And with those words, he climbed into the truck and pulled away. He kept his eyes on the road ahead of him, despite not having a single idea of what direction he was headed. It didn’t matter. He was leaving everything important behind him, but to glance in the rearview mirror would only cause more pain.

He rolled down the window and tossed his cell phone into the trees that lined the two-lane highway. He focused on what was coming and tried his best to begin to rebuild the walls around his heart.

ANGI SAT IN the darkened living room on New Year’s Eve. It was five minutes to midnight, and Andrew was fast asleep, curled into a ball on the sofa with Princess snuggling next to him. Her mother had gone to bed an hour earlier, claiming that she honored the new year best with a good night’s sleep.

They’d been invited to a party at the Wildflower Inn by Emma and Mariella, but it was too difficult for Angi to be there knowing their partnership was at a distinct end along with so many other things that had become essential to her.

Emma was hosting a New Year’s Day brunch for the inn’s guests and a few close friends, but Sarah Beth wouldn’t be helping to prepare for it. After the near disaster of the wedding, Angi had contacted a smaller operation on the south side of Raleigh. The kitchen that she loved now belonged to someone else.

Instead of preparing her own recipes, she’d open Il Rigatone tomorrow, serving the special Alfredo lasagna her father had always prepared to usher in a new year. There was a group of loyal regulars who came to celebrate the start of a fresh calendar each year. Angi knew them by name and had no doubt they’d pinch her cheeks and tell stories of the girl she’d once been as they laughed and gossiped in the same way they had for decades.

Maybe there would be new people this year. Visitors who’d come to Magnolia for a holiday getaway or locals who appreciated some of the changes she’d made in the menu and wanted to try something new.

Her mother wouldn’t like it, but Angi would keep pushing to expand and curate the menu to her culinary preferences. If she was going to be the one to carry on the family tradition, at least she would fight to put her spin on it.

Princess lifted her head as Bianca walked into the room, her slippers a soft shuffle across the hardwood floor. The dog sighed, then settled again. Angi’s heart tugged at how dedicated the animal had become to Andrew.

Perhaps she should have added a dog to their small family sooner, but she wasn’t going to wallow in regret about something so small. Princess was the perfect pet, so she had to believe that the timing of adopting her had happened just as it was meant to be.

If only it were that simple to release her regrets about other parts of her life.