Fireworks at First Sight
Wendy Cunningham has spent four years building a world inside the lines she can hold steady — her fourth-grade classroom, the laminated schedule on the fridge that keeps her autistic brother William's days from coming apart, the duplex with the shared garden where her best friend lives just through the wall. She raised William from her senior year of college.
Then Steve Reid, a Green Beret on leave, arrives in Fox Hollow. At the Flag Day ceremony on the square, he notices her. On their first date he realizes she is the Miss C whose class sent him letters during his last deployment.
For three bright summer weeks, it's the easiest thing they've ever felt.
Then the Fourth of July fireworks go up over the square, and the noise and the crowd and the dark stack past what William can handle. Wendy, afraid of what she'll see on Steve's face, gathers her brother and goes before he can walk them out. By dawn Steve is gone.
Wendy does what she is good at, keeping her and William safe inside the tight lines she's drawn. She's spent four years being someone's safe place. She was certain she knew exactly what that cost her. She's less certain now.
When Steve comes back, is she willing to risk him breaking her heart again? Or will she shut him out before he can even explain?
