Nine years ago, I told Lily Cassidy I loved her behind the gym at graduation. Then she disappeared to Chicago without a word, taking my heart with her. Now she's back in Love Creek to help her father recover, and I can barely breathe when I see her again. She's curves and confidence, artistic fire wrapped in small-town memories that still make my hands shake. But I'm not the same desperate eighteen-year-old who watched her drive away. I'm a single father now, running my own business, with a seven-year-old daughter who needs stability. When my little girl Maddie struggles with art anxiety, Lily agrees to help with some therapy sessions. Suddenly she's in my kitchen, in my workshop, in every corner of my carefully ordered life. The chemistry between us burns hotter than ever, but she's only here for six weeks before returning to her real life in the city. I've spent nearly a decade convincing myself I've moved on. But watching Lily paint with my daughter, seeing her eyes light up when she talks about her dreams, feeling the way she still fits perfectly in my arms... I know I'll do anything to make her stay. Even if it means risking everything I've built to show her we could have it all. Coming back to Love Creek was supposed to be temporary. Six weeks to help Dad recover from surgery, then straight back to my teaching job in Chicago. I definitely wasn't supposed to run into Myles Powell at the hardware store, looking like every fantasy I've tried to forget for nine years. He's broader now, more confident, with calloused hands that make my skin tingle and eyes that see straight through every wall I've built. But he's also a single father to the sweetest seven-year-old, and I'm just passing through. Getting involved would be a disaster for everyone. Except when he asks me to help his daughter Maddie with art therapy, I can't say no. Soon I'm spending afternoons in his kitchen, evenings on his back porch, falling for not just him but the family he's created. The way he listens when I talk about my work, how he makes me feel beautiful and brilliant and worthy of love... But I have a life in Chicago. A career I've worked years to build. And Myles deserves someone who can give him and Maddie the stability they need, not someone who runs when things get complicated. When he shows me the art studio he built hoping I'd stay, I realize some masterpieces are worth any risk. But can I be brave enough to paint a new future, even if it means starting over completely? Some second chances are worth rewriting your entire story.