Olivia choked back a giggle. “He was quite the catch back in high school.”

“Crabs were pretty catchy back in high school, too, weren’t they?”

Olivia shuddered. “You know, no, I don’t think they were. I’ve never heard of anyone I know actually having crabs.”

“It was a figure of speech.” Ava let out a sigh. “If someone spots you, don’t let them guilt you into meeting up with him. Swear?”

“Pinkie swear.” Breaking off their engagement just over three weeks before the wedding hadn’t come easily. But it had been the right thing to do, even if Trevor hadn’t understood her reasoning.

“Good. That’d be a step backward you don’t need to take.” Ava let out an exasperated sigh. “I guess I need to find another way to drown out my sorrows with you gone today.”

Olivia straightened in her bucket seat. “What do you mean? What sorrows? Ava Graham and sorrows are oil and water, aren’t they?”

Her sister sniffed again but didn’t say anything.

A wave of shock rolled over Olivia. “Are you crying?”

The silence extending from the speakers seemed to physically slow the Cruze down even more. Olivia searched for an exit ramp, but there was nothing in sight, just the steel-gray sky, highway, billboards, and the bright yellow-green fields of spring. She let up on the gas, and the engine knocked in protest.

“Ava, what’s going on?”

“I think Wes is leaving me. Actually, I don’t think; I know.”

Olivia drove in stunned silence for a quarter mile before words would come. Guys didn’t leave Ava. Ava left them. And even so, this was entirely different. Ava and Wes had been married just over a year. “I’m turning around at the next exit. Where are you?”

“No, don’t. I’m okay. It was going to be a short visit today anyway. One of my clients wants to see property downtown at three. Maybe we can meet up tonight when you’re driving home.”

That was so Ava. Her marriage was falling apart, but she wouldn’t let it get in the way of work. “Yeah sure, of course. If you’re positive you’re okay?”

“I’m okay.”

“You said things haven’t been great the last few months, but I had no idea you meant this not great.”

“Turns out they were a bit less great than I thought they were.” A shaky sigh resounded from Olivia’s speakers. “But whatever. It’s not the end of the world.”

“Avey…don’t.” That was Ava. Whenever something got painful, she closed a lid on her feelings as if it had never mattered at all. “Don’t shut down. This is your marriage you’re talking about. What the heck’s gotten into Wes? You guys are great together.”