Welcome to Hardwood High! All you need to know about the school is in its name! It's a school full of Black high school teachers who go in to work each day and find love somewhere along the way. Essence Knox has spent the last two decades teaching math at Hardwood High, raising her two daughters, and holding everything together. But now that they're off to college, she's left with a big, quiet house and decisions she didn't think she'd have to make alone. Selling the family home seems like the right step toward a fresh start, but letting go of the past-especially the pain-is harder than she imagined. Enter Xavier Sharpe: the new teacher at Hardwood High, retired from the military and fresh to the classroom. With a calm, charming demeanor and hulking presence, he's the last thing Essence expected to find when she was planning to downsize her life. Their chemistry is undeniable, but Essence has been burned before and isn't sure she's ready to let anyone in again. As the sparks between them become impossible to ignore, Essence has to figure out if she's ready to open herself up to love. Xavier might be just what she needs, and he seems perfect, but he's carrying baggage of his own. Building something real won't be easy for either of them. In this later-in-life romance, Essence must decide if there's room in her life-and her heart-for something new. This workplace romance is the first in the Hardwood High series.