“He’s a lucky guy,” Angi said softly.

“So was Gabe Carlyle,” her mother answered.

“There’s no point in pretending that was anything more than a ploy to avoid you setting me up with every single man in Magnolia.”

“It was more.”

Angi opened her mouth to argue, but what was the point? Her mother knew her better than that, and it was now officially the new year. Her year of being brave.

“For me,” she admitted. “But not him.”

“He cares about you.”

Angi straightened and brushed a hand over the front of her sweatshirt. Thinking about Gabe was difficult. Too difficult for the emotions already tumbling around her chest. She would most likely lose it completely, and that’s not who she was going to be this year.

“I loved him,” she told her mother. “Whether or not he cared for me doesn’t matter now. He wasn’t willing to take a chance on us. That’s on him.”

“Stupid boy,” Bianca muttered.

“Yeah,” Angi agreed. “But I’ll be okay.”

“You’re amazing,” her mother said with the conviction of devoted mothers everywhere. Angi wished Gabe’s mom had possessed one whit of maternal instinct. Maybe then he wouldn’t have felt that closing himself off was the only option.

“It’s going to be a wonderful new year, Mama.” No matter what, it truly would be a time of new beginnings.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

GABE EXPECTED MAGNOLIA to look different.

He couldn’t explain why. It had been only two weeks since he’d driven out of town. But he had changed in that time.

Or at least had pulled his head out of the proverbial hole where he’d buried it.

Which was what he should have done from the start.

The past, his doubts, and the regrets he couldn’t control had held sway over his life. Fear had ruled the day, and there was a chance he wouldn’t be able to make things right.

He had to try.

He’d hurt Angi. There was no doubt about it. He only hoped she would find a way to forgive him. He’d spend the rest of his life earning his place at her side if only she’d let him back into her life.

He had thought about calling, although that was a bit of a challenge given he hadn’t replaced his cell phone. His was probably smashed into a million pieces or buried deep in the woods that bordered the highway where he’d thrown it on his way out of town.

That was an excuse and a lame one at best. He’d spent the past two weeks on a buddy’s farm outside of Memphis. Hours of helping with chores and far too much time ruminating over the mess he’d made of his life. At first, he thought he could walk away. He convinced himself it was better. Better for Angi. Easier for him. Yet she’d never been far from his thoughts, and the walls around his heart simply refused to be rebuilt.

She was a part of him. Magnolia was a part of him. This town had become his home. Maybe it had always been that way since those summers spent here with his grandmother and he’d just been too bullheaded to realize it.