What Might Have Been Read Online Free

it on top of another set of folders.
    Her jaw tightened as she said, “I had that there for a reason.”
    Narrowing his eyes, he gave her the smallest grin and shrugged.
    â€œWe need to talk about the arrangements. I assumePops will be buried in the family cemetery but I don’t know what church the service will be at.”
    Reaching out for the stack of papers he’d just moved, she banged them on the desk to realign them and then set them on top of yet another pile to her right.
    â€œEverything’s already taken care of. I’ve spoken to Mr. Brown at the funeral home. We were just waiting for your arrival to set the dates. Viewing is tomorrow afternoon with the burial and service on Friday.”
    She finally looked at him. Not the sideways glances she’d been giving him since he’d sat down and invaded her space but a full-on stare that set the acid in his stomach to roiling. He didn’t like the expression in her eyes, yet he couldn’t look away.
    â€œWith any luck you can be home by Friday night.” And out of my life was left unspoken but hung between them anyway.
    â€œActually, I expect I’ll be here for a couple weeks, at least. Until I can get everything in order to sell. I might have to come back and forth until it’s all final but—”
    â€œSo you’re selling.” Something about the inevitability in her tone of voice bothered him. It was the logical choice. Of course she’d have expected it. Right?
    â€œObviously. I can’t stay here, Ainsley.”
    â€œOf course not. You’ve moved heaven and earth not to be tied to this place. Why would anything change that now?”
    Ainsley turned to stare once more at the book open in front of her, hiding her face and her eyes from him.
    â€œI wanted to ask…what are your plans?”
    â€œPlans?”
    â€œAfter I sell the farm. I mean you’ve been here for a long time. I just didn’t know…” His words trailed off. He wasn’t exactly sure how to finish the statement his brain had started without thinking.
    Ainsley laughed, a broken, scraping sound that was so unlike the pleasant tinkle of laughter he remembered that it seemed to burrow beneath his skin and itch. Relentless and uncomfortable, like chiggers.
    â€œIt’s a little late for you to start worrying about me now, Luke. I’ll be fine.”
    â€œIt’s not that…” Again, he let his words trail off, realizing that this time they’d come out completely wrong. He hadn’t meant them the way she was sure to take them. Of course he had worried about her. Not that she’d want to hear that. “I just didn’t know when you were planning on leaving. I was hoping I could convince you to stay on until after the sale.”
    He could see the emotions swirling behind her light blue eyes as she finally turned toward him again, a jumbled mess he couldn’t decipher.
    â€œI’ll pay you, of course. More than enough to make up for any inconvenience.”
    And then suddenly fury leaped away from the rest, filling her eyes with a glowing blue flame. Scraping back her chair, Ainsley snapped the ledger closed on the desk and walked around him. All the while her eyes burned, eating away at him inch by inch.
    At the doorway she turned, one hand resting on the jamb. His eyes were drawn there by the subtle glitterof a ring in the splash of sunlight. He recognized the ring immediately. His mother’s wedding ring, the family heirloom his father had given her.
    The fact that it was on her right hand instead of her left meant little. He knew where it had come from. Logan. And all over again he was reminded of a past he’d much rather forget.
    And then her voice, low and sad pulled his attention back to her face.
    Gone was the anger from moments before, replaced with a disappointment that was even worse. Anger he could deal with. Anger he could understand and recognize as an