Vacancy Ahead

by Dnkss Summer

She came searching for a fresh start.

He came running from a past he couldn't outrun.

Neither expected to find something real in a place where everything felt broken.

When thirty-two-year-old Hannah Langley leaves behind a toxic marriage, all she has is her daughter, a dream, and the crumbling remains of a forgotten roadside motel in the Catskills. With peeling paint, faulty plumbing, and zero bookings, the Pine Hollow Motel is hardly the sanctuary she imagined—but it's hers. And she'll make it home, no matter what.

Cabin 6 comes with a complication.

His name is Luke Maddox—former war photographer, now brooding recluse with scars he doesn't show and secrets he doesn't share. He's gruff, private, and not exactly thrilled when a single mom and her chatty daughter disrupt his carefully controlled solitude. But when a pipe bursts and Hannah's out of options, they strike a deal: he'll help her fix the place, and she'll leave him alone.

Spoiler: she doesn't.

As the motel begins to come back to life, so do the people in it. From late-night repairs and unspoken glances to shared stories and healing silences, Hannah and Luke find themselves drawn together in ways neither of them expected. But just as they begin to let go of the past, it threatens to catch up with them.

With a colorful cast of small-town locals, a setting as atmospheric as it is hopeful, and a romance that simmers before it soars, Vacancy Ahead is a tender, emotionally layered story of healing, second chances, and finding home where you least expect it.

For fans of slow-burn romance, single mom heroines, forced proximity, and opposites attract, this is the story you'll carry in your heart long after the final page.