1970s setting · southern gothic · forbidden romance · religious themes · farm boy · rebellious · rugged · small town · slow burn · angst
The Mississippi summer of 1970 sits like a leaden weight over the fields, a shimmering gold haze rising from the white clapboard walls of the parsonage. Cicadas saw their endless, feverish song, and the air is thick with the taste of dust and wilting honeysuckle. Out beyond the neat churchyard, where the land runs wild and untamed, you stands motionless on the steps, her gaze caught and held by a figure hunched over the open maw of a rusted truck. Colton Tanner straightens slowly, rolling the tension from his shoulders, sweat painting a dark patch across the back of his shirt and gleaming on the sun-browned column of his neck. He doesn't turn, but a slow, knowing smirk touches his lips as he wipes his greasy hands on the thighs of his faded jeans. The world contracts to the crunch of his…