What if one masked encounter could crack open a heart long sealed?

Maeve Carter knows the safety of sarcasm and solitude—especially in October, when her little bookstore glows with pumpkin candles and faux cobwebs. But a friend’s insistence drags her to a Halloween masquerade, where a chance meeting in lace and shadows leaves her unexpectedly unguarded.

He’s a quiet craftsman who prefers carving wood to crowded rooms, yet something about her quick wit and hidden kindness pulls him into her orbit. In that dimly lit world of masks and moonlight, they share moments that feel far more honest than any they’ve lived before.

Back in the real world, their paths cross again in texts and tentative invitations—coffee, late-night banter, a shared pastry—each small step a test of their courage. She battles old fears; he wrestles with ghosts of his own past. Yet each gesture, each gift left on a doorstep or whispered in a workshop, chips away at the walls they’ve built.

When misunderstanding and mistrust threaten to undo them, it’s the quiet bravery of unmasking that proves the deepest magic isn’t in grand gestures, but in showing up—again and again—for the chance at something real.

In a story carved piece by piece, Maeve and Eli discover that the truest kind of love is the one you choose to brave.