NOW A USA TODAY BEST SELLING BOOK

Buried secrets never stay hidden in the South.

Kallie

I fell in love with him when I was seven. I scraped my knee, and he helped carry me inside.

Our love story was the talk of the town until a woman told everyone she was pregnant with his baby. The only rational solution was to high tail it out of town and never come back.

My best friend needed a place to hide, and you can't get much more covert than my family farm, so I came back. For her. It was supposed to be temporary, and I wasn't supposed to see him, but that's what happens when you live in a small town where everyone knows each other.

Jacob

Being the sheriff in a small town was never my dream. My father died and my older brother took off, so I had to be the one to look after my mother. I stayed. I fulfilled my duties as a son and I protected my hometown.

My life wasn't perfect, but I was content. Until I locked eyes with a ghost from my past, Kallie. I thought it was my imagination, it couldn't be. I loved her most of my life, but now I hated her.

The town gossip mill was going into overdrive. I kept my head down and my mind off of the woman who shattered my heart when she ran away. She didn't give me a chance to explain, it didn't matter to her then. I didn't matter.

A second chance is never promised, but now that mine is right under my nose, I'm not sure I can take it.