Tip of the hat

Gianna Ashford has spent three years building a life that looks perfect from the outside a Paris-French, Jamaican beauty, engaged to a man who has stopped seeing her, surrounded by friends who chose comfort over honesty. When one dinner breaks her open in front of everyone, she finally says what she's needed to say for months.

Reid Hollowell doesn't need anything from anyone. Heir to land his family has worked for three generations, he shows up to every gathering, hugs every cousin, dances with every aunt and leaves alone, every single time. Nobody in town has cracked him open. Nobody's tried hard enough.

When Gianna steps off a plane into a place slower and smaller than anything she's known, she isn't looking for him. He isn't looking for anyone. But small towns have a way of putting two people in the same room until neither of them can pretend anymore.