Megan Ryder

Jake Nolan survived the war. Coming home was harder. The former Special Forces sniper has spent years building a quiet life in Granite Junction, Montana, where the mountains make sense in ways people never have. He keeps his world small, his routines predictable, and everyone at a careful distance. It's the only way he knows to live with the ghosts he brought home. Trauma therapist Isla Carter came to Granite Junction carrying ghosts of her own.
After losing her brother to PTSD, she's determined to build a wilderness program that gives struggling veterans something she couldn't give Noah-a way back to themselves. The problem is the only man qualified to lead it wants nothing to do with her plan. Jake knows these mountains better than anyone, and that's exactly why he refuses to take vulnerable veterans into them. The wilderness doesn't forgive mistakes.
Neither does survivor's guilt. When Gene challenges them to spend five days in the backcountry testing the route together, neither expects the mountain to expose far more than weaknesses in the program. Forced to rely on one another through dangerous terrain, unexpected storms, and the memories they've both spent years outrunning, Jake and Isla discover that the hardest journey isn't across the wilderness.
It's learning to trust another person with the fractured pieces of your heart.