Three Little Words Read Free Page A

already in a hospital.”
    “I don’t know. I said I’ve always been afraid it’d happen . . . not that it actually ever has.”
    “Then why are you afraid of it? Snakes freak me out but that’s because when I was a kid my cousin Logan stuck a garner snake in my bed. I have a reason.”
    “Does the thought of a shark attack scare you?”
    “I guess.”
    “But I assume you’ve never actually been attacked by sharks.”
    “Fine. Point taken.”
    Silent seconds ticked by. And he sensed Ava reaching down toward her shoes. “I’ve gotta get these off. My feet are killing me. I’m just not a fancy dress and heels kind of girl.”
    “Well, you looked . . . look . . . good. Not that that helps your feet feel better. But, you know.” Wow, smooth.
    But the compliment must’ve eased at least some of her tension, because her next words almost approached friendly. “So what are you up to these days, Walker?”
    “Actually, I’m on the brink of opening my own business. A restaurant, back in my hometown.” That is, if he signed those loanpapers tomorrow. It would make his move back home official. But how would he keep things going with Maddie—she in Chicago, he in Iowa? That was the main thing holding him back.
    Well, that and the question he was pretty sure everyone who knew him was asking: Could Seth Walker actually follow through with something, start to finish, for once in his life?
    “I didn’t know you were into food or the restaurant biz.”
    “I’m not exactly. But there’s this historic bank building in my hometown—Maple Valley—and the city was looking at tearing it down. Nobody had leased it for years, but it’s the coolest building. Just needs someone to take the time and make the investment, renovate the inside and put it to use.”
    “So you decided to turn it into a restaurant.”
    “Yeah. I think. Plus . . . ” He shrugged. “I really love the town. It’s in Iowa, basically in the middle of nowhere. But it’s home. Got family there. I’ve been job-hopping for years and this is the first thing that feels right. And doable.” Why was he telling her all this?
    “Got a name for it?”
    “Not yet. I have some ideas, though. If we’re stuck in here much longer, I might ask you to help me brainstorm. I can tell you my ideas and you can tell me why they’re bad.”
    She actually laughed.
    He opened his mouth to reciprocate her question, ask what she was up to these days. But that’s not what came out. “Hey, Ava, I . . . I’m sorry about Ryan. I heard about it back when it happened.”
    She stilled. “What exactly . . . did you hear?”
    “He was skydiving, parachute didn’t open.”
    Even in the dark, he could sense her indecision, hear the hint of words she waited to speak. And then, when she did, they came out a whisper. “There were drugs involved.”
    He felt her eyes on him, waiting for a response he didn’t know how to give. “I don’t know what to say.”
    “Nothing to say, really. Don’t know why I told you. I guess I thought coming tonight, seeing the campus and the guys and Prof Lang, it might finally help me let go. It’s been so many years. . . .”
    This time, when his hand closed over hers, she didn’t pull away. Might’ve even laced her fingers through his.
    But the elevator jerked then. The lights flipped back on. And it only took Ava one second to glance from their clasped hands to his facebefore she slipped her hand free. The space between them shifted with the elevator’s movement, from tentatively friendly back to distant.
    The elevator stopped at the ground floor and the doors opened. They trailed, not quite together but not quite separate, toward the hospital exit.
    Ava stopped just outside the revolving door. That’s when he noticed she hadn’t put her shoes back on. They still hung from one hand. “Well, good to see you.”
    “You too.”
    She started to move away.
    “Hey, I didn’t ask what you’re up to. And we never got