Oil Barrons Series by Marie Johnston

I had a perfect life. School teacher. Married to my high school sweetheart. Little starter house that we called charming but was really just old. All I needed was the two-point-five kids and I’d be living my dream. Then my husband died.After the funeral, I had a breakdown that lasted for a month…or twelve. But now I’m reemerging, healing, and finding my way. It’s time to learn who I am, and whether or not I can fix a leaky sink... moreI had a perfect life. School teacher. Married to my high school sweetheart. Little starter house that we called charming but was really just old. All I needed was the two-point-five kids and I’d be living my dream. Then my husband died.After the funeral, I had a breakdown that lasted for a month…or twelve. But now I’m reemerging, healing, and finding my way. It’s time to learn who I am, and whether or not I can fix a leaky sink. And by my side the entire time is my husband’s best friend Liam Barron. The single dad knows a thing or two about personal struggles, and about how to replace faucets.With Liam, I feel alive again. Confident. Capable. Liam has become my best friend too. Except if my parents, my in-laws, and the rest of the town had any say, I’d stay far away from the former bad boy. How do I tell them what’s so hard to admit to myself? That I’m starting to look at him like he’s more than a friend. That the heat in his eyes when he looks at me is also far beyond friendly. That like it or not, I’m ready to move on, and I want to do it with him. less

Have you ever gotten married without telling anyone? I did. Not telling anyone was the easy part. I had moved to a big city, had no friends, and wasn’t speaking to my family.I tried the whole “fake it ’til you make it” thing. I was the “fake” part and my husband, Archer, was concerned only with the “making it” part. When I got a call about a family emergency, I walked out on my hot-in-a-suit ambitious husband and my superficial life and ran back home to the family ranch... moreHave you ever gotten married without telling anyone? I did. Not telling anyone was the easy part. I had moved to a big city, had no friends, and wasn’t speaking to my family.I tried the whole “fake it ’til you make it” thing. I was the “fake” part and my husband, Archer, was concerned only with the “making it” part. When I got a call about a family emergency, I walked out on my hot-in-a-suit ambitious husband and my superficial life and ran back home to the family ranch. And I stayed, ignoring my husband’s attempts to reach me—and I still didn’t tell anyone I was married.Then a year and a half later, I found Archer standing on my property, looking like a titanium rod in a pile of rusty nails. He came to end things but ended up staying to learn who he really married—the shy corporate woman with a perfect blowout or the sarcastic country girl with mud on her boots.The longer he’s around, the more I see I wasn’t the only one who was disingenuous. The suit is gone, and my city slicker spouse is fixing fence, diving into muddy stock ponds to save calves, and calling in favors to get the cattle enough hay for the winter.Yet none of that changes that my family needs me, and I’m not abandoning them again. It doesn’t change the fact that the career Archer worked so hard to build is over a thousand miles away in Texas. Or that the life I want is exactly what he’s run from. The only thing we’re doing is making it harder to sign the divorce papers. less

DATING IS MY LAST PRIORITY when I move my kids to a small town after a sudden divorce. It’ll be easier to be a single, working mom of four, and I won’t have to watch my ex with my former coworker. So when I get away for a night to throw myself a nice little pity party in a neighboring small town, I don’t expect to get hit on by the tastiest guy I’ve ever seen.We talk about everything but the important stuff. I live a little and steam up his back seat windows... moreDATING IS MY LAST PRIORITY when I move my kids to a small town after a sudden divorce. It’ll be easier to be a single, working mom of four, and I won’t have to watch my ex with my former coworker. So when I get away for a night to throw myself a nice little pity party in a neighboring small town, I don’t expect to get hit on by the tastiest guy I’ve ever seen.We talk about everything but the important stuff. I live a little and steam up his back seat windows. I’ll never see him again, so why not? But I forgot what a small world Coal Haven can be.I DON'T LIKE MY REPUTATION of being a commitment-phobe, but I earned it. So why can’t I forget the woman who slipped out of the back seat of my pickup—and my life—in the most effortless way possible? I barely got her first name.When my cousin coerces me into coaching an elementary school football team, I give in. But I come face-to-face with my hookup…and she’s my worst nightmare wrapped in all my wildest fantasies. A single mom with no time for me or my BS. Maybe it’s time to get more than her first name. less

Stetson Barron has been the center of my world since I was twelve. But with our ten-year age difference and my quirky nature, I didn’t think I was more to him than his little sister’s what color is her hair this month best friend. Until one hot summer night when I climbed him like a water tower at his cousin’s wedding.And then he didn’t talk to me for weeks after.A pink plus sign and an OMG what am I going to do? later, the trailer I lived in with my mom burned down... moreStetson Barron has been the center of my world since I was twelve. But with our ten-year age difference and my quirky nature, I didn’t think I was more to him than his little sister’s what color is her hair this month best friend. Until one hot summer night when I climbed him like a water tower at his cousin’s wedding.And then he didn’t talk to me for weeks after.A pink plus sign and an OMG what am I going to do? later, the trailer I lived in with my mom burned down. Stetson showed up at the ER like a country knight on a diesel-powered steed, arranged a place for my mom to stay, and took me home with him.The weeks of radio silence after our hookup left me wary. I’d been into Stetson for too long not to lose myself in him given half the chance, and now that his attention’s fully on me, I’m sinking. My mom was in the same place as me once, and I refuse to be an obligation to a guy, even if he’s the man of my dreams. less

Trust fund? Check. Plans to restore an old train foundry into a brewery? Check. Grumpy project manager? Sigh . . . check.From Marie Johnston comes a small town, grumpy/sunshine romance.If I wanted to deal with a man just like my uptight dad, I would’ve told my parents what my brewery plans were. Only I didn’t tell anyone. I waited for my trust fund to deliver once I turned twenty-five, and I bought the old train foundry I’d been eyeing for years. Then McCoy Cunningham shows up... moreTrust fund? Check. Plans to restore an old train foundry into a brewery? Check. Grumpy project manager? Sigh . . . check.From Marie Johnston comes a small town, grumpy/sunshine romance.If I wanted to deal with a man just like my uptight dad, I would’ve told my parents what my brewery plans were. Only I didn’t tell anyone. I waited for my trust fund to deliver once I turned twenty-five, and I bought the old train foundry I’d been eyeing for years. Then McCoy Cunningham shows up.I’m told he’s the best. He’s older than me and knows both sides of the business—the restoration and the brewing. But all I’ve gotten from him are scowls and dismissive grunts. McCoy might think he’s the expert, he might look at me like I should be in diapers with pigtails, but he’s wrong if he thinks he can bulldoze me.All it takes is one look. One time I catch him eyeing me with something other than disdain. One conversation where we’re geeking out over yeast strains and hops. One kiss that leads to more.I promised myself I’d never settle for a guarded man who thinks he knows everything, especially one who won’t put me before business. And after what McCoy's been through, he’s all about work. No personal entanglements. The last thing I need is to be left with flat beer and a broken heart.Make Me Exhale is a standalone novel in the Oil Barrons series. less