“He’s stupider than dirt, and I was pretty convincing.” She trudged through the rest of it. “Then I said you had a mental problem—I’m really sorry about that—and I promised I’d make sure you got psychiatric help.”

“A mental problem?”

“It was all I could come up with.”

“Other than butting out of my business?” He slammed down his mug, sending coffee sloshing over the table.

“I couldn’t do that.”

“Why not? Who gave you permission to run my life?”

“No one. But …”

His temper had a long fuse, but now it fired. “What’s with you and this place?”

“It’s not me, Kevin, it’s you! You’ve lost both your parents, and you’re determined to keep Lilly at arm’s length. You don’t have any brothers and sisters—any extended family at all. Staying connected with your heritage is important, and this campground is all you have!”

“I don’t care about my heritage! And, believe me, I have a lot more than this campground!”

“What I’m trying to say is—”

“I have millions of dollars I haven’t been stupid enough to give away—let’s start with that! I have cars, a luxury house, a stock portfolio that’ll keep me smiling for a long time. And guess what else I have? I have a career that I wouldn’t let an army of self-serving do-gooders steal from me.”

She clenched her hands together. “What do you mean by that?”

“Explain something to me. Explain how you justify spending so much time minding my business instead of taking care of your own?”

“I do take care of it.”

“When? For two weeks you’ve been plotting and scheming over this campground instead of putting your energy where it belongs. You have a career that’s going down the toilet. When are you going to start fighting the good fight for your rabbit instead of lying down and playing dead?”

“I haven’t done that! You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“You know what I think? I think your obsession with my life and this campground is just a way of distracting yourself from what you need to be doing with your own life.”

How had he managed to turn the conversation? “You don’t understand anything. Daphne Takes a Tumble is the first book on a new contract. They won’t accept anything else from me until I revise it.”

“You don’t have any guts.”

“That’s not true! I did all I could to convince my editor she’d made a mistake, but Birdcage won’t budge.”

“Hannah told me about Daphne Takes a Tumble. She said it’s your best book. Too bad she’ll be the only kid who gets to read it.” He gestured toward the notepad she’d left on the couch. “Then there’s the new one you’re working on. Daphne Goes to Summer Camp.”