Salt and Mercy

When a miraculous olive tree pushes up overnight in a small river town, Iris—a stubbornly practical woman who believes in receipts more than revelations—volunteers to keep it safe. The problem isn't wonder; it's people. A polished developer wants the tree "relocated." A lobbyist wants loopholes. And Nemesis herself is on the ridge, quietly auditing every choice. Then there's the man in Iris's doorway—a modern echo of a Greek threshold god—who can warm a hinge, still a riot, and turn a house into a haven. Desire arrives, but in this town love obeys rules: two hands, one hinge, no shortcuts. Together, Iris and her not-quite-mortal partner build a protocol instead of a spectacle: rope and posted hours, watchers and ledgers, a periscope for small faces, and a recipe of everyday mercies that add up to real protection. As pressure mounts—from bad-faith "nonlethal deterrents" to a spring flood that tests every boundary—Iris must spend the one power she swore to save and pay the honest price for using it. What begins as a miracle becomes a movement: stewardship as policy, fairness made repeatable, and a romance that chooses room over rescue. Salt and Mercy is an adult contemporary fantasy romance where Greek myth slips into city hall, boredom becomes grace, and "later, on purpose" turns into a vow. Perfect for readers who love slow-burn heat with closed-door intimacy, found family, civic hope, and myth woven through the everyday.