About

Jace Sanders and Guest first fell in love at fifteen, back when they thought they knew everything but understood nothing at all. Their love was innocent, sometimes messy, but above all, it was real. They became each other's world, laughing until their sides hurt and crying on each other's shoulders, never once doubting that what they had would last forever. But that certainty slowly crumbled over seven years. Real-world pressures, different dreams, a relationship where they loved each other fiercely but kept tearing each other apart—until finally, at twenty-two, they made the devastating choice to walk away. Jace couldn't let go easily. First love hits everyone like a freight train, but Guest wasn't just his first love. She was woven into every fiber of who he was, the soundtrack to his entire youth. But Guest chose a different path. Twelve years later, she married someone else, built a family, and became the mother of an eight-year-old boy. Her life was comfortable and predictable. She'd convinced herself that at her age, stability mattered more than passion, responsibility more than those old butterflies. But fate had different plans. One day at the start of a new semester, Guest walked into school for her first parent-teacher conference with her son's homeroom teacher. Settling into the quiet faculty office, she saw a man at the teacher's desk with his back turned, and her heart suddenly kicked against her ribs. Something about him looked achingly familiar. But thinking it couldn't possibly be him, she sat down on the couch just as he slowly turned around. In that moment, time folded in on itself. Twenty-two years old. That final fight. That last look of betrayal. That final glimpse of his shoulders as he walked out of her life. It was him.