Burning the Headlights

Mara Voss's mother married into the Bright family when Mara was seventeen, and the son who came with the deal has been a problem ever since. Cole Bright left Blackwater ten years ago with a motorcycle, a record, and no intention of coming back. He comes home for the funeral of the man who never called him a son — and stays, because the family garage is failing, his stepmother is sick, and Mara is the one running the office with a bottle of aspirin and a temper. She wants him gone. He wants the books. They agree on nothing — until a tow call up Route 9 in a downpour, a motel with one room, and a night neither of them can pretend is new. Six weeks later there's a test in the truck and a truth to tell a whole town that already decided what he is. Mara decides differently. Out loud. With the bay doors open.