Brownie Points

Jake
I learned the hard way that loving someone means risking everything— and at thirty-one, I’ve got my daughter Charlotte to protect.
No more letting anyone close.
No more pain.
No more trusting my heart.
Then Mallory tumbles into my world with her French-Canadian accent, curves that haunt my dreams, and this way of lighting up when Charlotte shows her another crayon masterpiece.
She’s only here for the festival. Two weeks, max.
I should keep my distance, but I’m watching her fall in love with my town, my daughter, my life, and I’m falling just as hard.
When she looks at me like I’m her second chance and Charlotte asks if Mallory can stay forever, I know I’m done for.
This time, I’m fighting for what I want.
Even if it means convincing her that sometimes the best dreams are the ones you never saw coming.

Mallory
Ten years I’ve poured into my fashion career in Québec, and sacrificing everything for the dream.
Then January hits like a wrecking ball: jobless, homeless, and questioning every choice I’ve ever made.
My best friends drag me to Valentine, Montana for the Heart-to-Heart Festival, hoping small-town charm will work some magic.
I’m not expecting Jake Hunter— six-foot-three of red-haired, broad-shouldered perfection who looks like a Viking warrior but melts into the gentlest teddy bear when his four-year-old daughter wraps her tiny hand around his.
One smile from him and I’m gone.
One giggle from Charlotte and I’m picturing Sunday mornings I have no right to imagine.
I came here to escape my failures, not to fall for a ready-made family in a town that’s everything my life isn’t.
But Jake makes me want impossible things… and I’m terrified I’ll have to choose between the dream I’ve chased for a decade and the love I never knew I needed.