Before they were married he’d said that it was like having a third person in the relationship, and it had taken that explosion on the day before their wedding for her to realize that perhaps he had a point. But she had no intention of ending her friendship with Alix, so she hadn’t mentioned it again, and neither had he. She’d hoped it would eventually sort itself out by itself because the fact that there was tension between her oldest and closest friend and her husband was a constant source of stress. She’d occasionally wondered if Seb was jealous of Alix, but why would he be? She’d married him for goodness’ sake. She’d chosen him, but sometimes she wondered if he saw love as a chocolate cake, with a finite number of slices that needed to be shared. Christy knew her friendship with Alix didn’t in any way detract from her relationship with Seb. She adored both of them. Why couldn’t they love each other? Alix hadn’t actually said anything negative about Seb after that confrontation, and there were times when Christy actually thought the incident might be behind them. And then a little spark would light up the past again.

“I wanted to talk to her about Christmas. And Lapland.” But not Seb. Not her marriage. She hadn’t discussed that.

Seb’s expression was shuttered. “The two of you will be able to spend more time together. You’ll enjoy that.”

Was that what he thought? That she wanted to be with Alix?

“I wanted us to spend time together.” Christy felt the gap between them widening. It was like leaping onto a boat that was leaving and then discovering you’d left your partner on the shore. “I still want that, which is why I’ve decided to stay here and go a few days later with you. I’ve already changed the flights.” She held her breath, unsure how he was going to react.

“You what?”

Christy glanced over her shoulder and quickly closed the bedroom door. “Keep your voice down. You’ll wake Holly.”

“You’ve canceled Christmas?”

“No, I haven’t canceled Christmas. How can you even think that?” The idea was ludicrous. “You know it’s my favorite time of year. Christmas is still happening. All I’ve done is move our flights a few days later. Yours and mine.”

He looked appalled. “But this is Holly’s dream. She’s talked about nothing else for weeks.”

And yet even knowing that, he’d still been prepared to slice days off their time together.

Family was her dream. Didn’t he know that? Who did he think she’d done all this for? The homemaking, the familiar routine, the meals, the decoration, the wine chilling in the fridge. She’d done it for them. Given her all. There were days when she fell into bed exhausted, but still he didn’t know how important family was to her or that she’d do just about anything to protect it?

She lifted her chin. It had taken her most of the day to reach a decision, but she’d decided that whoever Mandy was, and whatever it was she wanted, Christy wasn’t going to let the woman walk into her life and take what was hers.