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Or was he relieved not to have to navigate her prickly attitude anymore?

She absently rubbed her chest. No matter how hard she tried to ignore it, her heart ached. By late afternoon, the ache had become impossible to ignore.

With a muttered curse, Felicity dug her cellphone out of the glove compartment and powered it up. There were several new messages. All from Raegan. One missed call. Her heart hammered. Ronan. No message.

Her finger hovered over the call button.

Then she shook her head and opened the photo gallery instead.

There weren’t many pictures of her and Ronan.

She scrolled, stopping on the one from Jack’s birthday. They were both soaked after the water fight, Ronan grinning like an idiot while she looked suspiciously happy.

Happier than she could ever remember being.

She stared at the image far longer than she should have.

When the screen finally blurred, it took her a moment to realize her face was wet. Swearing softly, she tossed the phone onto the passenger seat and scrubbed at her cheeks.

*

Somewhere along the way, she’d started looking forward to the next stop. More surprising still, she’d started enjoying the journey.

She spent three weeks wandering New Mexico. She went up in a hot air balloon in Albuquerque because why not? Walked barefoot across white gypsum dunes while the pugs bounded around like lunatics. And, because a town called Truth or Consequences practically required a stop, she spent a glorious hour soaking in a hot tub at a local bathhouse while the dogs enjoyed their own spa day.

Then she crossed into Texas.

And officially lost her mind.

Because only a crazy woman would punch his hometown into the navigation app.

It took her two days to reach her destination.

Which was where she suffered another lapse in judgment and pulled into Murphy’s Bend Campground in the heart of the Hill Country.

She did, however, retain enough gray matter to keep her oversized sunglasses firmly in place, twist her hair beneath a baseball cap, and use a fake ID when checking in.

Just in case Ronan had mentioned her to his family.

A woman close to her own age manned the reception desk.

The resemblance to Ronan was unmistakable.

The same deep blue eyes. The same unruly brown hair. The same lopsided grin. “Welcome to Murphy’s Bend,” his sister, Heather, called out.

Felicity nearly turned around and walked right back out.

But she didn’t.

They had a spot available despite her not having a reservation. “You’re very lucky,” chatty Heather said. “The Greens cancelled not even two hours ago. Car trouble.”

Luck indeed.

For several days, Felicity explored the place where Ronan grew up.

She kept her distance from the Murphys.

But she watched.