Weathering the Storm

They meet in the aftermath of a storm.  

Neither of them was looking for anything that lasts.  

Emelie Scott comes to a small Midwestern town to close an estate and untangle a family history built on silence. After a year that cost her everything—her relationship, her savings, and her job as a third-grade teacher—she tells herself this stop is temporary.  

One last thing before starting over. 

She doesn't expect a tornado. 

Or the stranger who pulls her out of its path. 

Jack Reid has learned the hard way that love can't be trusted. Years earlier, his fiancée betrayed him with a lawyer--Jack's childhood nemesis, leaving Jack hardened and wary. Since then, he's kept his world small: the feed store, the land he worked beside the only father figure he ever knew, and the quiet loyalty of a town that depends on him. 

Emelie is a city girl, clearly out of place— and Jack takes it as a challenge. 

He shows her the rhythms of country life, the comfort of honest work, the rare relief of being understood. 

What grows between them is slow and unexpected—built in long conversations, shared meals, and moments that feel like escape for them both. They talk about everything, except the one truth that binds them. 

Neither of them knows they are connected by the same inheritance, from the same man, by land both are desperate to resolve in very different ways. 

What feels like more lies and betrayal, each must search their hearts to find what matters most. 

Because sometimes the hardest thing isn't surviving the storm  that brings you together— it's believing the person you love didn't mean to destroy you.  

A slow-burn, emotionally rich small-town romance about family secrets, inherited silence, and the fragile line between love and mistrust.

Note: This is a slow-burn romance with emotional intensity, closed-door intimacy, and realistic dialogue.