41 parts Complete Rose has always believed in love-the kind that sweeps you off your feet, the kind worth waiting for. But after years of holding onto Ezra, the boy who gave her just enough attention to keep her hoping but never enough to take the next step, she's starting to wonder if maybe she's been chasing a dream that doesn't exist.
Enter Mateo-the new guy in school from Oregon. Quiet, reserved, and with shy eyes that say more than his words ever could. He only has one friend, keeps to himself, and blends into the background... until Rose walks into his world.
Mateo falls first, and he falls hard. Every smile she gives, every laugh he overhears, only pulls him deeper. But Rose is still tangled in the almost-love with Ezra, too blinded to see what's right in front of her.
Slowly, though, she begins to notice-the way Mateo listens, the way he shows up without asking for anything in return, the way his silence feels steadier than Ezra's loudest promises. And when she finally lets go of the boy who never chose her, she realizes she's falling-this time into something real, something lasting.
A hopeless romantic story about timing, letting go, and discovering that the quietest love can sometimes be the loudest.
