Sarah Bennett and Jason Harper are coming home. The soldier running from his past and the actress coming home to bring her late dad's restaurant back to life. 18 years away, Sarah in California and Jason at war. Will coming home help them find more peace, love or tragedy? A war interracial small-town romance.
The snow fell gently over Pine Hollow, blanketing the town in a globe of silence. Sarah Bennett parked her car in front of her childhood home, heart racing as she stepped out into the crisp winter air. It had been ten long years since she left, chasing her dreams in the bustling city of Los Angeles, where she had quibbled between auditions and fleeting roles that never quite panned out. Now, she was back, not as the aspiring actress she had envisioned, but as the reluctant owner of her mother’s once-thriving restaurant, The Pine Leaf.

With a deep breath, Sarah trudged through the snow toward the restaurant, the unease of returning engulfed by the flickering lights that adorned the windows. She was determined to revive the place before Christmas, but the task felt monumental. Her mother had been raising Sarah's niece, Ellie, since Sarah’s sister had passed years ago. Now, Sarah felt the weight of the family’s responsibility resting squarely on her shoulders. Her own Dad passed when she was just a kid. The Pine Leaf was his dream, to always be a place to provide for their family.

Meanwhile, across town, I, Jason Harper, the prodigal son, pulled into the driveway of my grandfather’s old farmhouse, the biting cold creeping in despite the warmth of my engine. The house looked lonely, almost as if mourning the man who had lived in its walls—the man who had saved me from a childhood filled with shadows and bruises. With every step toward the door, I wrestled with my emotions, memories of battles both on and off the farm now vying for his attention. The house his mother and father built with my grandfather and uncle was now just ashes after one of the worst nights of my life.

The house was not far from my grandfather’s house, he let us live on his land when mom married dad. Surprise, I was the reason why.

Almost twenty years in the army had carved me into a different man. Physically, I was fit and strong, marked with the scars of war, but inside, I felt lost. My grandfather’s death had brought me back, but the truth that lingered like an unspoken specter clouded that wounded heart. I had always kept Sage at the back of my mind, the girl I once dusted off from heartbreak, now a relic of my youthful past. When Matty took her gaze, it was over, but I got over it and we all became best friends. Even Sarah was close to us, especially when she did not feel like we were cramping her style.