Having only lived in Dallas and LA, Nikki decided a couple of years ago that it was time to move somewhere totally different, ideally with all four seasons and a much cheaper cost of living. She had a list of places she was going to check out and told her friend, author and New York native Cat Johnson, that the Northeast was one of them. As an avid reader, Nikki adored Cat's Small Town Secrets romance series, which is based on her (now their) village of Unadilla and all its quirky characters. Nikki visited Cat in December of 2023 and enjoyed the landscape, charm, and what would hopefully be a much more peaceful life. She came across a rental property a few months later and made the (very) long move in July of 2024. Three months later, Nikki met and quickly became good friends with a wonderful human named Kate, who then introduced her to most everyone she now knows and loves here. Including Mike. Although he was born in Nova Scotia (coincidentally one of Nikki's most favorite places), Mike grew up in nearby Walton, NY and most of his family is still in the area. 2024 was a year of big change for Mike, and he actually spent most of his time in Syracuse for work. It was genuinely fate that the night they met he was not only home in Oneonta, but also decided to grab a drink at a restaurant and bar called B Side. Kate and Nikki had been to a show in a totally different town, but agreed to meet back at the B Side for a nightcap. Kate and Mike had been friends for awhile and she invited him to join them. And even though he still doesn't believe it, Nikki immediately thought THAT is a good looking man, and started to interrogate him. Meanwhile, Mike just thought he was enjoying a beverage with friends, old and new, not having a life-altering meet cute. They ran into each other many times over the next several weeks and even though it is terribly cliché, when you know, you know. What probably seems crazy and fast to a lot of people, feels right for them. So the big city girl moved to the small town (with a lot of Christmas tree farms) and fell for the hardworking local boy who knows how to fix everything, shares her love of hazy IPAs, and indulges her listening to mostly Taylor Swift. And because the manuscript wouldn't be complete without it, they bought a 200 year-old house and he surprised her with a ring in their recently redone living room on Christmas Eve, one of her most favorite days of the year.