Page 51 of I’ll Be Home for Christmas

She closed the door and sat down on the edge of her bed before she explained what was going on. ‘The weather is awful. I’ve never seen anything quite like it.’ The snow swirled outside the window and above the skylight. ‘It’s like something from a movie set, it almost doesn’t feel real. It’s not pretty right now, it’s scary.’

‘I’m sorry, Sarah. How are the family holding up?’

‘We’re trying not to panic.’ She exhaled. ‘It feels good to be up here, to talk to you. The tension down there, the worry, it’s a lot.’

‘I’ll bet. If one of my family was missing…’ He didn’t need to add anything else.

‘Take my mind off it for a few minutes?’ she pleaded.

It took him a couple of seconds. ‘Thanks for sending all the photographs. What was it like up the Jungfraujoch? You said it was amazing. Tell me about it.’

It calmed her down, especially thinking about Meg and how much fun they’d had that day. She told him all about the train ride, how the journey took them through a mountain, how she wanted to take him up there some day.

‘I’d really like that.’ She could hear his smile across the miles.

‘She’ll be okay, won’t she?’ Her mind was back on Meg, out there in this weather, the warnings on the avalanche bulletin that had made all the colour drain from Grumps’s face, the fact that Jonathan was out there now doing his best to find her.

‘I’m sure she will. How is your mum doing?’

Rhys knew that Sarah and Meg had been getting on quite well, but she was yet to explain what had happened when her mum showed up, so she told him all about it now.

‘It sounds as though it was pretty bad.’

‘It was. I hate that they’re like that. And it’s not nice for Grumps and Nanna, especially with Nanna’s health. She’s doing fine, but her heart troubles are always in the background. I’m afraid this…’

‘Don’t think that way, Sarah.’

‘I’m trying not to.’

‘I’m worried about you. You sound scared. I was already worried before this happened.’ He paused. ‘I shouldn’t have said that.’

‘You should. It’s fine. What were you worried about?’ She already knew, of course, and he deserved to be able to say what he had.

‘It feels selfish to talk about it under the circumstances.’

‘You’re not selfish.’ He never had been. Why had that only just occurred to her? He’d always considered her. Even when she felt out of her depth at large gatherings when she didn’t know anybody, even when she didn’t want the impressive wedding venue, he’d always listened to her and considered her. She felt lucky to have him. ‘Please, Rhys. We need to talk about it. And I’ll go crazy if you don’t take my mind off things.’

He hesitated before he admitted, ‘I’m worried about us.’

‘Rhys, I⁠—’

‘I need to know what you’re thinking, Sarah. I need to know why you really went to Switzerland and where this leaves me.’

‘I’m sorry I did this to you.’ She really meant it, but only now, having been away, could she see it. ‘I should’ve talked to you rather than packing up and coming here. I honestly felt desperate to see my grandparents. But… well, there wasn’t a decorating job. There is now, but there wasn’t. Not at first.’

He waited a beat. ‘I’m just sorry you felt you couldn’t talk to me. We’re supposed to be able to share things.’

‘I know.’

‘Did I do something wrong?’

The very question made her eyes fill with tears. ‘No, you didn’t do anything wrong, I promise. This is all me.’

His voice grew quieter as he asked, ‘Do you think we can fix it? Fix us?’

If he’d asked the question on the day she arrived she would’ve steered the conversation in a different direction, but she’d worked through things in her head enough to be able to piece her own thoughts together at last. And talking to her mum had helped. She’d resisted confiding in her until now, knowing she’d just want to leap in and fix everything, but maybe everything that had happened was a step in the right direction for them too.

‘Yes, I think we can fix it,’ she said with more surety than she’d felt in a long while. She heard a sigh of relief across the miles.