If he could have chosen a different path, would he?

Suddenly her whole future felt uncertain. The life she’d imagined, threatened.

Waiting for his answer, she felt a wave of panic.

She’d tried to make their life perfect. She’d tried to make herself perfect. And in doing so she’d become as far from perfect as it was possible to be.

8

Alix

“This is an adventure.” Holly skipped between them as they walked through the airport and occasionally launched herself into the air and swung from their hands. “It’s fun. Don’t you think it’s fun, Aunty Alix?”

Alix’s shoulder was aching, but she wasn’t going to give Zac a single reason to doubt her abilities. He was not going to be better at this than she was. “I can’t remember when I last had such a good time.”

Zac thought she couldn’t do this, and she was determined to prove him wrong, and not only because she’d made a promise to Christy.

“I saw snow from the plane.” Holly swung again, almost yanking Alix’s arm from its socket.

“There’s no shortage of snow, that’s for sure.” The child had been bouncing with excitement since they left the cottage and hadn’t slept on the flight. Alix couldn’t believe her energy levels. They’d done drawings and puzzles, read books and played I spy until Alix was exhausted. In the last round she hadn’t been able to think of a single object beginning with the letter m.

How did her friend do it?

She was ready to sleep for a week. Maybe Holly was the reason Christy didn’t message her so often. Why hadn’t that occurred to her before?

“Do you want me to carry you for a while?” Zac’s voice was deep and velvety, and she glanced at him in irritation.

“No, of course I don’t want you to carry me. I’d sooner lie down and die on the spot than have you carry me.”

He raised an eyebrow. “I was talking to Holly.”

“Oh I know that.” She made an attempt to retrieve her dignity. “I was joking.”

He smiled and swung Holly up into his arms without asking the question a second time.

Annoying, aggravating man.

They’d reached the baggage area, and the suitcases were already starting to appear on the belt.

Holly wriggled in his arms. “I want to ride on it.”

“No.” Zac held her firmly. “You’re going to stay right here, along with your fingers and toes.”

And now she understood why he’d scooped Holly up. To protect her.

A woman standing near them gave a wistful smile. “You have a beautiful family,” she said, and Alix bared her teeth in a vague approximation of a smile.

Seriously? Did they look like a family? The mere idea of her and Zac being together except under duress was absurd. The woman was clearly no reader of body language.

Holly, in the meantime, had suddenly run out of energy.

Exhausted, her head flopped onto Zac’s shoulder. “I want Mummy.”