writerht12
After losing her mother at ten, Cathy Mae Tait left the mountains of Wānaka behind for a quiet fishing town on New Zealand's Coromandel Peninsula. Nine years later, her world is small. Collecting shells, avoiding the past, and caring for a father who is slowly disappearing into alcohol is her life now.
Jake Carter has always been there. Her closest friend, loved by the whole town. And the one person who can still make her laugh. But when a newcomer arrives from the South Island with a life already planned, and a girlfriend by his side, Cathy finds herself drawn towards someone she never expected.
As old wounds resurface and loyalties begin to blur, Cathy must decide whether protecting her heart is worth the loneliness it brings, or if healing means risking everything she's spent years trying to keep buried.