Unrequited Love

All Lana ever wanted was a loving marriage, a safe home, and the chance to raise her children. Instead, she has spent years carrying her family alone. Her husband, Jacob, is distant, critical, and increasingly absent. He claims that work leaves him overwhelmed and that he needs silence to recover. Lana believes him because he is her husband, and trusting people has always come more naturally to her than questioning them. Her refuge is Harbor Lane Books, the cozy neighborhood bookstore she manages. Among its mismatched lamps, crowded shelves, and familiar scent of paper and eucalyptus, Lana remembers what it feels like to breathe. It is also where she forms a tender connection with Paul, a private and compassionate man whose kindness awakens feelings she knows may never be returned. When Jacob's anger reaches one of their children, Lana can no longer pretend his behavior affects only her. She moves into the guest room, contacts an attorney, and quietly begins preparing to leave. Jacob begs for ninety days to prove he can change. For the children, Lana agrees. While Jacob becomes a kinder and more involved father, he is also concealing money, protecting assets, and hiding a life Lana never imagined. As one betrayal reveals another,