What Love Leaves Behind (The Always Series Book 3)

What Love Leaves Behind

Six months after her divorce, Brielle Johnson is building a new life as a single mother and boutique owner in Atlanta. But freedom comes with its own weight—especially when the past still lingers. Her ex-husband Marcus, once emotionally distant, is slowly becoming the man she always hoped he’d be. And DeShawn, her first love, has reemerged with a quiet consistency that feels like more than friendship.

As old feelings resurface and new possibilities arise, Brielle finds herself at a crossroads—between healing, hope, and the people who have shaped her story. Set against the backdrop of Southern city streets and a windswept island morning, What Love Leaves Behind explores the delicate lines between letting go and holding on, between the love we outgrow and the love that grows with us.

Available now in paperback, eBook, and audiobook. Choose the love story that stays with you.

Excerpt from the book

The ring cut through the room like a crack of thunder.

Brielle stared at the screen.

Marcus!!

Her finger hovered.

Not because she wanted to answer.

But because she didn’t know what it would mean if she didn’t.

Behind her, DeShawn was still.

Waiting.

Not pushing. Not pleading. Just waiting.

“Take it,” he said quietly, grabbing his jacket from the back of the chair. “You need to.”

“DeShawn…” she said, voice shaky.

But he was already at the door.

He didn’t slam it.

Didn’t say goodbye.

Just walked out, calm and heavy, like he knew that moment would either define them… or be the end of them.

Brielle stood in the middle of the room with her phone in one hand and her heart in the other.

She answered.

“Hello?”

Marcus’s voice was rushed, breathless. “Bri…I know you’re not home. I know where you are. I—I saw your confirmation email. I shouldn’t have, but I did.

She closed her eyes.

“Are you with him?” he asked. Not angry. Just tired.

She didn’t answer.

“Brielle,” he said, his voice cracking. “Just tell me the truth.”

And that’s what broke her.

Because he didn’t ask her are you cheating on me?

He asked, “Are you gone?”

She sank onto the edge of the bed, staring at the door DeShawn had just walked through.

“I’m trying to figure out who I am when I’m not drowning,” she whispered.

“And he… he makes me feel like I’m allowed to breathe.”

Silence.

Then. “I can’t fight someone who gives you peace,” Marcus said. “But I need to know. Are we done?”

She didn’t know.

She really didn’t.

And that scared her more than anything else.

The air in New Orleans felt heavier than usual.

DeShawn walked with no destination, just hands in his pockets and his heart dragging behind like a weight he never asked for.

Five years.

Five years of loving a woman who belonged to someone else.

Not in a reckless, thrill-seeking kind of way. But in that deep, aching, soul-level way.

The kind that waits. The kind that watches. The kind that hopes.

He knew what he signed up for.

He knew Brielle was married. Knew there were kids, a house, routines he could never be a part of. But he also knew the sound of her laugh when she didn’t have to shrink.

He knew how her voice changed when she was seen.

He knew what it felt like to love her in a space she couldn’t stay in but kept coming back to anyway.

He’d told himself it was enough.

One weekend a month.

Late-night calls.

Soft moments in the margins.

But tonight?

Tonight, he realized… he wanted more than her margins.

He wanted all of her.

And maybe that made him selfish.

But it also made him honest.

“DeShawn!”

Her voice hit him in the back like a memory and a prayer all at once.

He stopped walking but didn’t turn around.

Footsteps approached. Slow. Careful.

She came up beside him, breath uneven. Eyes wide. Vulnerable.

“I didn’t want him to call,” she said softly. “I didn’t want to answer. But I did.”

He nodded.

“I told him the truth,” she added. “About you. About what you are to me.”

He looked at her then.