A car accident kills Luka Russo's mother and brother when he's fourteen, leaving him with PTSD. It also brings him to a grief group, and with it, Savy Wallace. Her eight-year-old sister died of leukemia the same summer that took Luka's family. While school-mandated therapy proves useless, Savy and Luka help each other heal.
 

Their friendship deepens by senior year, but Savy can't break through the lessons Luka has learned from his father's heavy hands. Lessons that ensure he can't love. At least, not the way she deserves. College, med school, residency, it all takes Luka anywhere but home. Until a tornado devastates Nashville, and he rushes back to his friends and father. Most of all, to Savy.

 

A medical conference reopens old wounds and forces them to share a hotel room. One night of holding Luka through his nightmares, and everything between them changes. 

 

Even as they begin an affair, Savy can't shake her loneliness. Fifteen years is a long time to be in love alone. And if Luka can't want her for more than sex, their fragile friendship may be broken irreparably.