There are ghosts at every corner. In the stolen kisses while I waitressed at the diner, in the town festivals in the square, in the many jokes about Betty Bagley and her pie at the Fall Farmer’s Market, and in countless nights spent watching Clay make drinks with that handsome smile of his plastered on his face while I sat on a stool at the bar. It should all feel familiar and comforting, and yet, it makes it hard for the person I am now to breathe at all.

How good are you at keeping a secret? Because I, Juniper Perry, have been keeping a big one. For over a decade, I’ve been crushing on the guy with the easy smile, warm brown eyes, and charismatic charm. He’s all the perfect things that, when you add them up, spell out Man of my dreams. I know that doesn’t sound bad at all, but there’s more to this story. We work together. I’m a lowly intern, and he’s a high-powered executive. He’s my newest neighbor. No joke—he’s temporarily living next door to me. And to top it all off, he’s my best friend’s older brother.

She’s the virginal cheerleader, and he’s the tortured bad boy. Their worlds are different, but college life at Dickson University brings them together in a passionate, angsty, fiery collision.

When grumpy, muscled-up artist Bennett Bishop bothers to speak, it’s usually to say something you’re not ready to hear. When he first speaks to Norah Ellis, a rambling runaway bride who hitchhikes a ride from him, it’s to tell her to get out of his truck and walk because she’s a pain in the a-s-s. By appearance, Norah Ellis is a fancy fashionista who’s spent the last several years living the good life in the city—expensive apartments, highbrow events, and a fiancé with wealth and good looks. The only problem is that she didn’t choose any of it for herself.

If my time with Ryan Miller were a hit track on the radio, I imagine the lyrics would go something like this: We're so different, but they say opposites attract. Oops, I've fallen, and my heart doesn't want to come back. His dad lives right next to my mom, and after the two of them suffered an unexplained accident while taking down holiday decorations, both Ryan and I were forced to become the only 30something residents of Sunny Creek Village Independent Senior Living Community.