Carolynn Carey

McCray County Images Carolynn Carey

A homeless woman. An unemployed artist. A place for new beginnings. Not only is Joy Dawson suddenly homeless, she's also responsible for her mother and for her mother's long-lost sister. Upon learning about Joy's situation, her friend Alicia invites them to stay in her guesthouse in McCray County, Tennessee. Once there, Joy is shocked to discover that Mark Stevens, the California artist she met the year before, lives next door. Although she once enjoyed flirting with Mark, now she feels at a disadvantage, knowing he's pursuing his dream while she's merely marking time. Unfortunately, she can't afford to move away, and she can't ignore him when he sets his easel up right outside her back door. When Mark Stevens loses his job as an art director in California, he moves to McCray County to try his hand at landscape painting. He doesn't expect to end up living next door to Joy Dawson, the outrageously colorful woman he met the previous summer and hasn't been able to forget. Unfortunately, now that she's reappeared in his life, she's changed from colorful to drab and from flirtatious to surly. What's a fellow to do when a girl he can't ignore seems determined to pretend he doesn't exist?