Meadow Macrae was the beginning of it all for me. My first kiss.

My first time. My first heartbreak.

We were two kids with dreams that were too big for our town in the Scottish Highlands. We planned on forever, but when the day arrived, she left me waiting at the airport with just a text message telling me that she wasn't coming.

So I picked up the pieces and built a new life—a better life—all on my own. I spent years chasing and achieving every measure of success I'd set for myself.

And if the memory of my first love was never far from my mind, so what? I wasn't going back to Scotland, to her, or to anything that reminded me of where I came from. Even the tragedy of losing my best friend—Meadow’s older brother—didn't pull me back.

Now, two decades later, this prodigal son has returned to Thistlehill, determined to make up for lost time by saving the distillery that's been in my family for generations while my parents go on their long-awaited retirement honeymoon. It was meant to be an easy three months.

Yet, there she is. Meadow.

My Doe. Right next door.

Except this time, she’s a single mother, and she’s opening a restaurant like she always wanted. Meadow can still see straight through me, down to everything I’ve tried to run away from.

And while she's not the same woman I remember, she’s more irresistible than ever, and I can’t keep my old feelings at bay. Which is the most terrifying thing of all.

Because no matter how many years or how many miles we’ve put between us, I'm starting to realize that I might have found my heart where I left it: right here in the Highlands. .