They pulled up to the building that had served as Gansett Island’s K-12 school since the seventies, and Lizzie saw right away that the abandoned school looked tired, worn and dated. But that was nothing a little TLC couldn’t fix. The second Jared brought the car to a stop, she got out to go peek into dirty windows.

“Be careful,” Jared said. “There might be broken glass in those weeds.”

Lizzie didn’t see the dirt or the weeds or the broken glass. She only saw the big rooms that had once housed students and might one day be rooms for elderly patients. “This is perfect,” she declared.

“You can’t tell that just by looking in a few windows.”

“It’s got good bones, and check out the size of the rooms. Come over here and look.”

Jared joined her at the window, peering inside with his hands around his eyes blocking the sunlight. “The rooms are big.”

“They’re perfect. Who can we talk to about seeing the inside?”

“You can ask your buddy Paul about that, but before you do, are you really sure you want to take this on, babe? This would be a really, really big deal, and we’ve already got a pretty big deal going on at the Chesterfield. I thought the goal when we moved out here was to simplify our lives. This is not going to be simple.”

“No, it isn’t,” she said, her heart racing with excitement as plans came together in her mind. “It’s going to be a huge pain in the ass, but think of the good we could do here. Look at what Alex and Paul are going through with their mother, and David said he knows of ten other families on the island in similar straits. We’d have the place sold out before we begin construction. And then there’s Quinn. This could be ideal for him.”

“That’s a whole other kettle of fish—smelly, complicated fish.”

She glanced at him. “Did you just refer to your brother as smelly fish?”

“His situation is dicey, Lizzie, as you well know.”

“This might be the sort of thing that’ll give him a new purpose in life. It wouldn’t hurt anything to ask him, would it?”

“You’re so far down the road on this, and you only had the idea last night.”

“What’s wrong with trying to make things happen?”

“Nothing. Absolutely nothing is wrong with it as long as you know what you’re getting into from the outset.”

“I’m well aware that this won’t be easy, but I want to do it anyway.” She withdrew her cell phone from her pocket and scrolled through her contacts.

“Who’re you calling, babe? It’s seven thirty on a Sunday.”

“Paul will be up,” she said as she placed the call, smiling at her husband, who just shook his head once again.