
Part of Series
A devastating phone call. A chance encounter. A summer that changes everything… I planned to spend the summer searching for teaching jobs, not becoming a nanny for a hockey-playing farm boy with two grieving little sisters and too much weight on his shoulders. But something about the Hamilton girls—and their brooding big brother—pulls at my heart. Juggling sorrow, guardianship, and a struggling family farm, Ezra barely keeps it together. He doesn’t ask for help, but I stay anyway, almost challenging he let me help him. As the summer days stretch longer, laughter returns to the farmhouse. In a moment of shared vulnerability, Ezra and I cross an invisible line. We agree it’s only one night. Just to get it out of our systems. Pretending it didn’t mean anything? That’s the biggest lie of all. Healing isn’t neat or easy, and the one thing I told myself I couldn’t want is exactly what I can’t walk away from…