She felt George’s laugh rumble against her and felt better than she had done all day. Lighter. ‘Come on through, both of you,’ she said. ‘I’ll show you around. Seren, do you need a wee? The loo’s just here . . .’

It was all going to be okay, she insisted to herself as she picked up the little pink suitcase and began leading them upstairs. The kids would adjust and settle down. They’d all muddle into the holiday together and have a great time. Of course they would!

Chapter Four

‘I’m going to the pool,’ Amelia called through from the hallway.

‘Oh. What, now? I thought we could—’ Maggie broke off as the door clicked shut and she sighed. ‘I thought we could look at the map together,’ she finished quietly to herself, spreading it out on the table. Maybe not. Less than an hour after arriving at their holiday cottage, her daughter couldn’t wait to get away from her, it seemed.

She smoothed a hand across the paper, trying not to feel rejected. She’d taught Amelia how to read maps from an early age, explaining to her about contour lines and grid references, how to interpret all the tiny symbols. Maggie prided herself on being a patient, encouraging teacher, letting a child’s interest guide the exploration, and had loved seeing her daughter work out routes across an Ordnance Survey charted landscape, her finger tracing lines between destinations. One of Amelia’s favourite games as a little girl had been to go on imaginary adventures around their house, using Maggie’s maps; it had delighted them both. The kitchen would become a lake or forest. The downstairs loo a cave or train station. The dining table an island off a rugged coastline that they’d have to swim to for lunch.