I didn't come home for Christmas.

I came back to Pineview to finalize my mother's estate, sign the paperwork, and leave before the memories had a chance to catch up to me.

My mom has been gone long enough that people assume the hardest part is over. But grief doesn't fade quietly, especially not in a small-town during the holidays, when traditions are loud and everyone remembers who you used to be.

I wasn't supposed to run into Erik Beaumont.

Erik stayed when I left. He built a life here that is steady, rooted, and quietly magnetic. He is familiar and different all at once, the kind of familiar that still knows exactly where it hurts.

When Pineview pulls us back into its Christmas traditions, old feelings resurface. So do unanswered questions, buried truths, and a past that refuses to stay behind me.

With my return flight booked, my life in New York City waiting, and Christmas closing in fast, I am forced to confront what I have been avoiding for years. What it means to leave. What it means to stay. And whether some loves ever truly let you go.

Because in Pineview, Christmas doesn't just bring people together.

It brings the truth you can't outrun.

A deeply emotional, slow-burn small-town Christmas romance about second chances, childhood sweethearts, enduring traditions, and the kind of love that lingers long after you think you have moved on.