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Jason had said the same.

Everyone, it seemed, was pushing themselves out of their comfort zones.

Everyone except her. She protected herself. She kept herself safe from emotional turbulence.

Until the past few days, she’d been sure that was what she wanted, but now?

Now she didn’t know.

Things that had been clear were murky. By turning her back on emotional turbulence, was she also turning her back on happiness? She was anticipating that it would go wrong, but what if it didn’t? What if Jason was right and she was walking away from a chance to live a life of love and joy?

The truth was she didn’t really know what to do with love. She’d never had it before.

Mabel gave them a wave and headed back towards the house to check on the turkey.

“I’ll go and help her.” Brooke withdrew her arm from Izzy’s. “You stay here. The girls will never forgive me if I drag you indoors. You made the sled. Go and soak up the success of your gift.”

Izzy heard the girls yell her name.

“It’s stupidly impractical, isn’t it? Jason thought it was worth it, even if it was just for one perfect day.”

“One perfect day.” Brooke gave her a thoughtful look. “I agree with Jason. And it’s not impractical at all. We’ll take it to my parents’. It will be the perfect icebreaker. And it will always remind me of both of you. Although I really want to stay in touch.”

“We will. Maybe we can meet up whenever you come and visit your parents.” Izzy hugged her and then headed across the snow to where Matt and Jason were hauling the sled up a slope for the eighth time.

“Whose idea was this?” Jason was panting as he made it to the top of the slope. “We should have built a small ski-lift so we didn’t have to do all this hauling.”

“Wimp.” Izzy grinned as she settled herself on the sled and secured Poppy in front of her. “Okay! Are we ready? Hold tight!”

She sped down the slope, holding Poppy tightly, feeling the freezing air numb her cheeks. The moment they came to a halt, Poppy was off the sled and running back up the slope.

“Again, again!”

“It’s my turn.” Elsie had been waiting patiently, but she saw her sister’s face and smiled. “You can have my go if you like.”

They played until everyone was freezing, and then Jason and Matt headed round to the front of the house to dig out the cars and assess the damage while Izzy took the girls into the kitchen to warm up.

Delicious smells wafted through the house.

“I would like to bottle this smell and use it when I’m staging a house.” Izzy hung up snowy coats and scarves and helped remove Poppy’s boots.

“It’s Mabel’s fabled turkey dinner.” Brooke was pink in the face as she turned the heat down under a pan.

They all helped and were about to serve lunch when Jason and Matt returned.

“The good news is that my car seems fine,” Jason said.

Izzy found that hard to believe. “But I hit Matt and Brooke’s car hard.”

“You hit a small snowbank that had built up behind it. I don’t see any damage and the car starts, so we can get away early in the morning if that works for you.”

“Right.” Her insides lurched. “Great.”

She didn’t want to get away at all, but he wanted to go and enjoy what was left of Christmas with his family.

And she could have been joining him if she hadn’t been such a coward.

“Time to eat!” Mabel ushered them all through to the dining room and they ate what Izzy decided was the best meal of her life.