The First Call

Kennedy Heiward has spent most of her life earning her place in other people's worlds.

The perfect student. The dependable friend. The teammate who always shows up. The girl who carries everyone's problems and never lets anyone see her own.

After moving across the country for college, Kennedy finally builds something that's hers-a life filled with soccer games, coffee shop shifts, late-night study sessions, and friends who feel more like family than she ever thought possible.

Including John Logan.

Star hockey player. Campus handyman. Professional pain in her ass.

Logan slips into Kennedy's life so naturally she barely notices it happening. One shared coffee becomes a routine. One conversation becomes a friendship. And before either of them realize it, they've become each other's first call, favorite person, and safest place to land.

But when ghosts from Kennedy's past come crashing into the life she's built, old wounds are ripped open and long-buried truths finally come to light. As friendships fracture and loyalties are tested, Kennedy is forced to confront a question she's spent years avoiding:

What happens when the people you love stop needing you?

And what happens when someone loves you anyway?

Filled with found family, college sports, late-night drives, inside jokes, healing, heartbreak, and a slow-burn romance years in the making, *The First Call* is a story about learning that love isn't something you earn.

It's something you choose.

But when the future Kennedy has built begins to collide with the future everyone expects of her, will she finally let herself be chosen-or will she keep running from the one person who's been there all along?

JOHN LOGAN X OC