He snorted. “She already has. I’m done. You deserve better. The younger version of you knew it. Current you just has to remember.”

“I love you,” she repeated because what else could she say?

“You’re wasting your time. I don’t know how to give you what you want. I can’t be that man.”

You already are, she wanted to tell him.

She wanted to scream and yell and beat on him until she broke through that frosty exterior to the tenderness and vulnerability she’d discovered he hid deep inside.

What was the point? As he’d just told her, she was wasting her time, and that was something she’d promised herself she would no longer do. She was too valuable for that, and if Gabe couldn’t see it then that was his loss.

Even if hers was the heart shattering.

“I took you for a lot of things, Gabe.” She drew in a deep breath as she stepped away from him. The first of many. “A coward wasn’t one of them.”

Without waiting for his reply, she bounded down the porch steps, needing to get away before she crumpled into a million pieces.

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

“I COULD HIRE YOU.”

Gabe returned the gas pump to its holder and offered Cam a disbelieving stare over the rims of his sunglasses.

“A pity job,” he said on a laugh, although there was no humor in the sound. “Gray Atwell said almost the same thing. As much as I appreciate the offer, I’m going to have to pass.”

“Who says I’m making it out of pity?” Cam shook his head. “Maybe I’d do whatever it took to get you to stay in Magnolia.” He took a step closer. “Somehow I doubt Gray and I are the only ones.”

Gabe swallowed hard and tried not to let any of the emotions swirling through him show on his face. It was the day after Christmas, and he’d sent Cam a message saying he was leaving town. It would have been easier to sneak away with no one the wiser, but that felt like a cowardly move.

Angi had accused him of being a coward last night, and the label still stung. He knew she’d thank him eventually. He was doing them both a favor by leaving when he wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to give her the life she deserved. Not when it was so hard for him to truly open his heart.

“It’s better this way,” he told the other man. Cam had asked to see him on his way out, so Gabe had agreed to meet at the gas station near the water tower on the edge of town. The morning was cold and quiet, most residents probably still tucked into bed or kids playing with the toys they’d received for the holiday.

The erector set he’d bought for Andrew sat under the tree in his grandmother’s house. He’d gotten it over a week ago, hoping the classic building toy would spark the boy’s imagination the way it had Gabe’s back in the day. But that had been before. Before his mom came back. Before Gabe woke up and realized he was living and loving on borrowed time. Before he’d known he couldn’t possibly stay.