Three-paragraph version: Briana and Jacob are ER doctors who get off on the wrong foot due to a misunderstanding. Jacob writes Briana a letter to clear the air, and Briana soon writes back and the two become friends. Briana is recently divorced and taking care of her brother who needs a kidney donor. Jacob decides to get tested, is a perfect match, agrees to donate and the surgery is scheduled. Meanwhile, Jacob’s ex-girlfriend is about to marry his younger brother. He asks Briana to pretend to be his girlfriend to attend pre-wedding events and the wedding itself so his family will think he’s okay.
The two fall for each other as they pretend to be in a relationship and move in together. They both want more but Briana thinks Jacob isn’t over his ex, and Jacob thinks Briana is interested in someone else. They eventually work things out and admit their feelings for each other, but Briana gets pregnant and freaks out. Briana’s ex cheated on her while she was pregnant (though she miscarried), and her father left her mother when her mother was pregnant. Briana tells Jacob she can’t be in a relationship. Jacob’s mom tells him that it’s a trauma response and advises him to be reassuring, patient and consistent with her and to just keep showing up for her. Meanwhile, Briana’s best friend Alexis and mother encourage her to have faith in Jacob and to be brave.
Before Jacob’s surgery, he gives Briana his diary to read so she can understand his feelings for her. Afterwards, Briana agrees to move back in with him and to give them a shot. Two years later, they have a daughter, Ava, and get married.
Briana, an ER doctor, is recently divorced and taking care of her brother Benny who needs a kidney transplant. When a new doctor, Jacob, joins their team, there’s immediate friction between then, but Jacob quickly clears things up by writing Briana a thoughtful, handwritten letter. Soon, the two are exchanging letters back and forth and having lunch together in the supply closet.
Jacob’s ex-girlfriend Amy who broke up with him eight months ago is marrying his brother Jeremiah soon, and in order to mollify his family’s concerns, he tells them that he has a girlfriend. When his sister comes to visit, he sees Jacob and Briana together, and his family soon thinks they’re together.
Jacob decides to get tested to see if he’s a match for Benny, and when he is, he decides to donate his kidney. It’s supposed to by anonymous, but the chief of their department, Gibson, lets slip that Jacob is the donor to Briana, who is immeasurably grateful. Benny has been struggling with depression since his diagnosis, and it completely turns things around for him.
Jacob asks Briana to pretend to be his girlfriend to the wedding and other family events leading up to the wedding, and Briana readily agrees. Briana is pretty jaded about men because of her ex-husband cheating on her and from her childhood when her dad left their family. However, they’re attending family events together and they’re both realizing they want something more. Jacob has a lot of social anxiety but he finds that Briana is good at helping him feel comfortable.
At Amy and Jeremiah’s engagement party, Briana and Jacob attend together and manage to have a good time. However, Briana overhears a conversation between Amy and Jacob, and she takes it to mean that Jacob is not over Amy. Meanwhile, Jacob has realized he’s over Amy and wants to be with Briana in a real way. Jacob asks Briana on a real date, but she says no, assuming he’s just trying to get over Amy.
They continue their charade, and end up moving in together for the time being. Briana gets a visit at the hospital from an old friend, Levi, who has moved back to town because he’s seeing a mutual friend of theirs. When Briana starts hanging out with Levi, Jacob thinks that it’s potentially romantic in nature and gets jealous. When Briana and Levi start texting a lot, it drives Jacob crazy and he has a panic attack. It happens to be while Amy and Jeremiah announce that they’re having a baby. Briana goes to comfort him and they have sex, but Briana gets upset afterwards thinking that she shouldn’t have had sex with him while he’s in love with someone else.
When they get home, they finally talk and each admit that they’re in love with each other and clear up any misunderstandings. Things go great until they run into Briana’s ex-husband Nick and his affair partner, Kelly, who is pregnant.
Briana has also realized that she’s pregnant. Seeing them and knowing that she’s pregnant, Briana pulls away from Jacob. She’s reminded of how the two men in her life, Nick and her father, both left during pregnancies. She tells Jacob that she doesn’t know how to be in a relationship with him and that she’s just going to push him away. Jacob’s mom, a relationship expert, explains to him that this is a trauma response, and she tells him that he just needs to be showing up and being consistent and reminding her that he loves her.
When the day of the surgery arrives, Briana’s best friend Alexis talks to Briana and tells her to try to be brave. Briana goes to see Jacob beforehand and he offers her his diary. When she reads it, she sees all his thoughts about her as he fell in love with her. Afterwards, Briana realizes she should try to have some courage and tells him that she wants to move in together, and she apologizes for getting scared.
In the Epilogue, Briana and Jacob now have a child, Ava. They have a wedding and are married.
For more detail, see the full Chapter-by-Chapter Summary.
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