The third season of Sweet Magnolias sees Annie realizing that Jackson is not the person she thought he was, which leads to her breaking up with him.
Jackson and Annie started dating in the second season of Sweet Magnolias. However, their families are not on the best terms.
Dana Sue, Maddie, and Helen start a petition to recall Mayor Trent, who is Jackson’s father.
Jackson and Annie’s mothers never liked each other, and the petition makes things worse between them.
While Dana Sue allows Jackson to take her daughter out on a date, Jackson’s mother forbids her children from seeing Annie and Kyle, Maddie’s son.
However, Jackson is not ready to break up with Annie. He decides to keep dating her and keep their relationship a secret.
Jackson and Annie are still together at the beginning of the third season.
Jackson’s selfishness and Annie’s loneliness
For a while, Annie and Jackson are happy together, even though they have to keep their relationship a secret and sneak around all the time.
Problems arise when Mayor Trent resigns and moves to Castlewood with his whole family.
Meeting in secret was still fine, but the distance starts taking a toll on their relationship.
Even when Annie convinces Tyler to drive her to Castlewood or Jackson drives to Serenity, they get to see each for not more than a few minutes.
As their relationship is a secret, Annie cannot even tell her mother about it.
Due to this, Jackson does not come to Annie’s birthday party, and Tyler drives her to Castlewood in the evening.
Jackson’s mother sees Tyler there and accuses him of spying on her.
Tyler then makes it clear that he is not going to take Annie to see Jackson again. Jackson keeps promising Annie that things will get better, but they never do.
Finally, Annie gets her driver’s license and goes to meet Jackson in Castlewood.
There, she gets into a minor accident and is forced to call her parents. When her parents arrive, instead of being with Annie and comforting her, Jackson chooses to hide behind a tree.
Dana Sue spots Jackson, who ends up telling her everything about their relationship. He also tells her that he cannot be seen with Annie because his mother has asked him to stay away from her.
The fact that Annie lied to her makes Dana Sue angry, and Annie is grounded. After that, Annie does not get to see Jackson for a while.
When they finally meet at a school game, she confronts him about not reaching out to her after the accident.
When he uses his mother’s excuse again, Annie tells him that she is tired of sneaking around and feeling alone in their relationship.
Annie had to lie to the people she loves just to be with him. She now realizes that Jackson has not changed and that he is still selfish. Annie knows that she deserves better and breaks up with him.
She believes that she did the right thing by breaking up with him, but it still hurts her. However, Tyler, who seems to like her and has been there for her all this while, grows close to her. The two of them are then seen holding hands at Annie’s parents’ vow renewal ceremony.
Also Read: Kathy Boseman: Sweet Magnolias season 3 character explained