Lavender Smoke – Paperback

She had a plan. Use the teacher to get closer to the girl in the next bunk.

In Jnhe, a frozen river city where the radiators clank awake every October, Wren is a shy gamer with Deadpool jokes for armor and one impossible crush: Sunny, her tall, loud, tea-drinking roommate who hugs everyone and reads romance under the blanket.

Wren doesn’t know how to get near her. Then she sees how Sunny looks at Max-their American oral-English teacher, who writes stories he won’t read aloud in class. So Wren makes friends with him on purpose. Smash Bros at midnight. Hot pot off campus. A Switch gift she pretends she doesn’t need.

Max knows exactly what she’s doing. He has one rule: nothing with a student he’s still teaching.

When grades go in and he’s out of their classroom for good, that rule ends.

What follows is one long northern winter of floor heating, snow on the windowsill, WeChat at 2 a.m., jealousy that runs every direction, firsts that leave nobody the same-and a three-way love that none of their parents can ever hear about.

Lavender Smoke is a standalone adult novella with rotating points of view, slow-burn heat, and a found triad who choose each other on purpose.