“That’s lovely, dear, but I wasn’t being literal. I meant you need a man who wants to give you your heart’s desire. My Frank was ahead of his time. He knew when I’d finished school, I’d wanted to be a teacher, but I didn’t have the opportunity. When our Douglas died, he encouraged me to enroll in teacher’s college even though it meant he was running the farm and dealing with the kids when I was studying. That’s love, Alice. That’s someone giving you the world. If you and your young man have each other’s best interests at heart, you’ll be very happy.”

“Thanks, Elsie.” But as Alice created the page she struggled to move past the words “heart’s desire.” Her heart’s desire was a child and Dan’s was a carefree life. But she’d made her peace with that, because even if Dan had wanted children, he couldn’t give them to her. No one could. And, just like Frank had encouraged Elsie to teach, Dan was offering her financial support so she could become qualified. That was care. That was love. That was giving her a new version of the world. Besides, she had Lucy and Indi and Leo to shower with love on the weekends.

Happy to have them here now and then. I just don’t want them underfoot every weekend.

The large piece of banana bread Alice had scarfed at morning tea suddenly sat like a lead weight in her belly. Exactly what did “now and then” really mean?

After the session, Alice drove straight from Summerhouse to Dan’s place, grateful for the rain and stormy seas that had closed the surf school for the afternoon.

“Dan?”

“In the bedroom.”

As she stepped into the room he walked out of the master bath. His hair was wet, his chest glistened with droplets of water and he wore a towel wrapped low around his hips.

“Perfect timing.” He caught her by the hand and pulled her in close to kiss her.

She came up for air as the backs of her knees hit the mattress and she felt herself about to tumble backwards. “Dan. Stop.”

He drew back. “What’s up?”

“I need some information.”

He sat on the bed next to her. “Shoot.”

“Remember when I asked you about my nieces and nephew coming for sleepovers and you said as long as it wasn’t every weekend?”

“Yeah.”

“So how often were you thinking? Twice a month?”

His brow furrowed. “Not quite that often.”

“So once a month and then during school vacation?”

“Alice, I work all through summer vacation and we’ll be traveling during the others.”

“So once a month when school’s open?”