“You were jealous? How do you think I felt?”

“You were jealous, too? Of me? I assumed you thought I was an interfering—”

“I thought you were great. Funny. Smart. Loyal. And I envied the relationship you had with Christy. It was effortless and deep, and you knew everything about her. And you intimidated me.”

“I’m...intimidating?”

He smiled. “You were the dragon at the gate. Her mother didn’t approve of me, and that wasn’t easy to deal with, but you—you were something else altogether.”

“I didn’t mean to be scary.”

“Yes, you did, and that was fine. If I was frightened off that easily, what would that have said about me? But I was intimidated, that’s true. You and Christy were so close. You seemed to read each other’s minds. You barely needed to communicate. I’d never had anyone in my life that I was as close to as you two were to each other. The type of loyalty you two showed to each other, I’d never seen that before. And you didn’t like me.”

Alix felt her cheeks heat. “That isn’t true. I did like you—but I wasn’t sure about you. You were different from the guys Christy had been dating. I wasn’t sure you were what she needed. I was afraid you would screw it up.”

Seb leaned down and rubbed the dog behind the ears. “I was afraid of that, too.”

“Really?”

“Oh yes.” He rubbed his hand through the dog’s fur. “I was so in love with Christy. I know you doubted that, but it was true. I thought she was incredible. She was everything I wanted. But, like you, I worried I couldn’t be what she needed me to be. You had doubts, but so did I. I’d never been in a relationship like that before. I was absorbing it, getting used to it, when we found out she was pregnant. You thought she was making a mistake marrying me because I would let her down—”

“Seb—”

“No, let me finish. You thought that, and I didn’t blame you for thinking it. You tapped into all my worst fears. What if I did let her down? What if I didn’t have what it took?”

“But you did have it.”

“I could never quite believe that I’d got so lucky. I was always a little wary of my own good fortune. I kept thinking I was going to wake up one day and find I’d messed it up and it had all gone. And then I lost my job.”

“And I didn’t know that. She didn’t tell me.”

He gave her a curious look. “You didn’t know about the job? Why did you think we delayed coming to Lapland?”

Alix shook her head. “She told me you had a meeting.”

“That was it?” He seemed bemused by the revelation. “Do you think she was embarrassed?”

“No, I don’t.” She put her hand on his arm. “I think she was protecting your privacy. Trying to ease the pressure. It turns out there is plenty she doesn’t tell me, Seb.” She stood a little straighter. “And that’s how it should be. A person should share what they want to share and no more.”