Growing up in a small coastal town in Maine,
Julianna (Juls) Wheaton thought she would live and die within the town's city limits, and growing up, she didn't care. She had met the love of her life in middle school, and thought she could be happy living the same life as her mother; living in the ocean side cottage she grew up in and taking care of guests who stayed at the family's bed and breakfast. It wasn't until her father was diagnosed with cancer that her dreams began to change. When her father passed away, Juls knew she had a mission in life and it wasn't catering to the needs of overanxious city folk in need of a break. Her mission was clear, but that path to it wasn't. She knew what she had to do, but it meant leaving behind the only boy she ever loved and the only home she'd ever known.
She stayed quiet about her plans until she could no longer keep them a secret. On her eighteenth birthday, just weeks before her high school graduation, Juls broke the news to her mother. After graduation, her destiny would no longer reside in their little town, but thousands of miles away at college, and then medical school to become an oncologist. Her mother was supportive, but Juls kept the news a secret from the love of her life until the day before she planned to leave. On their last day together, Juls spent every second with him, silently working up her courage to tell him that she was leaving him to become a doctor. As they said their goodbyes for the night, Juls remained silent as he walked back to his car to head back to his house. She couldn't tell him she was leaving, not to his face. Instead, she wrote him a letter, leaving it tucked into his front door as she drove out of town the next morning.
Leaving him behind was the hardest thing she had to do, and for the first five years, she kept to herself, avoiding dating and men. It was during the second year of medical school that she met a man, one who reminded her of her first love. Cautious, and believing that she didn't deserve a second chance at love, Juls and Sean dated for a full year before things started to get serious. Over the next two years they moved in together and by the end of their third year together got engaged. Money was tight with Juls going to school and Sean the only one working to support both of them, but they managed to have a small wedding. Life was good for them and it got even better once Juls graduated from medical school and landed a job with a thriving medical practice. They were living the dream; great jobs, great friends, and a happy marriage.
All of that came to a screeching halt with a phone call. Juls' mother was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. In the early stages of the illness, she could still function, but she was struggling to keep the family business alive. Sean didn't hesitate to put in his notice to move across the country with his wife to help her take care of both her mother and the bed and breakfast that had kept the family afloat for decades. Juls didn't think too much about uprooting her life either, not until she stepped back into town to discover that her first love was there, married and with a family of his own.