Skating Home – Summer 2027
Ten years ago, Nina Taylor’s world shattered when her husband walked out without warning – leaving her with a newborn, two young children, and a crumbling sense of self. Since then, she’s held everything together on her own: the bills, the parenting, the tears shed in secret. Tucked away in a small town in New York’s Hudson Valley, she’s built a life that’s steady, if solitary – her only escape found gliding across the frozen lake on skates.
But when a nest of chipmunks behind the fireplace brings local handyman Hank into her home – and into her heart – everything begins to shift. Hank is kind, funny, and understands loneliness in ways Nina hadn’t expected. As their connection deepens, so do Nina’s fears. With a daughter recovering from her own trauma, a son leaving for college, a high energy 10-year-old, and an aging mother in need of care, Nina’s instinct is always to manage, control, and persevere. Can she open her life to someone new without unraveling everything she’s worked so hard to protect?
What unfolds is a slow-burning, emotionally honest love story – interwoven with the relentless pace of modern motherhood and the private longings of a woman who still wants more. Nina must decide: will she keep skating through life alone, or is it time to stop micromanaging everything and come home to herself? Skating Home is a heartfelt novel about motherhood, middle age, and the quiet triumph of learning to love again.
Cynthia Hayes 