Her first attempt at 'happily ever after' did not end quite that way. Having survived that experience, Julia is content with her current circumstance. A single mom, she's focused on getting her daughter through college, keeping a roof over her head, and trying to stay ahead of the bills. She is not looking for complications, crisis, or catastrophe. The word 'man' in her experience is synonymous with those words. So why did she agree to a blind date? She has no clue. Sitting in a restaurant, waiting for a man she does not really want to see but who she agreed to meet to get her well-meaning friend off her back, she makes a snap decision to get out of Dodge before the guy actually shows. He was late anyway. But before she translated thought to task, he showed up. No not the date, but somebody definitely more delicious. One look and she's tempted to court catastrophe one more time.
 John only agreed to this date to shut up his sister-in-law. He'd even used a pseudonym to protect his identity. But all thoughts of incognito take off when he sees Julia Robinson. He'd always had a thing for braids. And that coupled with flawless cocoa skin, oriental eyes, and a shyly beautiful smile...he was a goner. From their conversation, John senses that while Julia is interested in him, there is a reserve, wariness, and sometimes tension in her towards him. He wonders at the vibe she's generating and determines to discover the cause. Getting her number is like pulling teeth, but tenacity is his middle name. When he unearths the reason for her reluctance at a relationship, he wants to shelter her from all harm; and the tenderness in his heart towards her blossoms into something greater. John wants to shower her with all the love and caring that she deserves. But what he wants and what she will allow are two different things. Trust, her trust, is something he will have to earn, and he sets out to obtain it with a sweet determination that has Julia thinking that 'happily ever after' might be possible once in this lifetime.