Her first wedding broke her mother’s heart. Her second is about to become a magazine spread.

When junior editor Cordie McGuire blurts out a pitch to save a colleague, her ruthless boss at Southern Showcase seizes on the one wedding Cordie never meant to offer: her own. The feature could win Cordie the senior editor job she has chased for years. All she has to do is move the wedding up six weeks and hand it over to Rosalind Porter.

There’s just one problem. This wedding was supposed to be Cordie’s apology.

Ten years ago, reeling from her father’s death, Cordie ran off and left her mother to grieve alone. She hasn’t been home since. A small ceremony at the family home in the Charleston Lowcountry was meant to make amends, with vows alongside the live oak where her grandparents once said “I do” and Grandmother McGuire’s hummingbird cake waiting on the front porch.

Then Rosalind arrives by helicopter with a design team and no intention of asking permission to implement her high-glamor vision. Within days, the wallpaper Cordie’s grandmother saved for months to buy is coming down in strips, and every time Cordie says yes to Rosalind, her mother, Tallulah, hears her saying no to the family. Tallulah has guarded this house since her husband died, and now the only person on her side is the handyman who keeps finding reasons to stay—and who may be interested in restoring more than the house. When Rosalind crashes the bridal tea Tallulah’s friends throw for Cordie, even steady fiancé Gabe starts to lose patience.

Cordie can take the job or keep her promise. She chose wrong once, and she won’t get another chance to choose right.