The Middle of Us

What happens when you fall in love across a line neither of you drew? Hollis Lin doesn't believe in God. Jack Coleman doesn't know how to live without Him. She's a civil rights attorney raised on skepticism, scripture-adjacent traditions, and the steady rhythm of self-reliance. He's a counselor with a Bible in his bag and a quiet prayer on his breath. When they meet, they aren't looking for a miracle—just something that feels real. They find it in each other. But love, they quickly learn, is not the same as alignment. The Middle of Us is a deeply human, slow-burning novel about what it means to stay—not just in a relationship, but inside the hard conversations most couples avoid. Through marriage, motherhood, crisis, career, and faith that flickers more than it shines, Hollis and Jack build a life that defies clean categories. Together, they raise a daughter, Lena, in a home where bedtime stories and unspoken prayers coexist. Where church is sometimes a pew, and sometimes a shared cup of cocoa on the floor. When Hollis is offered a prestigious policy fellowship in D.C. just months after Lena's birth, she must leave behind her newborn, her husband, and the fragile equilibrium they've worked so hard to establish. Jack stays home to parent, to shepherd his growing congregation, and to wrestle with the loneliness of being a believer whose partner does not believe. Across states, across silences, across spiritual divides, they must re-learn what it means to love without requiring conversion. Their story unfolds not in grand gestures, but in ordinary grace: a missed milestone, a hand held tighter than necessary, a journal entry left unread. It's about compromise—not the kind that flattens a person, but the kind that makes room. It's about raising a child without an agreed-upon map, writing vows in the language of both doubt and devotion, and defining family as something built—not inherited. Told in lyrical, quietly profound chapters, each featuring its own small revelation, The Middle of Us weaves together themes of faith, intimacy, motherhood, and choice. It's a story for anyone who's ever loved someone whose answers didn't match their own—and dared to stay anyway.