“You could go without me this year.” The more she thought about it, the more excited she was. As a child she’d longed to be taken along on her mother’s travels. This was the perfect time. They’d bond over the adventures. Emerge with a new closeness.

“It wouldn’t be the same without you.” Sean’s appalled expression made her feel better about life.

She’d started to feel that people saw her only as a killjoy. Someone to put the brakes on their more impulsive decisions.

But Sean wanted her there.

Perhaps all that was wrong with their marriage was that they’d stopped creating time for themselves as a couple.

“You’d miss me?”

“Of course.” Sean, who had obviously decided that nothing but coffee was going to get him through the weekend, was pouring a third cup. “How would we manage without you? I don’t even know where we get the keys for the place. You always deal with the scary Madame Laroux. You’re the best French speaker. And then there’s the food. We’d probably starve if you weren’t there.”

The excitement oozed out of Liza.

He wanted her there because she made his life easy? That was it?

Did he even love her? Not her organizational abilities, but her, Liza, the woman he’d married?

“I’m sure you’re capable of booking a restaurant.” And now she was even more determined to go with her mother. It would bring them closer and also give Sean and the girls the opportunity to see how much she did for them.

“Don’t panic, Sean,” her mother said. “I appreciate the offer, but I don’t want Liza to drive me. She would be the wrong person for this kind of trip.”

The rejection tore open an old scar. She’d been eight years old and clinging as her mother had walked out the door. Take me with you! On one occasion she’d even sneaked her own packing into her mother’s case and then howled when it was gently removed.

“Why would I be the wrong person?”

“Apart from the fact you love your annual trip to France and you’d resent not being there, you like everything to be in your control, and on a trip like this nothing is going to be in your control. You would worry about your family constantly and spend half your time phoning home. And you’d nag me to eat the right things and be careful. It would be stressful for both of us.” Kathleen smoothed the map flat on the table. “This is one trip I’m doing alone.”

She’d done every trip alone, Liza thought, absorbing the pain while outwardly keeping herself composed. She should be used to rejection by now, so why did it hurt so much?