will’s, at all. I bet he didn’t even do sports. Not team ones, at least. He was too much of a loner for that. But he probably would be the type who was good at all of them, regardless. Just another infuriating quality that could be added to the list.

Why are you thinking about Will when you’re supposed to be introducing yourself to the man in front of you?

“I’m Elsie.” I shook his hand, embarrassed by my inner thoughts and irritated at my brain’s less than adorable tendency to maneuver off into unrelated thoughts at any given moment. “I—”

“Elsie just got here a few days ago,” Ava cut in. “She’s staying in town for a while. Over at Mr. Briggs’s place.”

To my surprise, Ava was smiling warmly between us, her territory considerably less threatened than I thought she’d take it to be when meeting her handsome friend.

“Oh, really?” he said. “I live just around the corner from you, then.”

“It’s Colbridge, Theo.” Ava rolled her eyes, but everything about it was good-natured. “Everyone lives around the corner from everyone.”

“How close are we talking?” I asked. “Would we be able to talk through one of those long strings with two cups attached to each side?”

He considered it. “Depends on the length of the string.”

“We’ll have to try it out sometime,” I joked. “Somehow the opportunity never came up during science class.”