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This Christmas, some gifts come with strings attached—and some come with second chances.

Lila has spent months planning the perfect Christmas Gala, transforming the town's annual fundraiser into an event that could put their little community on the map. Every detail has been carefully orchestrated, from the hand-calligraphed invitations to the locally-sourced holiday menu. What she didn't plan for was Jake Morrison walking back into her life like a corporate ghost of Christmas past.

Jake never intended to return to the town he couldn't wait to escape, but when his family's business faces a crisis, duty calls louder than his successful city life. The last person he expects to clash with is Lila—his former best friend, the girl who used to dream alongside him under summer stars before he chose ambition over everything that mattered, including her.

Now Jake's efficiency-driven approach to "streamlining" the gala threatens everything Lila has worked toward. He sees budget cuts and corporate sponsors where she sees community heart and Christmas magic. But as they're forced to work late nights planning seating charts and debating entertainment choices, the easy friendship they once shared begins to resurface, complicated by the attraction that was always simmering beneath their childhood bond.

Through heated board meetings, stolen moments decorating the venue, and the undeniable pull of shared memories, they'll have to decide if some bridges can be rebuilt—or if the distance between small-town dreams and big-city success is too far to cross, even at Christmas.

A heartwarming second-chance romance about coming home, letting go of the past, and discovering that the best Christmas gifts are the ones you never saw coming.