“You’ll get the job. I know it. I feel it in my bones.” She wanted to give him confidence. She wanted him to have that self-belief he’d had when they’d first met. She didn’t know much about exactly what he did at work, but she knew that he had to go into the interview believing he could do a great job.

She felt a coolness on her cheek, and she realized it was snowing. Just a few flakes, soft as feathers as it fell on her hair and coat, but definitely snowing.

“Seb!” She lifted her face and then her palms to the sky, laughing as the tiny crystals dusted her skin. Surely it was a sign? “Good things happen to me when it snows.”

“Let’s hope you’re right.” He turned and pulled her against him. “I’m glad we came here and did this. You seem different. More like the woman I married.”

She was the woman he’d married, wasn’t she?

She thought back to that time. Sometimes it felt as if her whole life had been mapped out and planned, until she’d met Seb. For a short time, before the baby was born, her life had been all about spontaneity and impulse, and it had been the most intoxicating thing she’d experienced. That moment of wild rebellion had felt so right, and only now did she see how quickly she’d reverted to her old way of doing things. The loss of her mother had made it worse, of course.

And now she had a choice. Did she want to stay in that safe, protected place she retreated to automatically?

No, she didn’t. She didn’t want to live life the way her mother had.

No matter what happens, Christy thought, however bad, however difficult, I’m not burying it. I’m going to confront it.

And she was going to embrace her spontaneous side.

12

Alix

“I want to play in the snow.” Holly sat wedged between Zac and Alix on the sled, towed by a snowmobile driven by Erik. Alix kept a tight hold on her, terrified that she was going to bounce or wriggle her way out of the sled in her excitement. It seemed to her sometimes that Holly was on a one-woman mission to injure herself. Turn your back and she was climbing something or poking her fingers in something. How was Christy not a nervous wreck?

“You will have plenty of time to play, I promise.” Robyn leaned forward and tucked the rug around Holly’s legs. Suka, the Siberian husky, lay at her feet, watchful and adoring. “Fortunately it’s not as cold as it could be today, but still it’s important to watch your temperature.”

“I’m not cold.”

Probably all the bouncing, Alix thought. There were so many things to think about as a parent. You had to be a mind reader. It gave her a new respect for Christy. Her own parents hadn’t tried to anticipate anything. She didn’t remember being once asked if she was too hot or too cold. If something was wrong in her life, she’d had to fix it herself. Which was a good thing, maybe, except it meant you had no experience of letting people do things for you.