by Tarah DeWitt
Part of Spunes, OR
First published 2026
Bea dreamed of motherhood but never imagined it would come through tragedy. Her best friend's death leaves her with frozen eggs and an unfinished bucket list. Everything in her life shifts at once. She needs a place to stay, and Silas offers his home. He's a firefighter still recovering from an accident that changed him, leaving him both wary and exposed. Neither expects romance. Bea focuses on completing the list and figuring out her path to becoming a mother. Silas works through his own recovery. But friendship deepens into something neither saw coming. Two people who once brought light to others discover they can rebuild that brightness together. Their connection grows from shared vulnerability into lasting love. The story follows their journey from grief and uncertainty toward a future neither could have planned but both come to embrace.
Genres: fiction, romance, contemporary, adult, adult-fiction, contemporary-romance
Vibes: emotional, healing, hopeful, intimate, tender
Tropes: forced-proximity, friends-to-lovers, second-chance-romance, shared-vulnerability
Period: 21st-century
352 pages · Paperback · St. Martin's Griffin
Content warnings: death