Busy Being Clementine

Clementine "Cleo" Sanders has perfected the art of looking like she's okay.

As one of Briar University's brightest journalism majors, a talented volleyball player, gifted dancer, and the girl everyone swears has her life together, Cleo is always moving. Always smiling. Always busy.

Because staying busy means she doesn't have to think about the one decision that changed everything.

Back in high school, she thought she'd found forever with fellow hockey player Jason Wheeler. Then two pink lines shattered that illusion. The moment Cleo told him she was pregnant, Jason walked away without looking back. Left to face impossible choices alone, Cleo underwent an abortion she wasn't ready to carry-but wasn't ready to regret either. The heartbreak didn't end there. It followed her to college, teaching her that love always comes with conditions and that trusting someone enough to give them your whole heart can cost you everything.

Now, she's determined that no one-especially another hockey player-will ever have that kind of power over her again.

Then she meets John Logan.

He's charming, relentless, frustratingly kind, and everything Jason never was. Logan isn't asking Cleo to forget her past. He's simply asking for the chance to earn a future with her-one patient conversation, one laugh, and one slow dance at a time.

But Cleo's carefully controlled world is thrown into chaos when a DNA revelation exposes a family secret she never saw coming: she's related to Hunter Davenport, one of her closest friend's biggest enemies. Suddenly, she's questioning where she belongs, who she can trust, and whether blood is thicker than the family she's chosen.

As old wounds reopen and buried truths refuse to stay hidden, Cleo must decide if she'll keep living according to everyone else's expectations-or finally choose her own path.

Sometimes healing isn't about becoming someone prettier, stronger, or easier to love.

Sometimes it's about realizing you've always been enough.