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“At least we’re not blocking the road. We’re not in anyone’s way. Not that anyone else is likely to be driving along that road tonight.”
Her husband looked at her. “We were.”
“I know that, Matt.” Her voice was grit and sandpaper. “Believe me, I’m aware.”
Mabel felt the tension between them and decided hot chocolate was most definitely called for.
And maybe a small gin for herself.
5
Izzy
Isn’t this amazing?” Izzy injected her voice with an extra note of brightness as she drove carefully on the now lethal road. “We’re going to have a white Christmas. How perfect is that?”
She’d talked nonstop since they’d left the property, trying to sound as normal as possible. Trying to behave as if nothing was wrong. As if she hadn’t just sent the most embarrassing message of her life to the last man she would have wanted to send that message to.
Talk about complicating things.
“Perfect?” Jason leaned forward and squinted through the snow. “What’s perfect about it? I can’t see anything except white.”
“Exactly. Think what this will mean. We’ll be able to build a snowman. I mean, not we—I don’t mean you and I, obviously.” She stumbled over the words. “I mean we as in people generally. Snow lovers. Christmas lovers.” Lovers generally. Oh, stop it, Izzy!
This was all Chloe’s fault. If she hadn’t sent that message then Izzy wouldn’t have replied to it. And she wouldn’t have been thinking of Jason, sex and snowdrifts. She’d been disciplined about not thinking about him that way. Now, thanks to Chloe, those thoughts were loose and frolicking through her brain.
No.
She’d set a new rule for herself. No dating.
No thinking about dating. Especially no thinking about dating Jason.
“I’m not sure who exactly would want this much snow. A polar bear, maybe?”
“But once it stops snowing it’s going to be beautiful,” she said valiantly. “Imagine waking up on Christmas morning, looking out of your window and seeing this.”
“Does your bedroom have a view of a garden?”
“No. My bedroom has a view of someone else’s bedroom across the street. They never close their shutters so it’s a better view than it sounds.”
He laughed. “You see the positive in everything, don’t you?”
Not everything. She was struggling to see the positive in the fact that she’d sent an embarrassing message he might have seen.
“I find it helps to look on the bright side.” The wind buffeted the car and she tightened her grip on the wheel. “You don’t like snow?”
“In moderation. I don’t think anyone would call this moderate. We have done this same journey many times over the past few weeks, but all the landmarks are buried,” Jason said. “Do you have any idea where we are?”
Izzy was tempted to confess that right now she was in her own personal hell, but stopped herself. Presumably, he was referring to their geographical position and not her psychological state.
Had he seen the message? He must have seen it. On the other hand, he seemed to be behaving normally, so maybe that meant he hadn’t. Surely, if he’d seen it, he would have said something, or at least been awkward with her?
Her brain spun, conjuring up endless scenarios and explanations, none of which brought her any closer to peace of mind.
She almost blurted out, Did you see the message?
“Izzy?”
She realised she hadn’t answered his question. “Sorry. I was concentrating on the road. I think we’re going the right way, although nothing looks familiar when it’s buried under snow. If I remember rightly, the road drops down into that hollow soon—the one with the fairy tale house?”
