“We met and started dating the fall of our junior year at UGA. He was selfless. A musician. Loved the Lord. He went to seminary and became a youth pastor.”

Ah. She’d fallen in love with a saint. A perfect match—

“He died five years ago.”

He stilled, frowning. The fact that Chase had died so young was a tragedy. So why had her words loosened the knot in his gut?

She carried a tray of vegetables toward the backyard.

He replaced the frame and opened the sliding door for her that led to the deck. “How did he die?”

She set the tray on the edge of her barbecue grill. “How would you feel if I told you that I don’t want to talk about any part of my history?”

She was quoting him. “Irritated.”

“Huh,” she said meaningfully.

“If you don’t want to talk about it, I’ll respect that.”

“Actually, I’m more than happy to talk about my life. All of it. Any of it. I’m an open book.” She lifted the barbecue’s lid, displaying flames. Quickly, she set rows of vegetables on it. Peppers, onion, giant mushrooms, asparagus.

“How did he die?” he repeated.

Her body slanted toward his. She crossed one foot over the other, her toe pointing down. “He was driving home one night and lost control.”

“How?”

“We don’t know for sure, which has been one of the hardest things. We think he might have swerved for some reason. He drove off the side of the road. His Jeep hit bushes, went airborne, overturned, struck a tree. He was thrown from the vehicle. When the ambulance arrived, he was unconscious but alive. They rushed him to the hospital. He died of his injuries shortly after, without ever regaining consciousness.”

Luke didn’t say any of the empty things people had said to him about death.

“Five months before he passed away, he proposed. I said yes. We were so happy as we planned our wedding. It was . . . devastating to lose him.”

“You mentioned that you’d been through something that resulted in years of therapy. This was what you were referring to?”

“Yes. For the entire first year afterward, I felt as if I’d died, too. For two more years after that, I was mired in grief. All my hopes and dreams for the future had died along with Chase. I didn’t know how to move forward.”

“What helped?”