The last thing Liv was planning to do on December 15th was sign divorce papers. Facing the possibility of spending Christmas alone—or even worse, at her parent’s—she books a two-week stay at the first affordable, well-rated winter retreat she can find: Holly Bough Cottage in the Colorado Rockies. With her interior design business slowing down over the holidays, Liv can practically smell the pine trees and warm apple cider, but most importantly? She won’t have to face anyone for at least fourteen days.

Jonah wasn’t planning on being anywhere but home for Christmas, but when the owners of the Cottages posted on a community board that their handyman injured himself, he decided to pull them a solid. It didn’t hurt that they were offering a free stay and double the daily rate he usually makes as a middle-school science teacher.

When Liv discovers that the man who came to reignite her pilot light is staying in the next cottage over, she finds herself looking for opportunities to sit on the porch while answering emails. Even if it is thirty below. Jonah, battling ghosts of his own, can’t help but walk the long way to the office in the hopes of catching a moment with her.

With hearts raw from past wounds, their unexpected meeting during the most magical of times forces them to ask whether they are capable of loving and trusting again.