“A twitcher?” Skye supplied.
She let out a throaty roll of laughter.
“A twitcher, that is it. He likes to watch the birds, observe their behavior, learn about their habits. It is a passion of his.”
“You said he’s your ex-husband?” Joy asked. “What happened? Did he run away with another twitcher?”
“No, no.” The woman shook her head slowly. “It was nothing like that.”
An image came to Skye then, a snapshot of a bookcase, spines facing out that she’d read in turn. One of them, the largest and most colorful, had been about birds.
The tour group had begun to filter out of the church.
“Sorry,” the woman said, stepping aside, but as she moved to pass them, Skye lifted a hand.
“This might sound like a strange question,” she said carefully. “But what’s your ex-husband’s name?”
There was the briefest pause, no more than a flicker, before the woman replied.
“It is Andreas,” she said. “Andreas Vithoulkas.”
Thirty-eight
Andreas had been married.
Married, and he hadn’t said a word.
He’d looked at Skye with disappointment, frustration, even anger for not opening up to him. And yetthiswas what he’d kept from her?
“Did you know?” she asked Joy as they made their way back along the winding mountain pathway.
“No, but come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever asked him outright. So he hasn’t exactly lied, has he?”
Heat flared in Skye’s cheeks as she recalled doing exactly that when Joy had first asked her.
“I guess so,” she allowed. “But we’ve had so many conversations over the past six weeks—he could have told me at any time.”
She stumbled in her haste, the bag containing her new sandals bashing against her legs.
“He must’ve had his reasons,” Joy said. “Maybe it was a painful breakup? A raw subject for him. He might’ve been unfaithful, orshe could have. Relationships are always bloody complicated. Even me and Bobs had our trials over the years.”
“But Andreas is so direct,” Skye persisted. “All this…secrecy, it doesn’t sit right with me. It’s not like him.”
“No,” Joy agreed flatly. “It isn’t.”
Skye stopped short. Joy took a few more paces before turning back, her brow furrowed.
“What are you d—”
“Maybe we should go back,” Skye said.
“Back where? Not all the way up there?”
“You don’t have to come. Go on ahead and wait for me in town.”
Joy drew in a long breath and folded her arms.
“You want to ask his ex what happened?”
