Anna didn’t know how to respond. She and her mother talked occasionally, but they weren’t close. They didn’t have a weekly phone date or keep up with each other’s daily life. Anna had left home at seventeen, and the two of them had been relieved, Anna had thought, at the break from each other. They’d both tried their best during the tumultuous years of moving from apartment to apartment, never having quite enough to pay the bills.

“I think my career is over.” Anna squeezed her eyes shut. “But the worst part is... I got my heart broken.”

“Oh, Anna, I’m so sorry.”

“I’m sure this is all Thomas Melton’s fault,” Gloria added in what she probably thought was an unintelligible whisper.

Anna could picture her mother and her mother’s wife, standing together in the laundry room of their farmhouse, using the one landline and holding the receiver between them, as if the phone call had traveled through time as well as over distance.

“It feels like I’m going to float away.” Anna sobbed, unable to hold back the tears. Tourists with cameras walked around her in a wide arc.

“You want to stay with us?”

“We don’t mind,” Gloria added.

Anna appreciated the offer, and she knew it was kindly meant, but as much as scones and endless pots of tea would help, she didn’t know if she deserved them. Anna wasn’t ready for the gabled guest room. This wasn’t the end, was it? There had to be something to salvage from the last ten years.

“I’m staying at Jenny’s. I’m okay.”

“Are you sure?” her mom asked. “Are you being safe?”

“I can take care of myself.”

“I know,” her mom answered, “but let us know if we can help.”

“We could make her favorite scones,” Gloria said. “Maybe whip up a spell to curse that Thomas Melton.”

“Gloria, love,” her mom said, “if kids don’t want to come home, you can’t force them.”

“It would be so much easier if we could,” Gloria added.

“Do you need anything?” her mom asked.

“Are you sure you don’t want to drive here?” Gloria shouted. “You can make it in a day.”

“I’m sure. It’ll be okay.”