Before It Was Us

At thirty, Paisley Hamilton has the life she's been told to want—a teaching career she loves, a solid marriage, a brand-new mortgage in a quiet Midwestern town. But somewhere between lesson planning and Sunday meal-prepping, she's started to wonder if right is the same as happy. Because the truth is, while her marriage with Ethan is safe and familiar, lately safe has been feeling a hell of a lot like stuck.

Briggs Davenport, her brooding assistant principal with a marriage focused more on routine than connection, is just as restless. On paper, he has it a house on the lake, a respected position, a picture-perfect wife. But in reality, he can't remember the last time he felt truly fulfilled.

So when a chance run-in at a dive bar and a heated moment at a school dance turn into deep conversations and lingering glances, Paisley and Briggs find themselves teetering on the edge of something that could shatter the lives they've worked so hard to build—or finally give them what they've both been longing for.

Told in alternating points of view, Before It Was Us is an emotionally raw story about questioning the life you're supposed to want and finding the courage to choose yourself, even if that means breaking some rules in the process.