Nurturing Hope

Desiree Adler, known as Desi, makes her living as a photographer and content creator, and she has no interest in starting a relationship. Her days are busy, her family is unconventional but caring, and she is also raising Hope, a teenager she has taken in as a foster parent. Romance looks like a risk she can do without, so Desi has built a steady routine that keeps her heart out of it.

Her sister refuses to drop the matter, and after arranging a blind date, she finally agrees to attend. Desi decides it will be quicker to get through one evening than to keep arguing. The date goes about as badly as she expected. Afterward, though, her thoughts keep returning to Soledad Reyes, and Desi cannot understand why.

Finding balance will require more than ignoring that question. Desi must help Hope face the difficulties she carried into the home, and she must also examine her own assumptions about race, power, and identity as they appear in her life today.