PROVIDER

Emily "Petty" Johnson grew up learning how to fix what she could and hide what she couldn't-bruises, fear, the truth about her family, all covered with her mother's drugstore concealer. Life on the edge of Fort Worth never gave her much, but it did give her one thing worth keeping: Samuel Riley. Her first real friend. Her first real safe place.

Until high school took him somewhere she couldn't follow.

Samuel Riley has always lived with one foot in trouble and the other in expectation. The ranch, the uniform, the future everyone insisted he was destined for. Popularity, power, and a girl who looked good on his arm were supposed to make him whole. They didn't. And somewhere along the way, he lost the only person who ever knew him without the mask.

Years later, war, grief, and responsibility carve them into versions of themselves they barely recognize.

As a medic and a soldier, Emily and Samuel have spent years surviving for the sake of everyone else.
Now they have to learn what it means to survive for themselves-together or not.