In A Heartbeat

Mira Lane has spent two years building her pet shop into the one place that she can control when the rest of life won't cooperate. She's been dreaming of expanding into the vacant unit next door until the day the old thrift store next door finally closes and she discovers the space is already promised to someone else. Worse, it's promised to Decker Lawson, a talented aquarium builder with a plan to open a saltwater shop that could siphon off the very customers who keep Mira's doors open.

Mira is furious and terrified. Her lease includes a non-compete clause, but the plaza manager shrugs and is no help. Decker insists he isn't trying to ruin her, yet he won't walk away from the storefront he's worked hard to secure. Their first meeting sparks more than an argument. Mira doesn't want to notice his steady voice, his careful hands, or the kindness that flashes through his guarded eyes. While Decker doesn't want to notice anything about her at all, because noticing leads to caring, and he's been avoiding that since he lost someone he loved dearly. Yet, Mira isn't someone he can ignore and he offers a compromise to suit them both.

Pushed from his reclusive existence by well-meaning people, Decker finds going to church again a test. But his grief still has teeth, and fears can rip open wounds he's kept buried.

Mira carries her own struggles, a past that has left her with insecurities, and a heart condition she manages quietly, determined to be seen as capable, not fragile.

Between plaza politics and the pressure of two businesses, if Mira and Decker can't learn to open the doors between their shops and their hearts their second chance at love may close before it ever truly begins.