"Welcome to Walker's Pub, where a fork in the road is always on the menu."

Laura Howard rolled her eyes at the words plastered next to the OPEN sign hanging in the window. Her sister was totally to blame for this detour to Brooklyn when where she should be was somewhere halfway across the world with only a backpack and travel book for company. Shaking her head in dismay, she looked down at Micky, who covered his eyes with a paw in solidarity. At least her new companion was loyal-unlike her family. If her mother happened to be right about her life being in a holding pattern, she would never admit it. Besides, her father understood her need for space, or he had until recently. Still, for all of their interference, no one seemed to know the answer to the question Laura had been asking herself for the last ten years, ever since the love of her life tragically died.

Nick Kelly was no stranger to grief either. Like so many others, his family paid the ultimate price on 9/11. But no one had ever accused a Kelly of being hopeless. From the rubble, Nick had built a career he loved and done his best to honor those who'd gone before him. If he longed for more than his slice of the world every now and then, no one would fault him-except his loud, nosy, Irish-Italian family. Nick sighed, killing the engine on his bike and the heavy bass coming through his earbuds at the same time. He took in the brick and mortar before him and registered the familiar words splashed across the window of Walker's Public House. Nick's lips inched up at the corner, more smirk than smile, as he sauntered through the door to meet his date.

What happens when a recipe-wielding globetrotter and a firefighter who causes five-alarm sensations keep crossing paths? No one ever said the road to true love was smooth, but a fork in the road might just be what Nick and Laura need to find themselves and each other.

Walker's Pub is Book 1 in The Places We Belong Series.