Olivia Benton is happy with her life in small town Bryson City. She loves her downtown floral business, her family home shared with her father, and the lavish floral gardens that sprawl behind their rural mountain property. Only a niggling restlessness alerts her to how life might change one summer day when Zachary Warner drives back into town. No one ever though Weird Warner, or his big dreams, would ever amount to anything, especially Olivia’s father and grandmother. Even Olivia, who loved him, felt reluctant to risk everything and leave behind her familiar life to follow Warner’s dreams. Now he’s returned to Bryson City, famous and widowed, and as soon as Olivia sees him, she realizes she still loves him–a dilemma she is not prepared to deal with.
Warner Zachary, now better known as W.T. Zachary for his famous Geeky Gilmore books for kids, has avoided even visiting Bryson City since his high school graduation ten years ago. Even though his parents still live there, unhappy memories linger of being bullied in school, never fitting in with his peers, and being spurned by his childhood neighbor and sweetheart, Olivia Benton. After his wife Nelle’s murder, Warner grew discontent in New York and headed home to spend time with his family, to see old friends, and to take a well-needed vacation. He knows he will probably see Olivia Benton again but expects time will have healed his broken heart–and his anger.
About the author
Dr. Lin Stepp is a native Tennessean, a businesswoman, and an educator. She is an adjunct faculty member at Tusculum College where she teaches research and psychology. Her business background includes over 25 years in marketing, sales, production art, and regional publishing. She has editorial and writing experience in regional magazines and in the academic field. A New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly bestselling international author, Lin has ten published novels, each set in different locations around the Great Smoky Mountains.