Ash Naeck with Avery Warner and Son Taj
Courtesy Ash Naeck/Instagram

Was an engagement on the table for 90 Day Fiancé stars Avery Warner and Ash Naeck? During the tell-all reunion for season 4 of Before the 90 Days, the motivational speaker revealed he actually bought a ring and planned to propose to his former girlfriend during their visit in Australia. Unfortunately, the trip didn’t exactly go as well as he’d hoped — and he never got the opportunity to pop the question.

“I started the journey actually having in mind that I was going to ask her for her hand when she was here,” he shared while looking at a diamond ring on camera. “She doesn’t even know that. It was not the outcome I thought it would be. I learned something, but it was not the lesson that I wanted to learn.”

Despite that, Ash, 38, is still grateful for the time they had together. “Avery is an amazing woman and I was so, so glad that we met,” he said. “Breaking up with her was the hardest thing I have experienced for a long time. I still love her. That’s not going to change. But future-wise, I have to concentrate on myself and my family now.”

The stars went their separate ways after Avery, 32, asked for a break and the Australian decided they might as well make it permanent. The two clashed over their plans for Ash to move to the United States — which would mean either living halfway across the world from his son, Taj, or the 10-year-old moving to America while his mom remained in Australia. Though Ash assured Avery his ex-wife, Sian, was OK with their son moving, it turned out that wasn’t the case.

“She doesn’t feel Taj is at a stage that it’s OK for his father to be out of his life for a long period of time, and she’s not OK with Taj being out of her life for a long period of time,” Avery said during the May 10 episode. “As a mom, that’s exactly how I would be feeling, but now I have to think about [the fact] that I may not have the person I want to spend the rest of my life with for another five years. It’s really tough to wrap my head around, and it does complicate things moving forward.”

It seems the couple simply couldn’t find a solution that worked for everyone.