The Sugarhouse Bakery (A Sweet Fake-Dating Single Dad Small Town Romance (Maplewood Ridge Romance Series Book 2))

Ethan Torres is about to lose the most important thing in his life: his seven-year-old daughter, Lily. Three years after his wife's tragic death, Ethan's former in-laws are suing for custody, claiming he's unfit. Too many work hours on his struggling maple farm. Too isolated in rural Vermont. No family support. No partner to share the load. On paper, they're right. In his heart, he knows Lily belongs with him. But the custody hearing is eight weeks away, and he's running out of options. Enter Sienna Carter, Lily's warm and optimistic second-grade teacher who also runs The Sugarhouse Bakery on Main Street. She's escaping her own past: a failed business partnership in Chicago and an ex-fiancé who betrayed her at every turn. Starting fresh in Maplewood Ridge was supposed to be about building a life on her own terms. Proving she didn't need anyone. Then Ethan breaks down during a parent-teacher conference, and Sienna makes an impulsive offer that changes everything: a fake engagement. She'll move in, play the devoted fiancée, give him the stable family structure the courts want to see. Eight weeks of pretending, then they go their separate ways. Simple. Clean. Mutually beneficial. Except nothing about living with Ethan Torres is simple. Not the way he loves his daughter with his whole heart. Not the late-night conversations that make her forget this is supposed to be temporary. Not the way her heart races when he smiles, rare but beautiful. And definitely not the way Lily calls her "almost-mom" with such hope in her eyes. As Thanksgiving approaches and the custody hearing looms, the lines between fake and real blur dangerously. What started as an arrangement becomes morning coffee and bedtime stories. Becomes stolen glances and accidental touches. Becomes falling in love when she absolutely shouldn't. But Ethan's carrying guilt from his first marriage and terror of failing again. Sienna's afraid of wanting something and losing it. And Lily's already lost one mother. When the truth about their fake engagement threatens to destroy everything, they'll have to decide if love born from desperation can become something real. Something lasting. Something worth fighting for. Sometimes the best families are the ones you choose. And sometimes choosing means risking everything, including your heart.