Releasing on April 7, 2026.

Madeline McKinney is seriously sick. Or so she thinks.

Diagnosed with illness-related anxiety and facing panic attacks, reclusive widow Madeline is reeling after the discovery of an old letter from her late husband—a famous folk musician with an intense cult following. Encouraged by the note, Madeline embarks on a trip across Maine to see every last tribute concert in her husband’s honor in order to finally swallow her biggest pill yet: moving on with her life.

Since his father’s death, Dean Ramsey has been on a mission to take care of his matchmaking mother and boisterous younger sister. As a recent pharmaceutical school graduate with a boatload of student debt, he’s been hired to oust Martell Pharmacy’s most frustrating customer: Madeline McKinney. If he succeeds in pleasing his new boss, there’s a hefty bonus coming his way—which would pay for his sister’s first semester of college.

After a fight over the last rental car in town, Madeline makes a bargain with Dean: he’ll drive her to see the first concert— and she’ll stop coming to the pharmacy, netting him the bonus. As the pair drive along the coast, Madeline finds there is more to Dean than his icy, stoic exterior, and that at the heart of it all, he’s just as lonely as she is.

Forced to confront the root cause of her anxiety, Madeline has to decide if she’s ready to move on from the quiet life she thought she was bound to live or risk never having love in her life again. After spending time with Madeline, Dean finally thinks about whether he’s been living his life for his family, or for himself, and to risk it all to have his own happy ending.

Trope list
Loathe to love
Grumpy X Grumpier
Road Trip
Only One Bed
Widowed heroine
Original song lyrics
Celebrity

Content Warnings
Grief
Anxiety (illness anxiety)
Suicide
Mentions of major health concerns (stroke, heart attack, embolism, aneurysm, blood clots, vomit)
Death of a character pre-plot (Chapter 14 includes explicit description of events leading up to it)
Mentions of alcohol
Graphic sex
Hospital settings
Car accident (no explicit description)