The Wishing Well

I swore I would never celebrate Christmas again.

Not after the night it took everything from me.

Since losing my parents in a tragedy I still can’t fully face, the season that once meant warmth and wonder has felt like something sharp and unbearable. So when I accidentally land in Holly Well Springs—a town where twinkle lights glow year-round and strangers greet you like family—I tell myself it’s temporary.

I won’t unpack.

 I won’t belong.

 I won’t stay.

Then I meet Brodie.

He’s steady in a way that unsettles me. Kind in a way that feels dangerous. And far too perceptive when it comes to the grief I’ve buried beneath polite smiles. He pulls me into greenhouse mornings and quiet conversations, into a community that believes broken hearts aren’t meant to stay broken.

And then there’s the wishing well.

The one tourists toss coins into without thinking.

 And the one no one talks about.

The one that seems to whisper to the places in me I’ve tried to silence.

As long-buried memories rise and Christmas magic lingers in the Montana air, I’m forced to choose: keep running from the pain that shaped me… or risk opening my heart to second chances, to love, and to a town that refuses to let me disappear.

Because sometimes healing doesn’t happen all at once.

Sometimes it begins the moment you dare to wish.