Chapter 1: Toccara

I pushed open the door in front of me thankful for the rush of warm air that swept by. Spring was slowly drifting over the city, but that still meant we were plagued by the random temperature dips that made people joke about experiencing multiple seasons in a single Atlantan day. I shivered at the abrupt change in temperature and pulled at the collar of my coat as I gazed around the dim bar looking for my best friend, Danielle.

I wanted nothing more than to go home, pull off my bra, and sink onto the well-worn cushions of my couch with a bottle of beer and the remote, but she had managed to convince me to Uber my tired ass to Buckhead after an eleven-hour workday so we could catch up. Or so she could interrogate me on my near non-existent dating life.

Both really.

Danielle was well-meaning and I loved that she tried so hard to get me to put myself out there, but I was not sure if I was ready to give dating another real go. The ink on my divorce papers had long since dried but getting serious about dating still seemed daunting after having spent the better part of my adult years in a serious relationship and then a failing marriage.

I wasn’t blind, okay.

I saw attractive men everywhere I went. Even now as I strolled through the bar, my gaze lingered over faces and features that I would no...