Kate Canterbary

When Shay Zucconi's step-grandmother died, she left Shay a tulip farm-under two conditions. First, Shay has to move home to the small town of Friendship, Rhode Island. Second-and most problematic since her fiancé just called off the wedding-Shay must be married within one year. Marriage is the last thing in the world Shay wants but she'll do anything to save the only real home she's ever known. Noah Barden loved Shay Zucconi back in high school. Not that he ever told her. He was too shy, too awkward, too painfully uncool to ask out the beautiful, popular girl. A lifetime later, Noah is a single dad to his niece and has his hands full running the family business. That old crush is the farthest thing from his mind. Until Shay returns to their hometown and turns his life upside down. CW/TW: absentee parent(s), brief mention of parent death, brief mention of parent chronic illness, mention of incarceration, mention of temporary foster care placement, reference to teenage teasing/bullying (not detailed, not explicit), brief incidence of fat-shaming, living with a neurodivergent child

In a Jam

If I wasn't forgettable, people wouldn't be able to leave me so easily and go on with their lives like nothing was different. And it just keeps happening. That's how I know it's true.

big ab

And that was okay. I could live with that. I could shove the truth aside one more time, a thousand more times, if it meant she had what she needed. A birthday party, a ride home, a husband in name only.

Let the feeling consume you. Once you find your way out of that consumption, you’ll probably feel better

Mariana Foster

But there were bits of time when I was tired of being drunk and sad and numb, and I wanted to stand inside the rage of being wronged in such a careless manner. I wanted that rage to exhaust me. To drain me to the extent that I was too tired to cry, too tired to even feel the numbness.

I want this era. One where I don’t care and am not always feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders. Sounds nice

“The start of your villain era,” she said. “The ‘no fucks given, ask me if I care, throw your whole life and start over just because you feel like it’ era.”

I’d always done well when I knew the suffering to cone

As the question floated toward me, a familiar black pickup truck tumbled down the lane. I’d thought about him and he appeared. Like I could conjure him on command. Now that — that was dangerous.

“I’m going to give you precise directions. I expect you to follow those directions without deviation. If you do not — and I’ll be checking — I’ll rain hell upon your bread and jam. You got me?”

In a Jam quotes

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