Hallpass by L.V. Brooks

Juniper Haddock didn’t expect freedom to feel so… lonely. Freshly divorced and a little too tipsy, the last thing she needed was to run straight into Ansel Barlowe — the man who’d once been her childhood crush, her “hallpass,” the fantasy taped to her teenage bedroom wall.

Only Ansel isn’t the star she remembers. He’s older now, worn down, a little lost himself. Filming in her quiet town to try and salvage his career, he’s not a heart throb anymore — just a man trying to piece himself back together.
What begins as a rocky friendship quickly spirals out of control. A party mishaps turns into a fake relationship — his way to keep the gossip at bay, her way to distract herself from heartbreak — slowly becomes something neither of them expected. In cramped beds and quiet kitchens, between whispered confessions and the comfort of simply being seen, Juniper and Ansel find something steadier than fame or fantasy.

But small towns gossip, Hollywood is merciless, and neither of them can outrun the fear that this fragile, impossible thing will shatter. To move forward, Juniper must risk her heart again, and Ansel must prove he’s more than the myth she once worshiped.