In the sleepy coastal town of Maple Glen, Oregon, Rory is just trying to keep her little world in balance-working at the local aquarium, sipping iced coffee, and escaping into her favorite books when life feels too heavy. With one foot in the soft pastels of her social world and the other rooted in muddy hiking trails and overgrown gardens, she's used to feeling a little out of place-but never out of hope. Then there's August: quiet, tattooed, and intimidating in all black. He owns The Brackish Place, the very aquarium Rory works at, and though he keeps mostly to himself, he's never missed a single detail. Three years older and worlds apart in appearance, he's everything she's been warned about-and everything that makes her feel seen for the first time in forever. When an early morning shift leads to an unexpected conversation, the walls between them start to soften. What begins with shared silence and feeding schedules slowly becomes late-night talks, inside jokes, and secret common ground. But with August as her boss and Rory unsure of where she fits in the world, their slow-burn romance might be as risky as it is real. In a world where fresh and salt water meet, love grows in the in-between.