Theodore opened his eyes only after she reached the doorway. “Why didn’t you look inside the locked room?” he asked, expecting curiosity or excuses.
Ava turned back with a gentle smile. “Because some doors stay closed for a reason,” she answered. “If someone trusts me enough to open one someday, it should be their choice—not mine.”
Her words caught him completely off guard. No one had ever respected his boundaries instead of trying to satisfy their own curiosity.
For the first time since losing his family, Theodore felt the walls around his heart begin to crack-
