He answered every call in the county. She just needed him to answer hers.

Dahl Prescott built a life around her husband's badge - the fire chief everyone in the county could reach, day or night, no exceptions. She used to believe that made him a good man. She still does. But somewhere between the campaign kickoffs and the coalition dinners, she stopped being able to tell the difference between being loved and being reachable.

Then one storm-tossed evening on the marina dock changes everything.

Dahl leaves for a shuttered glass studio on a Gulf barrier island, carrying her daughter, one suitcase, and a secret about to change the shape of both their futures.

Beck Sutter always assumed she'd come back. He was wrong. And by the time he understands exactly what his reflexes cost his family, he has to learn something no radio call ever taught him: how to be reachable for the two people who actually lived in his house.

Dahl, meanwhile, is building something entirely her own - a glassblowing studio with her name over the door, a national exhibition tour, and a steady, patient man who asks the hard questions and stays for the answers.

When Beck's own choices bring him back to her island, on his own terms this time, Dahl has to decide whether the man showing up now is the same one who was never there before.

A deeply emotional story of love, loss, regret, resilience, and self-discovery - for readers who love a hard-earned second chance and a heroine who finally chooses herself.

Scroll up and start reading today. A standalone with a guaranteed HEA.