Being back in Willow Creek means facing everything Mia ran from: the expectations she couldn't meet, the dreams she couldn't fulfill, the boy she couldn't stop loving. Ethan represents the road not taken, the life she might have had if she'd been brave enough to stay.But Ethan isn't the same boy she left behind. He's a man who's built a good life in the ruins of broken dreams. A man who's learned that sometimes staying is braver than leaving. A man who looks at her like she's the one who got away-because she was.As days turn into weeks, Mia finds herself falling back into old rhythms: morning coffee at the diner, evening walks past the lake, late-night conversations in the bookstore. She's falling for her hometown all over again. Falling for the life she thought she didn't want. Falling for Ethan all over again-or maybe she never really stopped.But Mia's life is in New York. Her career, her apartment, her carefully constructed world. She can't just throw it all away for a second chance at a first love. Can she?With her father's health improving and her time in Willow Creek running out, Mia must make an impossible choice: return to the life she built, or stay for the love she never forgot. Sometimes the way back home is the hardest journey of all.THE WAY BACK HOME is an emotional second-chance romance about first loves and new beginnings, small towns and big dreams, and learning that sometimes the life you're meant to live is the one you left behind. Perfect for fans of heartfelt romance, small-town settings, childhood sweethearts, and stories that prove it's never too late to find your way back to where you belong.