" It had been ages since he’d noticed—really noticed—a woman. Seven years, in fact. But standing by the grave yesterday afternoon, doing his best to listen to what the pastor was saying, his attention had repeatedly been drawn to Miss Ashford. And in the space of a breath, his thoughts had skimmed the years and had landed upon a well-worn page of his life, one dog-eared from handling, tattered around the edges. Sort of like him. It was a page from a chapter he’d been certain would end up defining him forever. That was, until the past few days—when he’d been given reason to rethink otherwise. The funny thing was . . . the object of his interest didn’t seem to have the least interest in him. Or if she did, she was doing an awful good job of hiding it. "

― Tamera Alexander , The Inheritance