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feel out of place. It was another reminder of how much had changed.
    How long were you in New York?” Ryan asked.
    Five years. I left here as soon as I graduated from college.”
    Why did you leave?” He quirked an eyebrow, never missing a beat in his box folding.
    Ana sighed, feeling bad talking about it in front of her mother. Her parents had both begged her not to go, but she was stubborn and refused to listen. “Because I wanted to experience more of life than just this. Bandera is small. Everyone knows everyone.”
    You could have just moved into San Antonio. That would have been a lot closer,” her mother interjected.
    San Antonio was too close. I wanted to be far away.” It sounded harsh, but it was true. In San Antonio, Ana still wouldn’t have felt like her life was her own. Her parents had always been there for her, picking her up whenever she fell. She wanted to be somewhere they couldn’t just dust her off. But after five years of living on her own, she had still ended up back home, needing her mother’s support.
    Was it so bad out here for you?” Molly sounded heartbroken.
    No.” She shook her head. “I just didn’t feel like I belonged.”
    Sometimes,” Ryan spoke up, “where you think that you don’t belong is exactly where you need to be.” He smiled at her then, and the bitterness of her past was vanquished from the room. Her mother was right to call him Sunshine. He knew exactly how to chase away the rain.

CHAPTER FOUR
    Ana stood with the other single ladies as Celia turned her back to them to throw the bouquet. She had no intention of going for it. With a baby on the way, marriage was the farthest thing from her mind. Best to leave it for a girl who had a chance at a perfect life.
    Ryan grinned at her from one of the tables. There was a hopeful look in his eyes, like he wanted her to catch the bouquet. Part of her hated to disappoint him, but she just didn’t have the energy to go for it. Besides, marrying him was a pipe dream anyway.
    Celia made the toss, and several of the girls went for the flowers like their lives depended on it. Ana stayed back. Bouquet-catching could be risky business. She had once seen a girl get a bloody nose when another girl accidentally punched her in her attempt to get the bouquet.
    Better luck next time,” she said as she retreated to sit by Ryan. There was no point in avoiding him. He obviously wasn’t going to let that happen.
    I guess that means I’m up.” Ryan stood to go do the garter toss.
    He put a lot more vigor into it, though it wasn’t necessary. Most of the guys avoided the garter like it was a grenade. If anything, Ryan was taking one for the team.
    He returned to Ana with a grin on his face, twirling the blue-and-white lace garter on his finger like it was the prize of a lifetime. “Looks like I’m next,” he said, winking at her.
    In a week or so, he’d go back to wherever he came from, find a nice girl, and settle down. And Ana would still be in Bandera, pregnant and living with her mother, pathetic and alone. She rubbed the swell of her stomach.
    With the festivities over, everyone gathered around outside to see the happy couple off. Ana’s eyes watered as Celia and David drove away in his truck with the words “Just Married” written in white shoe polish on the back window, and empty cans dangling off the ball hitch. Ana wasn’t the only one. Molly had tears streaming down her face as well. She stepped up next to her elder daughter and threw an arm around her neck, half whispering, half sobbing, “There she goes. My little girl is all grown up.”
    We were grown up long before Celia got married, Ana thought. Heck, Celia was only two years younger than Ana. All of their friends were already married. They were the late bloomers of the bunch, and Ana was blooming still, skipping the marriage stage in preparation for motherhood.
    It was bittersweet watching her sister drive away, closing an old chapter of her life and opening a new