Part of Springbrook Hills
First published 2022
Kate moved back to Springbrook Hills when her son Callum was five, planning to help her aging parents and then leave. Seven years later she is still there, still doing everything herself. She works, walks the dog, cleans the house, raises Cal, and checks in on her parents, and she does all of it alone. Asking for help is not something Kate does. Dean Fulton has spent seven years moving in the opposite direction, picking a new summer camp and a new winter mountain each season, keeping every relationship shallow on purpose. Then he lands in Springbrook Hills, gets pulled into coaching Pee Wee football, and breaks up a fight between Cal and a bully. The kid gets under his skin immediately. So does Cal's mom. Dean wants to show up for both of them. Kate wants him to stop. The tension at the center of this book is simple and stubborn: one person who takes on too much and refuses a hand, and another who has spent years making sure no one needs him. Whether either of them can change is the whole question.
Genres: fiction, romance, contemporary, adult, adult-fiction, contemporary-romance
Vibes: character-driven, emotional, heartfelt, intimate, tender
Tropes: forced-proximity, found-family, second-chance, slow-burn
Setting: Springbrook Hills
288 pages · Paperback · Morgan Elizabeth