Listening for Water

Some things only make a sound when the whole world goes quiet.

Nia Okafor spends her nights listening to the things other people cannot hear.

A dedicated water-leakage investigator in Coventry, she knows the city's hidden world of pipes, pressure and underground water. But by daylight, her own life is anything but under control. A single mother struggling with debt she never agreed to, Nia is trying to protect her young son, Eli, while rebuilding a life damaged by someone she once trusted.

Then, at three in the morning on Gosford Street, she discovers a leak beneath Hallam's, a family bakery glowing like a lantern in the darkness.

Its baker, Joss Hallam, has inherited more than a business. He carries the weight of family debts, a fading Christmas tradition and a life shaped by quiet loneliness. Deaf in one ear, he has learned to listen in ways most people never consider.

Nia knows what reporting the leak could mean: the bakery could close at the worst possible time. But keeping quiet could put everything at risk.

As their unlikely friendship grows through warm bread, late-night conversations and the quiet hours between two and five in the morning, Nia begins to discover something she has almost forgotten: the difference between being needed and being understood.

But compassion has consequences, and some truths cannot stay buried forever.

Listening for Water is a tender, slow-burn contemporary romance about motherhood, financial vulnerability, trust, honesty and the courage to let someone hear you.

For readers who love emotionally rich stories, memorable characters, found family, warm bakeries and second chances.