With his father's blessing, against his mother's wishes, and without the woman he'd thought to someday call his wife, Eli Jackson left his hometown and the family farm behind in pursuit of a career beyond hay bales and cows. For ten years he's served his country and served it well with multiple tours to the Middle East courtesy of the Marine Corps. In all that time, he rarely returned home and never for any great length of time, preferring not to hear the worst about himself through a rumor he in fact started. But after missing his ten year class reunion, something calls Eli back to the snowiest Christmas Missouri has seen in years. Never did he expect that literally in the midst of the storm, the girl he believed he could never have would slip back into his life. Calliope Barnwell never thought for a moment she was in Eli Jackson's league. Sure, they mingled in the same social circles in high school, but she knew as well as anyone she was there by default. After hearing how he treated his girlfriend before leaving for boot camp, Calliope wondered if she ever really knew him at all, even if her contact with him had been limited to her observations from afar and she pushes him out of her mind. Well, for the most part. His fly by night visits home only serve to remind her of what she knew she could never have and the fact she actually misses him befuddles her. Yet one winter's night, he manages to not only plant himself in her path, he figures out almost all her dirty little secrets in a matter of hours. Then in that voice as smooth as aged bourbon, Eli starts talking about the space that exists between being just friends and more. Calliope wants more. Eli's plan to help her recover from her fall from grace seems sound, but sometimes more comes with a hefty price tag and after spanning that space with a bridge of lies which bows under the stress and threatens to collapse, they find themselves questioning if the cost is worth it.