Lake I Love You

Dearing Creek series, Book 1

Lizzie has a terrible habit of losing things.

The people she loves. Multiple jobs. Hope. And now, after the worst day of her life imploded spectacularly, possibly her last shred of dignity.

But when her grandmother's will leaves her the keys to the family's beloved lake cabin in Dearing Creek, Minnesota, Lizzie sees a lifeline. A place to heal. A place to finally finish the romance novel she's been writing for years. A place to prove she's not as lost as everyone thinks.

The plan is simple: fix up the cabin, finish the book, rebuild her life.

Then she hires James Tate—a contractor with a reputation for quality work and a past as messy as hers.

James grew up in Dearing Creek, where everyone knows your business and no one forgets your mistakes—especially when it involves family. After a public falling-out with his former boss, starting his own remodeling business was supposed to be his second chance.

His first client? The shy, awkward girl next door he remembers—not the gorgeous, guarded woman he can't stop thinking about.

He knows getting involved is a bad idea. He's spent years keeping people at arm's length—it's safer that way. And Lizzie, still reeling from a cheating ex and barely holding her life together, is exactly the kind of risk he can't afford to take.

But proximity has a way of breaking down walls. And the closer they get, the harder it becomes to remember why they're supposed to stay apart.

But when Lizzie uncovers a devastating truth about her grandmother's past—one that shatters everything she believed about love and threatens the fragile trust she's built with James—she's forced to choose: run from the truth like she always has, or stay and fight for something real, even if it costs her everything.

Some things are worth losing yourself over.

The question is whether she's brave enough to find out.