Lisa pushed blueberry ice cream into a crisp waffle cone. “The irony is that I came here because I wanted a better life for the kids. I wanted them to live close to nature. I saw us spending time together as a family. But I spend less time with them now than I did when I was living with my mother in Boston.” She handed the cone to Emily. “I’m working, and they’re doing their own thing through that door in the living room. At weekends they ‘help’ in here, but they get bored with that pretty quickly. They entertain each other, but I can’t afford to close, so that I can have a day out with them.”

“Could you employ someone one day a week?”

“We don’t make enough money to pay anyone. One of the freezers broke last week, and that used the last chunk of my savings. You don’t want to hear about this. It’s boring.” Lisa opened a drawer and put a fresh pile of napkins on the counter.

“It’s not boring to me. I’m just sorry your dream isn’t working out the way you wanted it to.”

“I have no one to blame but myself. I had my head in the clouds. No one before me has been able to make this place work, but I thought I’d be different. I like to call it optimism, but my mother says it’s blind stupidity.” That confession came with a smile, but Emily heard the thickening in her voice.

It was that, together with the hint of weary resignation, that made up her mind.

She dropped into a crouch next to her niece. “How would you like to watch a DVD with Summer and Harry?”

Lizzy stared at her. “Now?”

“Yes. They’re just through that door.” She felt a flutter of anxiety and suppressed it. She reminded herself of what Ryan had said about the importance of Lizzy becoming independent. “I’ll be right here, talking to Lisa. We’ll leave the door open.” She could see the halo of Summer’s blond hair through a crack in the door, hear laughter as the twins watched a cartoon.

Lisa looked surprised, but she pushed open the door to the cottage, and moments later Lizzy was happily settled with the twins and a bowl of popcorn.

“Have you noticed how similar Lizzy is to the twins? They could almost be triplets!”

“It’s the hair.” Satisfied that Lizzy was safe, Emily turned back to Lisa. “Tell me the truth. How bad is it?”

Lisa gave a tired shrug. “Bad enough to make me want to eat a vat of chocolate ice cream by myself. I stayed up most of the night looking at the numbers, but they were still the same this morning. Looking at them doesn’t change the fact this dream is over for me.”

“You’re sure?”