“Colin loves Parrish! He wouldn’t leave. This town means everything to him.” Even as she said it, the opening sentence of Reflections flashed through her mind. I came to Parrish twice, the first time to write a great novel, and more than a decade later, because I needed to make my way back home. “Why would he leave?” she said weakly.

“I think we both know the answer to that.”

“He believes if he leaves, I’ll stay.” She pressed her fingers to her mouth.

“He’s planning to sell you Frenchman’s Bride.”

Sugar Beth stared at her.

“You’re supposed to contact his attorney and make an offer.”

She straightened. “He can’t do this. I’m getting my keys.”

“My car’s already out front. Hurry.”

They raced outside where Winnie’s Benz sat at an awkward angle in a No Parking zone. The tires squealed as Winnie backed out. “You have so screwed this up.” She blew through a red light.

Sugar Beth’s shoulder hit the door as they shot around a corner, and she dug her fingernails into her palms. “My gift.”

“You’re supposed to be the great big expert at handling men,” Winnie scoffed. “You’re a national disaster, is what you are!”

“Don’t start in on me again.”

“You’re perfect for him. That’s what’s so frustrating. I didn’t see it right away—how could I, you being you?—but it’s sure crystal clear now. You’re the only woman strong enough to stand up to him. He intimidates everybody else. And he needs you. Yesterday, when I saw him, he said all the right things, but it was like part of him was missing.”

Sugar Beth twisted her hands and stared dully ahead.

As they drew up in front of Frenchman’s Bride, Sugar Beth saw his Lexus parked at the side and Colin setting something in the trunk. Ryan was carrying a computer box down the steps. She threw herself out of the car and rushed across the lawn. Gordon saw her coming and began to bark. Colin watched her for a moment, then frowned at Ryan as she drew near. “I asked you not to tell her.”

“Things don’t work that way around here,” Ryan said. “You should know that by now.”

Colin snatched the carton from him and rounded the car to set it in the backseat. Ryan moved toward Winnie, and Sugar Beth closed in on Colin. He looked haughty and remote, but he had a poet’s soul, and his camouflage no longer fooled her. “This is crazy. What do you think you’re doing?”

“You’re the one who decided only one of us could live here,” he said, reaching inside to move another carton.

“You!” she cried. “You’re the one who’s supposed to live here.”

“Come now,” he scoffed, as if his leaving were of no importance. “We both know Parrish is more your home than mine.”

“That’s not true. It’s yours now. Colin, don’t do this.”

“We’ve made our choices. You’ve decided to be a coward, and I’ve decided to leave you to it.”

“I’m not being cowardly. I’m being smart. You can’t walk away from Frenchman’s Bride. It’s your home. You’ve put your heart and soul into it.”

“No, Sugar Beth,” he said quietly. “I put my heart and soul into you.”

She flinched.

He leaned back into the car and repositioned a box of books. She saw Gordon’s water dish on the floor. He emerged and shut the door, his mask of remoteness firmly back in place. “Talk to my attorney about the house. I’ll get my things out as soon as I decide where I’m going to settle, but in the meantime, you’re welcome to move in.”

“I can’t believe you’re doing this.” She gazed back at Winnie and Ryan, willing them to say something that would make him change his mind, but they looked as helpless as she felt. “Please,” she whispered. “I ran you out of town once. Don’t let me do it again.”

“You’re the one, my dear, who decided this place isn’t big enough for both of us.” He pulled something from his pocket and pressed it into her hand. As he moved away to shake hands with Ryan, she saw he’d given her the keys to Frenchman’s Bride.

“Tell Gigi I’ll call her tonight.” He hugged Winnie. “Take care of yourself, Ms. Davis.”

Winnie gave him a hard squeeze. “You, too, Mr. Byrne.”

“No!” Sugar Beth shot forward. “No, I won’t have it, do you hear me? This big sacrifice of yours doesn’t mean anything because I’m leaving whether you go or not. I mean it, Colin. You’re doing this for nothing. Next week I’m driving out of this town for the last time.”

“That would be very foolish.” He came to her then, tipped up her chin, and gently brushed her lips. It wasn’t nearly enough contact, and she tried to embrace him, but he stepped away. “Good-bye, my love.”

“Colin . . .”

He turned his back to her and walked around the car to the passenger door. “Come along, Gordon.”

Gordon trotted over and hopped in, her awful, traitorous dog. Colin shut the door behind him. Gordon propped his front paws on the back of the seat and stared at Sugar Beth. Winnie moved to her side and took her hand.

“Don’t do this,” Sugar Beth whispered.

He gave her one last glance and opened the driver’s door. But just as he began to climb in, Gordon shot across the passenger seat and hopped out.

“Gordon?” He snapped his fingers.

Gordon’s head drooped. He slunk toward Sugar Beth, ears dragging on the ground. She crouched next to him, fighting the lump in her throat. “Go on, pal,” she whispered, giving him a last pat. “You’re his now.”

But Gordon gave a miserable sigh and lay down in the grass at her feet.

“That’s it, then.” Colin spoke briskly, as if he didn’t care, as if this desertion, too, had been inevitable. A moment later, he’d started the engine and begun to back down the drive.

“No!” Sugar Beth shot forward, ready to throw herself at the car, but Ryan caught her and pulled her back.

“Don’t, Sugar Beth. Have a little dignity.”

“Let me go!”

Too late. Colin Byrne had left the last whistle-stop behind forever.

Gordon began to howl, a mournful, heart-wrenching sound that came from the very bottom of his doggy soul. Sugar Beth’s teeth started to chatter. She drew away from Ryan, and as she knelt by her dog she remembered his water bowl in Colin’s backseat. Where would Colin be when he noticed it? At a gas station somewhere? Unloading a suitcase at a roadside motel? He’d endured so many losses: the father’s love that should have been his birthright, the wife who’d betrayed him by not having the courage to live, the child he’d lost, Gordon . . . and her.

She looked up in time to see Ryan pull Winnie to his side. She curled against him, but he wasn’t looking at her. He was gazing at Sugar Beth instead, and in those sympathetic golden brown eyes, she saw his big heart and his deep-rooted decency. She saw a man capable of fidelity, a man worthy of trust. A man who knew how to love . . . forever.

Something loud and shrill roared in her ears. Her heart thumped against her ribs. She sank back into the grass so hard she banged her tailbone.

Dear God, she’d done it again.

“Sugar Beth?” Winnie broke away from Ryan to rush to her side. “Are you all right?”

She couldn’t breathe. Couldn’t move. Once again, she’d turned her back on the love of a good man.

Winnie knelt next to her and rubbed her back. “It’ll be all right.”

Sugar Beth put her head to her knees. Colin had said he wouldn’t beg, and he hadn’t, but that had been grief talking, not pride. He wasn’t leaving Parrish just so she could stay. He was leaving because he couldn’t bear the pain of being around another woman with a cowardly heart.

All along, he’d been right. Rejecting him hadn’t been an act of bravery. It was an act of fear. She’d sent him away because she hadn’t been able to find the courage to give them a chance.

Gordon licked her cheek. She lifted her head to Winnie. “I’m too afraid,” she whispered.

Winnie squeezed her shoulder.

The late-afternoon sun slid from beneath a cloud and struck Sugar Beth in the eyes. It felt like an electrical shock, and she jumped to her feet. “My purse! I need my cell. Where’s my purse?”