The Work of Staying: A Collins Novel: 10

Aurora Lopez arrives at Collins Elementary with strong credentials, clear frameworks, and a determination to lead well. What she finds is a school held together not by policies alone, but by memory, relationship, and the quiet labor people carry because children need them to. As longtime principal Richard Rogers prepares to retire, Aurora begins to understand that leadership is not about rescuing a place or remaking it in her own image. It is about learning what must not be broken. With the help of PTA president Teri Tilson-a woman whose steadiness, insight, and embedded knowledge shape the life of the school-Aurora starts building a handoff rooted in partnership, humility, and care. But Collins is not just navigating a transition. It is trying to protect the unseen work that keeps children safe: the informal systems, shared rituals, and human knowledge that can disappear the moment one indispensable person leaves. Tender, thoughtful, and emotionally precise, The Work of Staying is a contemporary sapphic novel about stewardship, belonging, and the kind of love that looks less like spectacle and more like steadiness practiced over time. Perfect for readers who love: small-town women's fiction with romantic tension emotionally intelligent sapphic stories competent heroines and community-centered storytelling slow-burn emotional intimacy books about schools, care work, and the invisible labor that holds lives together

Pages: 222, Paperback, Independently published