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“Yeah. I want to win her back.”

He let out a slow breath as he took it in. “How are you gonna do that?”

That was the question. I’d already rescued Winston from a tree. I’d told her how I felt. Put it all on the line. Was there anything I could do at this point? I didn’t know, but now I knew I had to try. I leaned back and knocked my knuckle on the bar. That’s when one of those (hopefully) brilliant ideas popped into my head. “How about you get me those wings and I’ll tell you what I’ve come up with?”

He smiled. “Comin’ right up!” Gabe hopped off his stooland headed to the kitchen. I sat at the bar and took in the whole conversation. Gabe and I were good. We were better than good because we were finally honest with one another.

Now, instead of keeping me away from Abigail, he was going to help me get her back.

THIRTY-EIGHT

ABIGAIL

My friends’words rattled around my brain for a long time after they left. The days swept me in their current, with house viewings, meeting with clients and contractors, and all the extra work that came with my job.

And therewasa lot of extra work. The phone seemed to be ringing off the hook. It wasn’t until I called Theo Sinclair with the next proposal in his negotiations with Evelyn that I found out what had happened.

I was in my parked car, having just finished another viewing at the Baker house, and was confident the young couple would come back with an offer.

“I didn’t know you were the top-selling realtor in town for the past three years,” he said.

“Oh,” I answered, surprised. “Yeah. This year’s not done yet, but things are looking good.”

“Glad to see you’re finally advertisingthat,” Theo said. “That’s the kind of thing that would’ve made me contact you first, before wasting my time with those other cowards.”

I blinked. Theo’s words took a few seconds to filter through. “Advertising it?”

“The billboard looks great, by the way. Anyway, I’ll send through a detailed email with what we discussed, and we’ll see if the old bat wants to let go of that property.”

“Hang on,” I cut in when the phone ruffled, Theo obviously meaning to hang up. “What do you mean, billboard?”

“On the freeway just out of town?” Theo answered. “You didn’t know it was up yet?”

“Um,” I said. “No.”

“Well, it looks good. Gotta go. Let me know how things progress with the deal.”

“Uh-huh,” I said, and hung up the phone.

Fifteen minutes later, I was looping around on the freeway and coming back into town, and I saw a gigantic, smiling image of my face—the photo I used in all my marketing materials—alongside the words, “NAIL THE SALE WITH ABIGAIL.” And in smaller font, just beneath: “TOP-SELLING AGENT IN NEW ELWOOD COUNTY, THREE YEARS RUNNING.”

My fingers tightened on my steering wheel, and my heart thumped. It felt scary to have those words up there, in huge font. I wasn’t used to advertising my success that way. But it also felt good.

After all, it was the truth.

On the hands-free setting in my car, I dialed Charlie.

“Hey! What’s up?” she answered.

“Um…” I said. “Did you see the billboard outside of town?”

“No. What billboard?” she asked, sounding as confused as I was.

“One with my face on it, advertising my top-selling agent status.”

“Really? When did you do that?”

My hands shook a little as I gripped the steering wheel. I’d never seen my name or my eyes so big before. “I didn’t.”