The One Summer Rule

When Mara retreats to a coastal town to recover from a broken relationship and burnout, she expects solitude, not connection. Renting a weathered seaside cottage for the summer, she agrees to one condition set by her guarded landlord, Elise: no attachments. But summer has a way of loosening rules. As long days give way to shared meals, unguarded conversations, and the slow rebuilding of trust, Mara begins to feel something she hasn't in years-present.
Elise, shaped by a past heartbreak that taught her love leaves, resists what's growing between them even as she longs for it.