Cosy Christmas ✓

10 / let it snow

He frowned and checked his watch, eyes widening to see that it was almost ten o'clock. He never slept in that late, but his body had been exhausted and his mind was absolutely shattered after the permanent marathon it had been running for years now. "Shit," he muttered, grabbing his phone off his table and unplugging it from the charger. "Thanks. Didn't realise how late it was."

Sandra just smiled, her hand on the door knob. "We figured you might want to sleep in, but I want you to have something to eat if you're going to be rushing off. Don't want you driving on an empty stomach."

He stood, dwarfing her frame. Only Neil was as tall as him, a mountain of a man with a heart of gold, while Sandra was almost as short as Posy. Not quite, verging more on the side of average, but almost. Cass matched her height: Connor was used to being surrounded by short women, and it looked like that trend was going to continue. Without saying anything, he wrapped his arms around his mother, stooping to hug her, and she held him tightly.

"What's this for?" she asked when they pulled apart, a smile beneath her raised eyebrows. Connor had never been much of a hugger, unlike his brother, having grown out of the cuddliness of his childhood when puberty hit. He shrugged and smiled.

"It's a thank you, and it's an I love you," he said. "And it's very long overdue."

His mother softened, her hand over her heart, and gazed up at Connor as though he was an angel. Part of him was, the spitting image of the son she had lost, and he knew that she would never be able to look at him without seeing his brother. That had bothered him in the past, contributing to his avoidance of his family, but perhaps it wasn't so bad. His mother liked to remember Cameron: he could help her do that.

"Well, I love you too, baby," she said. "More than you can possible imagine." A moment's sentimental silence lay between them before Sandra shook off her emotions with a laugh and led Connor down to the kitchen. His phone, so far unchecked, was clasped in his hand and it was only when he joined his family around the table that he glanced down at the screen. Beneath the time, displayed in huge numbers across the top half of the screen, was a solitary message from Posy and before he even read it, his heart jumped into his throat. He had a bad habit of envisaging the worst, picturing scenes of her alone in the snow, unable to drive, trapped at home as she went into labour.

"Posy?" Cass asked, catching sight of her brother's expression, and he nodded as he unlocked the screen to read the message.

Posy: I hope you're having an amazing time with your family! Saw cass's pic on insta this morning, looks like you had a great night, I'm so glad. No need to rush back on my behalf! Already made my coffee, plan for the day is to put my feet up and eat leftovers. You're welcome to join when you're back though I can't promise there'll be anything left haha. Thank you so much for yesterday. Christmas was amazing and it wouldn't have been without you. Thank you xxx

Connor had the feeling that if someone was to break open his chest right then, he would have been declared a medical miracle with a glowing heart. Warmth spread through his veins, infusing the beat of his pulse, and when a shy smile worked its way onto his lips, Cass subtly leant across to peer at his phone, her eyes scanning the screen.

"I don't think you have anything to worry about," she said, and Connor snapped his head up at the sound of her voice so close to him. He hadn't even noticed her leaning across, and she was suddenly right beside him.

"What? What d'you mean?"

Cass sat back in her seat, spreading an obscene amount of butter onto a slice of toast. "Your feelings are clearly reciprocated. And from what I can tell from some fairly extensive social media stalking, she's a family girl." She held up on hand in the universal ok sign, her thumb and index finger forming a circle. "You're golden." Biting into her toast, melted butter dribbled down her chin, which she mopped up with the back of her hand.