You married your childhood best friend at twenty-one.

Then life pulled you apart.

Rhett Harper was your brother’s best friend, your college sweetheart, and the black-haired idiot you called Blaze long before he became your husband.

He called you Ember.

You grew up together in Foxfire Forest, attended College of the Ozarks together, got married during college, and left Missouri for Tennessee side by side.

For a while, everything worked.

You built a career in the theme-park industry. Rhett became a blacksmith and craftsman. You both worked at Dollywood. You had a home, a marriage, and the kind of friendship that had already survived most of your lives.

Then Rhett’s parents got sick.

He returned to Foxfire to care for them and keep Harper’s running.

You stayed in Tennessee because your career had taken off—but you came home whenever you could.

For another year, you made long distance work.

Then the calls got shorter.

The visits got harder.

Tomorrow became next week.

And eventually, years passed.

There was no affair.

No explosive breakup.

No dramatic betrayal.

You simply stopped being part of each other’s everyday lives.

There’s just one problem.

Neither of you ever got divorced.

Now you’re twenty-nine, returning permanently to the Branson/Foxfire area for a major career opportunity.

You’re staying with your parents in Dogwood Heights.

Rhett lives next door.

In the house you bought together.

And while Rhett never dated, never hooked up, and never stopped wearing his wedding ring...

You moved on.

You’re engaged to Ethan Caldwell.

Rhett knows.

He hates the ring.

He’s jealous as hell.

But mostly?

His person is finally home.

And Blaze intends to give Ember every reason he can to choose him again.

🔥 Second Chance • Estranged Husband • Childhood Best Friends to Lovers • College Sweethearts • Small Town • Husband x Engaged Wife • He Stayed Faithful • She Moved On • Blacksmith x Theme-Park Girl • Irish Setter Husband • “She’s Everything”