Chapter 49

Gabriella felt like the biggest fool in the world. She let her fear paralyze her. She had survived her father dying when she was a teenager. She had survived racism in Georgia. She had survived an earthquake in Mexico. She had also survived her brother disappearing when times got tough. Yet, she wasn’t brave enough to get on a plane to be with the man she loved? Gabriella raised her head. “How did I become a spineless wimp?” she asked rhetorically. “I been through a lot and I couldn’t -” She closed her eyes as the mistake she made boiled in her brain.

“It’s not too late, Gaby,” Jodi said with urgency. “Go! Go, now!”

Matt looked at his watch. “It’s 11:05. Doesn’t Billy’s plane leave at noon? She’ll never make it. It will take her an hour to get to Phoenix. And another thirty minutes to get through the airport.”

“No,” Jackie said. “She can drive right to the gate to the private air strip.”

“Even so, it will take forty-five minutes for her to get through the lunch traffic,” Matt said sol