“No, no. What I mean is, that never even crossed my mind. We were both so busy with our work, like two ships passing in the night, as they say. But neither of us wanted to lose each other. We—as a couple, a family—were more important than our careers.” She shook her head. “But now? I don’t know. We will have been up here seven years in May. The time has flown by, really. But little by little, every year, I could see him getting more restless. Now—”

She stopped when the door opened and Nic came back inside, a big grin on her face. She had snow clinging to her jeans and her cheeks were red.

“There are some deep drifts out there. I sunk up past my knees.”

“Did you put your tights on?”

“No, I didn’t. Now I’m cold.”

Her mother stood up. “Why don’t you two get the fire going? I want to change into something comfortable before I start on dinner.” She patted Nic’s arm. “Nicole, thank you for tending to the birdfeeders. That was sweet of you.”

“You’re welcome.” Nic eyed Abby. “Fire?”

“Yes. Come on. Let’s get it roaring.”

Chapter Twenty-four

After Abby had showered and changed, she went back downstairs. She found Holly and Aaron sitting by the fire. She shook her head, wondering at their relationship. They sat opposite each other, not speaking. They were both scrolling through their phones with rapt attention.

She nudged Aaron as she walked past. “Fire could use another log.”

Holly looked up then, giving her smile. “Come join us.”

Abby shook her head. “I think I’ll go find Nic.”

“She was helping your mother in the kitchen. Trying to earn brownie points, I guess.” Holly pointed to the bar. “Have a glass of wine with me. Let’s catch up.”

She thought back to last year. Wasn’t that how it had started? Holly offering to “catch up” over—not a glass—but a bottle of wine. That was after Christmas, though. She’d spent the first few days avoiding both Holly and Aaron. Everyone—as her mother had said—had been walking on eggshells. And then they started sharing wine, and it went downhill from there.

“I don’t think so, Holly. Maybe Nic and I will join you in a bit, have a drink before dinner.”

“Can’t wait,” Holly said dryly.

She was smiling as she went into the kitchen, but neither Nic nor her mother were around. Then she heard voices coming from the sunporch, and she went there. They were sitting near the woodstove, and it was quite comfortable inside. She was surprised to see a glass of wine beside Nic.

“I thought you didn’t like wine.”

“Hey, come join us.” She picked up the wineglass in question. “This isn’t really wine. It’s a sweet and fruity something or other.”