fein4straykids
He was Southside steel-built tough, made for survival. She was soft in a world that didn't make room for softness.
Kevin Atwater had seen too much, felt too little, and trusted even less. The only thing keeping him grounded? His siblings... and the quiet white girl who watched them after school with a patient smile and cinnamon-sugar Pop Tarts in her purse.
Teresa Spangler never fit the neighborhood mold. But she knew how to show up. She knew how to listen without asking too much. And she knew, somehow, that under Kevin's cold stare and tired eyes was a heart worth loving.
What started with juice boxes and helping with homework slowly turned into glances that lingered too long, hands that brushed too often, and late-night conversations that got a little too deep to forget.
Now, in a city where hearts break faster than headlines, Kevin's learning that the warmest love can come from the most unexpected place.
And maybe...
home isn't a place at all.
Maybe it's a girl with soft hands and a stubborn heart.
⸻
"She didn't look like anything he thought he wanted...
but she felt like everything he'd ever prayed for."