The Things We Carry

She fled her wedding. He's been running a memorial disguised as a cafe. Neither of them planned on raising an eleven-year-old con artist.

Sienna Cole arrived in Asheville three days after leaving her fiancé at the altar, looking for her missing sister.
What she found: her niece Ivy-living in motels, running Bitcoin scams at school, and keeping a ledger of her mother's criminal boyfriend's deliveries.

Garrett Hale has been feeding Ivy breakfast for eleven days. Toast cut diagonal, whole milk, corner booth. He didn't call anyone because he was afraid they'd take her somewhere worse.
He also has no legal right to keep her.

Neither does Sienna.

When a caseworker shows up unannounced, Garrett says two words: "I'm here."

The caseworker writes down girlfriend.

Now they're faking a relationship neither agreed to. Which would be easier if:
• Sienna could stop mentally redesigning his dead wife's cafe
• Garrett could admit six years of unchanged menus isn't a business strategy-it's grief he can't let go

Ivy's mother is running drugs. The cops are closing in. The caseworker's coming back.
And two people who've spent years performing their lives are about to learn what happens when you stop pretending and just show up.

Perfect for fans of emotional second-chance romance, found family, and love stories that don't come easy.