At twenty-five, Zoë Thomas knows the difference between good sex and bad. Love, however, is another story.

Raised by a mother who accepted the bare minimum from men and made settling seem like a woman’s fate, Zoë knows exactly what kind of life she doesn't want. But when her long-term boyfriend—the only man who's ever made her feel truly desired—walks away because of her closeness with her best friend, Isaias, Zoë is left reeling. Then her mother is diagnosed with stage-three cancer, forcing Zoë into the role of caregiver for the woman she's spent years keeping at arm's length.

As chemotherapy and newfound tenderness draw mother and daughter closer, Isaias is there through it all—patient, steady, and without expectation—calling her “my heart” and making it dangerously easy to imagine something beyond friendship. But loneliness has a way of sending her back to familiar arms. When her ex resurfaces with I miss you texts and a body she still knows by heart, Zoë slips into old patterns just as Isaias starts dating someone new. With her mother's condition worsening and Isaias drifting out of reach, Zoë must confront the possibility that she's inherited more than her mother's cheekbones.

If she keeps settling for pieces of love, she’ll lose the man who showed her she was worthy of more.