The autumn light in Evergreen Hollow had turned golden and forgiving, the kind that made everything feel possible again. Heartstrings Connections now spanned twelve locations, employed thirty-seven people, and had just launched its first online course series. Holly (forty-two, still curly-haired, still wearing the same red lipstick from that long-ago mistletoe bet) had landed on the cover of a regional business magazine with the headline “The Queen of Modern Matchmaking.”

At home, the ...