Book excerpt: Newly independent after a long-awaited divorce from an emotionally abusive husband, LELA is finally following her dreams. She reaches out to her former lover, NATHAN, to inspect her potential B&B purchase. Months later, he appears with startling news of his own impending divorce. Lela grabs at this chance to be with him but soon discovers her insecurities, his guilt, his wife’s underhanded manipulations, and his family’s firm feelings about his marriage and their relationship threaten their chance at happiness. Trapped in an unfulfilling marriage with a wife who criticizes and rejects him, Nathan struggles with pride and feelings of failure both as a husband and as a father. He willingly sacrifices his own happiness for his boys and his faith; however, the sudden revelation of his wife’s own infidelity gives him the push he needs to seek out his own happiness, with Lela. With tensions growing after a tumultuous Thanksgiving dinner, the discovery of Nathan’s son’s mental health crisis panics Nathan and compels him to choose between the welfare of his boys and the love of his life. Lela’s greatest fear is realized when Nathan leaves, and she’s forced to move forward, but not without an unexpected blessing—their baby daughter. Not realizing his ex-wife’s vengeful plans until it’s too late, Nathan resigns himself to a life without intimate love until a chance sighting upends their lives once more. Lela’s grateful that their daughter will grow up knowing her father, but she’s not ready to risk getting hurt again. Despite her resistance, she and Nathan grow close once more, and when he asks to begin anew on Christmas Eve, she decides to take a leap of faith. With their two families now one, they finally get their chance at true happiness, together.