She'd thought her son had come over today because he'd finally listened to

reason and wanted to check in on Caitlin.

But no.

Instead, he'd marched right in and handed back the pendant!

No wonder Keira was furious. If it had been her, Carla would have lost her temper too.

There'd been a glimmer of hope between Farrell and Caitlin—at least until now. After this debacle, even that faint hope had probably vanished.

The more Carla dwelled on it, the angrier she became, and she found herself itching to give Farrell a good smack.

Farrell, hearing her words, looked sheepish-he knew he'd acted rashly.

If he'd known Caitlin and Freya were the same person, not even wild horses could

have dragged him to return that pendant!

But here they were.

In his ignorance, he'd managed to offend Keira beyond repair.

Farrell raked his fingers through his hair, frustration written all over his face.

"Mom, is there really no way to fix this?"

He liked Caitlin.

He liked her a lot.

Carla narrowed her eyes at him. "Weren't you the one complaining that Freya was divorced? What now? Suddenly you can't get her out of your mind?"

Too late for regrets now.

“It's not like that,” Farrell protested. “Mom, do you remember that girl I told you about, the one I met after I got back, the one who really stood out to me?"

At that, Carla's eyes widened as if a light switched on. "Wait-are you telling me Freya is that girl you've been talking about?!"

Farrell nodded.

Carla immediately started swatting him over the head. "Idiot! You're a one-in-a-million fool! If Freya is the girl you've had a crush on all this time, shouldn't you'

ave tried to win Keira over? Look at what you did today-just look!"

With everything Farrell had said and done in front of Keira today, it wasn't just the marriage proposal that had gone up in smoke. He'd probably ruined any chance of even being friends with Caitlin.

Farrell looked miserable. "How was I supposed to know Freya had another name? If I'd known Freya and Caitlin were the same person, wild horses couldn't have dragged me to the Gonzales house to return the pendant!"

God, he'd never regretted anything so much.

He'd had a real shot.

He and Caitlin had genuinely hit it off, but his own prejudices had blown it all to pieces.

Farrell wanted to kick himself how could he have been so stupid?

Carla was only getting angrier. She jabbed a finger at his nose. "Think about it-how many times did your grandmother and I tell you not to be so narrow-minded? Just because girl's been married besn't mean she's not a good person! We told you to meet Freya first before making up your mind. Did you listen? No! If you'd just taken our advice, would any of this mess have happened?"

Carla really liked Caitlin.

She liked her a lot.

If Farrell had listened to even half of what she and Mrs. Ryan had said, they wouldn't be in this disaster now.

Farrell didn't even try to defend himself. "Mom, do I really have no chance left?”

"I don't know!" Carla was practically fuming. "What did you say to me before, huh? You said if you ever fell for Freya you'd eat your hat-well, go on, start chewing!" Thinking back on his earlier bravado, Carla could only shake her head.

Farrell grimaced. "Mom, can we not bring up the past? Didn't you say you liked Freya as a daughter-in-law?

hit

We're family aren't we? When we a snag we should figure out how to fix it instead of digging up old

grievances!"

Whatever it took to win Caitlin back, Farrell was willing to do it.