Twelve years ago, Ethan Rutledge's high school sweetheart Wendy Patterson left Bell Cove on North Carolina's Outer Banks without a word. It was his fault, and he knew it, but he still holds a grudge. Yet this year for the first time, Wendy, now a high-powered Navy WEAL (female SEAL), is coming home for Christmas, and Ethan, a widowed single dad and successful Christmas tree farmer, is more uptight than ever. Tempers flare as they sort out the past and try to deal with the inconvenient truth that their feelings for each other have never died