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Exactly. That's what everyone in Magnolia Bend had called it. She and Cal had been the talk of the town that summer.
"Yeah, that's what they call it," she said, casting her gaze at the herbs growing in her garden window. The thyme looked a bit yellow. Maybe she'd watered it too much.
"I'm ready to show you how much I regret what I did. I want to press Rewind, but I can't."
"Where's Morgan?"
Cal flinched. "We're, uh, not together anymore."
"Why not?"
His gaze rested on her, searching her face for any crack of sympathy. She wouldn't give him any and he seemed to sense this. "She's moved on."
''Ah," Abigail said, unable to stop the comers of her mouth from tipping up. "You were forced to 'wake up' because she left you. Another man?"
He nodded. "But even before that, I knew what I'd done was wrong."
Abigail's laugh tasted bitter.
"I know,” he said. "I don't expect your forgiveness. I just hope you'll let me back into my daughter's life. I love Birdie and I owe her so much. I don't know where to start, other than being present."
"I would never keep you from your daughter."
''And you?"
"Me?"Abigail's butt hit the opposite countertop, echoing the jarring in her soul. "What are you asking?”
"If there is anything left between us?” His eyes beseeched her, his strong throat moving as he swallowed nervously.
At one time, her heart would have leaped at the suggestion of Cal wanting her. She'd known him since elementary school. Big solid Cal, football star, croc smile, girl on each elbow. He'd gone to prep school in Tennessee and returned his senior year, more handsome and confident than ever. With his parents' prestige and his classic good looks, he'd been the quintessential Southern boy, a little wild, but mostly grounded. He'd come by the church tail gate party after a district play-off win, his truck idling with beer in the cooler, and crooked his finger at Abigail. Her sophomore heart had cartwheeled and her friends had sighed. Cal Orgeron wanted her. And she'd let him have her-body and soul. For a time, nothing else existed but Cal.
But she wasn't that girl anymore.
“No." She turned away from him. "It's too late."
"Don't say that, Abi. I lost my mind, had some kind of mental breakdown, but I never stopped loving you."
"Don't you dare." She whirled, jabbing a finger at him. "We're over and you know it. Don't try to play me. I'm not some twentysomething fool with stars in my eyes."
Cal didn't say anything, just watched her, like a hunter deciding to take a shot or let it ride. Abigail wanted to retreat from the emotions throbbing in the room. She wanted to slap the devil out of him. She wanted to scream all the outrage she'd sat on night after night, knowing her hurt did no good, knowing her pain only trickled into Birdie. She hadn't wanted Birdie to suffer any more than she already had.
But Abigail didn't lose control.
She just looked hard at him. "We can't go there, Cal. You regret what happened now because you're alone. You were never good at being alone. You think you can slip into our lives like you pressed a pause button. But we moved on. You want comfort, and I have none to give you."
Cal inhaled. "Okay, fine. I understand how you feel, but I'm not letting you go that easily."
"News flash, Cal. You don't have me anymore. And I suggest you leave well enough alone." She couldn't believe him. He was going to try to win her back? Sorry ...not going to happen.
"I'll concede the battle for now, Abi."
"It's Abigail.And you should surrender the war. The last thing we need is another thing we're at odds over. Focus on Birdie and doing whatever else it is you're going to be doing in Magnolia Bend. I'm guessing you won't be headlining at the Sugar Shack?"
Cal gave a sheepish smile. "I think my music days are over. LA has a way of stomping out dreams and pissing on them. I'm going to work for Dad. He gave me my old job."
She raised her eyebrows, surprised Buster Orgeron would be so quick to accept his son in the family company again. The president of Orgeron Fertilizer hadn't supported his son's dream of bright lights and big titties. As far as Buster was concerned, when Cal left his wife, daughter, and job, he'd lost his damn mind.
Buster and Minnie Orgeron had been gracious to Abigail, helping with Birdie and providing some of the financing for the Laurel Woods renovation. Abigail had let them help not because she thought they owed her anything, but because she'd been fighting depression along with creditors.
