This Christmas, one California cowboy finds that love, like the perfect gift, can be even more wonderful when it’s unexpected…

Called out to rescue a stranded driver on a snowy night, rancher Ted Baker is surprised to find his old high-school friend, Veronica Hernandez, at the wheel—with her pet pig, Bacon, riding shotgun. Ten years after leaving Morgantown, Veronica is as warm, lively, and lovely as ever. If she and Bacon need a place to stay over the holidays, Ted’s got a spare room that needs filling and, maybe, a heart that could use the same…

Veronica has landed herself in a jam—and what better place to lie low than her sleepy hometown? But spending time with Ted is making her wonder why she ever left…and whether it’s too late to turn this Christmas pit stop into a new beginning…

*Previously appeared in the anthology Christmas Kisses with My Cowboy