Permits, Pines & Public Opinions: A Romantic Comedy

By Dalton Douglas

When a conservation permit proposal throws Dalton into public-comment chaos, Fish & Wildlife warden Foster Brady finds himself doing the one thing he hates most: becoming the face of a fight nobody wants to understand before forming an opinion.

Foster is calm, capable, and used to carrying responsibility without asking anyone to lighten the load. But explaining seasonal habitat protection to an increasingly loud town is another matter entirely-especially when every conversation starts sounding personal.

Rex Rafter, Dalton's tattooed barber and unofficial curator of town gossip, did not plan to care quite this much. His shop becomes rumor central almost overnight, and somehow Rex finds himself correcting bad information, defending Foster in public, and getting far too invested in whether the man makes it through the week intact.

A hearing prep haircut after hours changes the temperature between them.
A trail inspection through the pines makes ignoring the chemistry impossible.
And one badly timed joke at exactly the wrong moment proves that wanting someone is a lot riskier than arguing with them.

As public scrutiny rises, Foster worries Rex only likes the idea of him-not the reality of rules, absences, and a duty-first life. Rex worries Foster sees him as commentary from the sidelines instead of someone solid enough to stand beside him when it counts.

But in Dalton, where Maggie moderates civic conflict like a battlefield commander, Martha treats coffee as emergency infrastructure, and town gossip moves faster than weather, two men may discover that the hardest thing is not surviving public opinion.

It is trusting the right person with the private truth.

Permits, Pines & Public Opinions is a warm, funny small-town romantic comedy featuring a quiet Fish & Wildlife warden, a tattooed barber with excellent instincts, public-hearing chaos, storm cleanup, forced proximity in the pines, and a deeply satisfying happily ever after.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0GXRP5WDR
• ISBN13: 9798257976476
• Release Date: April 2026
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 344 Pages
• Weight: 0.92 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.0" x 9.0"