She stayed. He left. Now the town they both love needs them to save the place where goodbye ruined everything.

Mara Dacey knows every inch of Brinewick Station: the fogged windows, the unreliable announcement board, the commuter coffee, and the diner booth where she learned Cal Vardis was leaving town without her. Thirteen years later, she is the woman everyone counts on to keep the station running—which means she has no time for old heartbreak, especially when the state threatens to cut service and put Brinewick’s future at risk.

Then Cal steps off the train.

Now a coastal structural engineer, Cal has been hired to assess whether the station and its old freight shed can be saved. He came back to do a job, tell the truth, and leave before the town remembers too much. But Brinewick remembers everything. So does Mara.

Forced into late-night inspections, tense committee meetings, and too many emotionally dangerous breakfasts at Latchkey Lunch & News, Mara and Cal discover the years apart didn’t kill the spark between them. It only taught them how much damage silence can do.

To save the station, Cal has to stop hiding behind professional distance. To trust him again, Mara has to believe that needing someone does not mean being left behind.

Titles in the Brinewick Station After Dark series include:  Last Train to You ~ Delayed by Desire ~ Platform Rules ~ Hot Under the Station Lights ~ Stranded with the Local ~ Home on the 5:42 ~

This story may contain language, violence, and/or sexual situations intended for an adult 18+ audience.

Title:  Last Train to You
Series:  Brinewick Station After Dark #1
Author:  Judith Harrison
Published:  August 19, 2026
My Rating:  4.5 stars

Last Train to You begins the Brinewick Station After Dark series with the unexpected, and perhaps unwanted, reunion between Mara and Cal.  Thirteen years have passed since Cal chose to leave his small hometown… and Mara behind.  She believed they had a future to work toward; he chose differently.  Cal’s return to town, and his decisions that will put the station’s future in his capable hands, will bring them back together, with far too many memories.

I believe in second chances.  I firmly believe people can change, grow up, and regret decisions made in their youth.  Yet that doesn’t negate the pain those decisions caused someone being asked to trust again.  So I understood Mara’s hesitation, despite the feelings between them that never really disappeared.  Last Train to You is a well-written, emotional journey through past love, as two people who obviously belong together reconcile their past with whatever the future holds.  I loved this small town where everyone knows your business, often before you do.  And I look forward to some of these secondary characters reappearing throughout the series, or having their own stories told.  If this sounds like your kind of small-town contemporary romance, then you’d enjoy Mara and Cal’s romance.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the author or the author’s team via Booksprout, and I sincerely thank them for their trust. I chose to leave a review with my personal opinion of this book.*

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