Widow Deirdre Steen has spent the last five years making sure she's the best chief nursing officer Yukon Valley Hospital has ever seen. It cost her a personal life-and protected her heart. But now her childhood friend, Dr. Calvin Garrett-the one who got away-is temporarily lending his emergency medicine skills to their rural hospital in Alaska's interior. The community's relentless matchmaking network loves a challenge, which leaves Deirdre with one viable option: a fake dating pact with Calvin until the spring Breakup Festival and his inevitable departure to his regular job and his life in Seattle.

Calvin moved away years ago rather than watch his best friend marry Deirdre. Now, amazingly, she's in Calvin's bed and the center of his world. Yet a woman like Deirdre deserves forever-as well as a man who didn't finish as runner-up the first time around.

Can an Alaskan spring thaw help two wounded healers thaw the ice surrounding their hearts and fulfill this second chance at love?