Stephanie swore she’d never set foot on that ranch again. For ten years, she built a city life that left no space for dust, silence, or the memories she ran from. But when her grandfather’s will names her the new owner, she finds herself back beneath the wide Texas sky where every fence post and sunset reminds her of him.

Erik never left. The boy she loved grew into the man who kept the place alive. Harder hands, steadier eyes. The kind of quiet that says everything. One look from him, and the years between them vanish. He still remembers the starlit nights, the laughter in the barn, the goodbye that broke them both.

Now the ranch stands between them a legacy, a burden, and maybe a chance neither expected. Stephanie has to decide if coming home means letting go, or holding on. Can two people rewrite the ending of a story that never really ended?

Marissa L. Hart