AT

{y/n} spent every summer of her childhood in the little town of Bellwood, Tennessee, staying with her grandmother. And every summer, there was Thayer Malone. He was the boy who taught her how to fish. The boy who rode his bike beside hers down dirt roads. The boy who always saved her the best seat at the town's Fourth of July fireworks. Her summer best friend. Then high school happened. {y/n} stopped coming. Years passed. Now, at twenty-one, {y/n} is forced to return to Bellwood when her grandmother's health takes a turn for the worse. What was supposed to be a temporary visit quickly becomes something more complicated when Shiloh realizes her grandmother needs someone to stay and help care for her. And Thayer is still there. Only he's not the boy {y/n} remembers. He's grown into the kind of man everyone in town trusts—steady, kind, hardworking, and quietly protective. He's the guy who fixes someone's fence without being asked and checks on elderly neighbors during storms. But Thayer has learned not to give too much of himself away. He's been taken advantage of before, and he's determined not to let it happen again. Especially not with {y/n}. Because she was the girl he waited for every summer. And the girl he never really stopped waiting for.