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“Again, again!” She held up her arms and Jason smiled and swung her onto his shoulders.

“Don’t tell Brooke you’re single,” Matt said. “She’ll be arranging dates with all her single friends. She’s pathologically incapable of not interfering with other people’s love lives. It’s embarrassing.” He returned to his book, but his smile suggested he was waiting for his wife’s response. And it came on cue.

“Excuse me!” Brooke defended herself. “Three of your friends are now happily married thanks to me.”

“Three? That’s quite an achievement.” Jason held Poppy firmly. “I don’t have a love life. I’m free as a bird.”

Izzy narrowed her eyes. Well, that wasn’t true. Maybe he wasn’t married with kids but there was someone. He hadn’t sounded free as a bird when she’d overheard him talking on the phone.

“You don’t have someone who is your one and only?”

Brooke sent her a curious glance, and Izzy wished she’d kept her mouth shut.

She really didn’t need anyone matchmaking.

Jason winced as Poppy held on to two chunks of his hair. “At the moment my one and only is Poppy. But if she continues to pull my hair, that might change.”

Poppy bounced on his shoulders. “I’m holding on.”

“Maybe you could hold something that doesn’t come out by the roots.” But he tightened his hold on her legs to help her feel more secure.

Izzy wasn’t ready to let him dismiss it so easily. “But I heard—”

“You heard me talking to my niece.”

Izzy stared at him. “Your niece?”

He swung Poppy off his shoulders and lowered her gently to the floor. “Yes, my niece. My sister’s child. Her name is Jess. She’s seven.” He made sure Poppy was steady before letting her go. “Katy’s four years older than me. Her marriage broke down when Jess was six months old. It was bad. She was living in California at the time but she needed support, so she and the baby moved in with me. It was supposed to be a temporary arrangement while Katy got back on her feet, but it worked well and we didn’t get round to finding an alternative. It didn’t feel necessary. I was there, and our parents helped with some of the childcare in the early days.”

“Your poor sister. She’s lucky to have you,” Brooke murmured, and Jason gave a quick shake of his head.

“She would have done the same for me if I’d needed her help. That’s what families do, isn’t it?”

He made it sound like a sure thing. As if it was guaranteed. A promise. That’s what families do.

Not in her experience.

Izzy tried to smile but her face felt numb.

In her family there was no pulling together. No support. You were on your own.

“I’m the lucky one,” Jason said. “Families are often fragmented these days, living at opposite ends of the country, or in different countries altogether. I got to spend time with Jess. I was working as a creative director in an advertising agency, but I wanted more control over my hours so I went freelance. For a while I did freelance creative work, but I started to get more calls about my photography and that’s been my main focus for the last couple of years.”

Brooke’s eyes were shiny with emotion. “That’s a truly heartwarming story. Do they still live with you?”

“They moved out a year ago. Katy met a great guy.” Jason grinned at Brooke, as though they’d been friends forever. “I can see you’re a romantic, so you’re going to love the next part of the story.”

Brooke pressed her hand to her chest. “I can’t stand the suspense. Please tell me it has a happy ending.”

“It has a happy ending. I introduced her to my old college roommate, who is making waves with a tech startup. On their first date they took Jess to a movie. He sat there watching an animated movie with my sister, and Jess was sitting in between them holding a massive bucket of popcorn. Katy told me she fell in love with him before the credits.”

How? Izzy wondered. How, after such a huge and heart-breaking betrayal by someone who had supposedly loved her, had his sister allowed herself to take a chance again?

“Oh—” Brooke’s voice was husky. “You’re right, I do love that.”

“Yeah, David’s a good guy. And I’m glad she’s found someone.”

Matt sighed. “Are you seriously crying, Brooke?”