Page 81 of Where Roads Lead

“Are you trying to tell me you didn’t spend the night with her?” Ava followed me like a shadow.

“I’m not trying to tell you anything,” I said, continuing behind the counter. “I’m trying to get the café open.”

“Well, I hope your late night was worth it, because it looks like you haven’t started anything.” She looked around in disdain.

“Then we’ll open a little late, Ava! Geez.” I blew out a breath.

“We shouldn’t have to open late. You should’ve been more responsible.”

“Jesus, Ava,” I said, losing my temper. “I made one mistake. Am I not allowed to every once in a while?”

“Why do all of your mistakes lately seem to involve her?”

“Nothing happened! We fell asleep!”

She huffed. “That sounds an awful lot like a line.”

“What line?”

“The line cheating husbands always use.”

That set me over the edge.

“In case you’ve forgotten, Ava, we’re not married. You were my brother’s wife, so I really don’t think it concerns you what I do in my free time. Or with who, for that matter.”

I didn’t know whether the blush was from rage or embarrassment, but either way, my words only ignited whatever emotion was dwelling inside her even more.

“It does concern me when it affects the café.”

“When, in the entire history of us running the café together, have I ever not done what needed to get done?”

“Well, you’re doing a lot of things lately that you never used to do, so I can’t really count on your prior track record, now can I?”

“You have no right—”

The bells jingled, and I turned to tell whoever the hell it was that, no, we weren’t open yet, when I paused at the sight of Theo in the doorway.

“Woah,” he said, pausing mid-step. “What am I walking into?”

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“I asked him to pick up a shift today, since you’ve been so busy.”

“Great.” I threw my hands up, thinking that another person being there meant my avoidance of Ava for the day wouldn’t be as blatantly obvious.

To her, or any of the nosey customers who might be looking for something new to talk about.

“You can help me unload the truck,” I said, feeling eternally grateful to the driver who had just pulled up with our day’s supply of baked goods.

I couldn’t handle spending another minute of breath on this utterly pointless conversation.

Things had been weird between Ava and me for a while, but lately, she’d crossed over into a new level of boundary breaking that not only involved me but Elsie, too. And something about that didn’t sit right with me.

For the first time, I was wondering if the promise I’d been holding myself to for so long—the promise to always look out for Ava, for Matthew’s sake, was still something worth upholding.

“I heard you had quite the night.” Theo appeared beside me, elbow resting easily against the counter, during a lull in the day.

“How could you possibly have heard that?” I slammed the register drawer shut with more force than necessary before I turned to face him.