The Hope Once Lost

Natalie Bradshaw: the name I’ve carried since I married my high school sweetheart over a decade ago. But then, in the blink of an eye, he was gone.

Now I’m a widowed single mom, drowning in responsibility and quiet grief, terrified that moving forward means betraying the only love I ever believed in. I don’t get to fall apart—not when my daughters are watching, not when our bookstore, our dream, still needs me standing.

My girls are my everything. The shop is my anchor. And somewhere along the way, I forgot how to breathe … or who I was before survival became my only skill.

Loving again was never part of the plan.

Until Holden Clay—retired hockey legend, powerful CEO—walks through the front doors, with sadness behind his whiskey eyes, the kind only someone carrying it too could recognize. He’s lost almost everyone he loves. His family history is tangled with secrets, betrayal, and a father who may be running out of time.

He’s learning how to forgive. I’m learning how to feel and how to open my heart for the first time since it shattered, but every step forward reminds me exactly why I shouldn’t.

He says he’s falling for me.

He says he’s patient.

But we both know this kind of love doesn’t come without risk.

And I don’t know if we can survive losing everything again.