A Layer of Love by Kelly Collins

She’s broke and bored. He’s busy and burdened. Can they create something delicious together or are they a recipe for disaster?

Single mother Courtney Sweet craves more than cartoons and T-ball practice. She needs adult companionship. Looking to meet someone she can have a grownup conversation with, she joins an early morning exercise group, only to find that the women aren’t interested in adding a new friend, and the sole man in attendance is so rude she nicknames him Mr. Mean. When her son’s school summons her for an emergency, she happily abandons her quest and falls back into her role as parent, peacemaker, and protector.
After the death of his wife, Richard Shipton is buried under the weight of singlehandedly raising a daughter, retaining his job, and finding a way to move on alone. One crisis seems to follow another, so when the school calls and says his daughter has been involved in an incident, it’s not a surprise. However, seeing her with no front teeth is. When the parent of the perpetrator turns out to be the awful woman from his exercise class, he’s happy to make her pay … for his daughter’s dental work and the hit to his ego.
The two find themselves thrown together by circumstances, only to discover the line between love and hate is as thin as spun sugar.
Will the stresses that brought them together cause their relationship to fall flat, or can the layers of their lives blend to create something sweet and beautiful?