Wrapped Up in Christmas Joy

Looking guilty as charged, Isabelle lau

ghed. “Just like old times.”

“I only tried to stand up on the sled once,” Sophie defended.

“Once was enough for us to end up in the emergency room,” Isabelle reminded her.

“To be fair, I was only ten. And it wasn’t that big of a deal. I’m no worse for wear because of it.” Sophie ran her tongue over the scar on the inside of her upper lip. “Not much worse for wear, at any rate.”

“Wish I could say the same.”

As they settled onto the sled, Sophie turned to look at Isabelle. “I don’t recall you being hurt when we crashed.”

“You think I came through that unscathed? Seeing you all bloody-faced gave me a heart attack.”

“Sorry,” she told her sister and meant it. “I imagine looking after the likes of me all these years can’t have been easy.”

“You’re not too bad. Most of the time.”

“Ready?” one of the guys asked.

Sophie nodded and he pushed them off the side of the hill.

Laughing, Sophie embraced the cool air rushing around them as they zoomed down the snow-covered slope.

“Oh, that was fun!” she declared when they got to the bottom. She climbed off the sled and pulled it over to where the guys were waiting for the trip back to the top.

“You’ll have to go again,” Andrew said, hooking the sled to the back of his four-wheeler.

“This is kind of fun, too,” Sophie mused as they rode the sled back to the top.

“I think I’ve gotten old,” Isabelle mused as she climbed off the sled once they’d reached the summit and rubbed her bottom. “Either that, or I should have worn padded pants.”

“Try going down on one of the singles and lie on your belly,” Sophie suggested. “Or use one of the tubes. Oh, there’s one empty now.”

Isabelle looked as if she was going to refuse.

“Go,” Sophie encouraged her. “Let loose and have some fun. Who knows when we’ll have another snow this awesome?”

Isabelle’s brows creased in consideration, and then she nodded and took off toward the empty tube.

Andrew unhooked the two-person sled. With a mischievous look in his eyes, he called, “Hey, Cole, Sophie needs a sledding partner and I nominate you.”

Sophie’s face grew so hot she was surprised all the snow didn’t melt.

“I just went down—someone else may want to use the sled,” she suggested, fiddling with her gloves.

“You go, and I’ll drive the four-wheeler to the bottom to pull you up afterwards,” Cole offered, coming to stand closer to them.

Andrew shook his head. “Sophie wants you to sled with her.”

Jaw dropping, Sophie stared at Andrew. She hadn’t said that.

“She was a little shaken up by her sister’s wild steering on that last ride down. Now she says she’s not going to go again unless you go with her.” Where was Andrew getting this stuff? “Something about feeling safe with you because you rescued her from the tree.”

Cole glared at his friend, but when he glanced toward Sophie there was question in his pale eyes, and she didn’t have the heart to respond to by denying any of the things Andrew had said.

Unless she pushed Cole to sled right now, he wouldn’t sled, but would continue to stand on the perimeter of the outing. She wanted him to have fun, to sled and interact with the others. She wanted him to feel the exhilaration she’d felt when the wind had been whipping at her as she raced to the bottom.