At 45 years old... ...I walked away from everything I'd built. Where did it all go wrong? I had the life I was supposed to want-a marriage of 23 years, two grown kids, and a picture-perfect house in Atlanta. I built a marriage on compromise, on pretending I wasn't lonely. I made dinners that went cold on the table... I fell asleep facing a man who had stopped looking at me years before he stopped coming home. Until the truth showed up one night and broke it all apart... I found the proof I had been refusing to see: another woman's perfume on my husband's shirt... ...and not a shred of remorse in his eyes. That was the moment something in me cracked. An affair A lie A betrayal Now, I'm done pretending. I packed a suitcase, left my wedding ring on the counter, and drove toward the only place that had ever felt like mine-my grandmother's old cottage on Seabrook Island. I bought it sight-unseen... ...like a woman leaping from a burning house without checking the temperature of the water below. I told myself I was only going there to breathe. But the past isn't done with me yet... I didn't expect to find my estranged sister already living there. I didn't expect her mood, her secrets, her inconvenient warmth. And I certainly didn't expect the kind man across, the one who looked at me like he recognized something he'd lost too. Then it dawned on me... ...that starting over might cost more than I bargained for. For 23 years, I held everything together... I wasn't looking for a second chance at anything. I wasn't brave or bold or ready. I was just tired of disappearing. But the thing about starting over... is that it doesn't wait until you feel prepared. Sometimes it begins with a single step out the door. Sometimes it begins with a ferry ride toward a place you once called home. And sometimes-if you're very lucky-it begins the moment you let your old life finally go. This isn't the life I planned. But it's mine now. If you love heartfelt women's fiction full of hope, sisterhood, and sweet small-town romance, The Beach Cottage will steal your heart and make you believe in second chances. Just bring your tissues! A feel-good, emotional, heartwarming story perfect for fans of: Second Chance Romance Emotional Women's Fiction Coastal, Small-town stories Sister's fiction Later-in-life romance Healing, heartbreak, and hope Elin Hilderbrand, Debbie Macomber and Pamela Kelley