Christmas Lighthouse Escape

SHORT STORY
A Beauty and the Beast retelling with a wintry Welsh twist.

When Menna Lewis flees London days before Christmas, she returns to the last place she thought she'd ever see again. The decommissioned lighthouse her father bought on a whim. Nursing the wounds of a broken engagement, she wants solitude, not complications. But solitude isn't what she finds.

The villagers whisper about Reuben Davies, the scarred boatbuilder who lives alone at the edge of the beach. Yet when a snowstorm forces Menna and Reuben together, sparks fly.

As Christmas Eve draws near, Menna begins to see past Reuben's fierce exterior to the man beneath: loyal, lonely, and unexpectedly kind. And while her paintings capture the wild beauty of the sea, Reuben awakens something in her heart she thought was lost forever.

But when her past comes knocking, Menna has a choice to make.

A tender, atmospheric romance set against crashing waves and starlit skies, Christmas Lighthouse Escape is a 10,000 word short story of healing, second chances, and finding light in the darkest season.