Absolutely no chance of that.

The thought of spending time with him horrified her. But she wouldn’t need to, would she? They’d each have their own rooms, and they’d draw up a schedule for spending time with Holly. She was excellent with spreadsheets. The only time they’d overlap would be when they handed the child over, but there was no need to share that level of detail with Christy. “I’m surprised he’s able to make the time. Doesn’t he have some globe-trotting job?” Perhaps he’d be called away. Have some supposedly urgent meeting he had to attend, like Seb.

“He divides his time working as an expedition leader for an extreme-adventure company and lecturing in glaciology. He seems to decide his own schedule. And it will add an extra dimension to have him there. He knows so much about the Arctic.”

“Is that relevant? We’re not exactly reenacting Scott’s expedition, are we? This is an adventure, sure, but it’s not polar exploration. We’re staying in an upmarket, exclusive place. I mean, have you seen the photos of the Snow Spa?” Why were they talking about Lapland when they should be talking about whatever was worrying Christy? Why wasn’t she confiding in her? There was only one possible explanation. Christy no longer felt able to talk to her. And if that was the case, what did it mean for their friendship? What was friendship if it wasn’t the ability to trust and share, no matter what? “It looks blissful. And you’ll have time to enjoy it, too, when you arrive.”

“I’ll be making up for lost time with Holly.”

Alix felt helpless. “If you needed to talk to me, you would, wouldn’t you?”

“Of course.” Christy opened the door. “There’s nothing to talk about.”

Alix realized in that moment that she’d been wrong to think her well-intentioned intervention hadn’t damaged their friendship. It had. She just hadn’t realized it until now.

There was a tightness in her chest and an ache in her heart. She knew she wasn’t good at relationships, which was why she stayed resolutely single, but she’d truly believed that with Christy she’d got it right. It was the one relationship in her life that had worked.

And now she’d screwed that up, too.

She felt a painful sense of loss and a horrid feeling of isolation, but most of all she felt like a failure because everyone else in the world seemed to be able to maintain multiple relationships, and she couldn’t even handle one. “Okay,” she said with a forced smile, “good. And I promise you I’ll make sure our girl has an amazing time.”

“Thanks.” Christy’s hand lingered on the door handle. “You and Zac will be civil, won’t you? I don’t want tension in front of Holly.”

“We’ll be fine.” Alix was determined not to let Christy down. She’d do whatever it took, even if it meant being sweet and civil to Zac. And that wasn’t going to be easy. He would be scrutinizing her. Judging her with those gray-blue eyes that reminded her of Scottish mist. No, that was too romantic. She didn’t want to use romantic analogies around Zac. His eyes were like...were like...the steel gray of a warship. The sky before a storm.