“I’d rather be in the town that holds all of the people once connected to Scotty.”

It measures Kenna’s strength that she elects to return to her hometown after her release from prison. Kenna is in search of forgiveness. Despite knowing she has signed away parental rights to her daughter, she returns to her hometown. She is determined to earn forgiveness for herself from the people she has most wronged.

“He’s good looking in a way that a girl who is trying to get custody of her daughter should want to stay away from. He’s got eyes that have seen a thing or two, and hands that have probably hit a man or two.”

Although the novel celebrates the energy of love, the relationship between Kenna and Ledger is sexual, and both discover in their relationship the power of sexual healing. Kenna warns herself not to be distracted by the attractive bartender, a warning she knows she will ignore.

“I don’t understand attraction. What is it that draws people to each other? How can dozens of women walk through the doors to this bar every week and I don’t feel the urge to give any of them a second glance? But this girl waltzes in, and I can’t take my fucking eyes off her.”

It would be better for both Ledger and Kenna not to get involved. Ledger struggles to understand attraction, but the certainty of it triggers the romance between him and Kenna. Before either knows the complete history of the other, there is an undeniable pull.