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“Then I’m moving,” I said, my jaw tight. “I’m moving wherever you’re going. Wherever you think that dream exists for you. You can’t take you away from me.”

She reached up, wiping away tears that I hadn’t known had fallen down my cheeks. “Rhett, I can’t let you ruin your life for me.” A tear rolled over her cheek. “These months with you have been amazing, but we both know your life is bigger than us. You have family in town who you love, a grandpa who needs to see you every week. Girls who definitely need you to coach them next year, a best friend about to have a baby, and a heart bigger than Texas. I can’t take that away from them or this town. But I can’t hang around here either, hoping another chance will come along for me to do what I love.”

My throat felt tight. “You can’t do this.”

“I don’t see any other options.”

I hung my head. “Maggie. Please.”

She reached up on her tiptoes and placed a kiss on my cheek. “You lived your life without me once. You’ve never lived your life without Cottonwood Falls.”

“Maggie...”

“I love you, Rhett Griffen.”

My heart shattered around her words because they weren’t enough to make her stay. “I will always love you, Magnolia Ray Gibson.”

66

MAGNOLIA

I drove awayfrom Rhett’s house, sobbing, feeling like a piece of me was missing, only to be found in that little white house with the sunflowers out front. The farther I got, the more I realized I couldn’t leave Rhett behind. Not a second time.

Why was I settling for an outcome that made me miserable?

I couldn’t forget who I was. Ihadto find a way to make it work—I had to show up, just like I told my dad to do. There was no other option.

My best friend was here, carrying her first baby. My dad was here, and only getting older. The love of my life had a dream to start a life with me, and I couldn’t picture anything more beautiful than experiencing it with him.

There was only one person I knew who might be able to help me without completely upending their life, so I drove.

I drove and I drove.

I drove for two and half hours until I was parked in front of the pretty brick house with the bright yellow front door. Rhett had told me before that Gage offered to buy each sibling in their family their own land and ranch, but they were all too proud to take him up on it.

I wasn’t too proud.

Not anymore.

Not with the love of my life on the line.

I walked up the driveway, past the black Tesla and white minivan, more confident by the step that my dreams really could come true—that I could make this work.

When I got to the front door, I knocked and rang the bell, because when you knew the person you wanted to spend forever with, you didn’t have patience for anything standing in the way, not even yourself.

The door opened, and Farrah appeared in a pair of black biker shorts, a loose blue T-shirt, and a ball cap, a worried and horrified expression on her face. “Maggie, are you okay?”

I realized I must look awful, all my makeup cried off my face, my skin blotchy, my eyes red and hair a mess. But I didn’t care.

“I need to talk to Gage,” I said.

“He’s out back with the kids. Is everything okay? Is someone hurt?”

“No one’s hurt,” I said, walking past her to the back door before I lost my nerve, before this glimmer of hope could be crushed before my eyes. I slid the door open, finding Gage and the kids in all four corners of the yard, passing a baseball between them.

He had his arm pulled back for a throw when he caught sight of me, and the baseball came flying my way, nailing me right in the head.

I saw stars, wobbling and falling to the ground. There was a rush of noise around me and a splitting pain in my head as I blinked to clear my vision.