seventhvalley
Coming home was supposed to be temporary.
After a bitter breakup leaves her questioning everything she thought she knew about herself, Valerie leaves the city - and the emergency service career she once loved - and returns to the small rural town she grew up in. She joins the local volunteer rescue unit, expecting quiet jobs, familiar faces and a chance to put her life back together.
Instead, she finds herself learning an entirely different kind of rescue.
Cows trapped in dams. Boats stranded on flooded rivers. Trees across lonely roads. Lost bushwalkers. Bogged trucks. The rural unit may not see the large-scale emergencies she's used to, but every call teaches her something new - and firefighter Matt seems determined to make sure she learns it properly.
For the first time in years, she finds herself surrounded by people who don't compete with her, don't need her to prove herself, and don't expect her to be anything other than exactly who she is. Soon enough, friendship with Matt turns into something neither of them expected, and the town begins to feel less like the place she ran back to and more like somewhere she might actually belong.