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Callum followed her into the house, with Liv by his side. But instead of the usual comfort she offered, having her so near made things worse. Every step felt a little heavier until his legs felt like solid lead that he had to drag up the couple of steps to the back door. How was he going to tell them that they — along with the whole surgery — were about to lose their jobs? His brother had just proposed to Evelyn, and weddings weren’t cheap. And he knew neither of them were well off, with Summer’s treatments draining their savings, even with the help of the community’s fundraising.

And Liv? She was only supposed to be temporary, but he’d hoped so, so much that she could have made her permanent home in Broclington. The withdrawn, anxious city doctor — still healing from her past — that he’d met so recently had disappeared, melting away in the warm village community that she’d so quickly become a part of, to leave a bright, caring, beautiful person who was becoming incredibly important to him and his daughter. Now that hope was dashed.

Evelyn closed the door on the small sitting room and turned to look at him. ‘All right, Callum. Spit it out.’

He took a deep breath. She was right. There was no point trying to make this hurt any less than it was going to. It was like setting a dislocated joint: sometimes you just needed to accept that the only way to help someone would cause them pain before they got relief. ‘It was the local lead from the clinical commissioning group.’ He could feel their eager eyes on him, and hated himself for the pain he knew the next words would cause. ‘It’s not the answer we wanted.’

‘They turned us down?’ Evelyn’s voice was a whisper of disbelief.

Callum nodded slowly.

‘Oh no! This is all my fault.’ Liv’s face was ashen, her eyes filled with tears. ‘I’m so, so sorry.’

‘You’re not to blame.’ Callum reached out to her, but she yanked her arm away from his touch.

‘I bloody well am! I suggested going too far. What the hell was I thinking? I’m not from around here. I clearly had no idea what they wanted and now . . .’ She took a ragged breath which tore at Callum’s heart. ‘Now you’re going to lose the surgery.’

‘Liv . . .’ She didn’t flinch when he wrapped his arms around her shoulders, so he took it as permission to pull her in tighter. ‘Your idea was good, they really liked it.’

‘Just not enough to invest or commit their money to.’

‘There’s just not enough money to go round.’

‘How do you know they liked it?’ Evelyn asked.

‘The feedback was really good, and the offer they made—’

‘What offer? You didn’t mention any offer.’

‘That’s because it’s a pointless one. It would never work.’ Callum wished he hadn’t let the words slip out. There was no way they would be able to meet the terms of the offer, and he didn’t want to dash their hopes further. It was too unkind. They’d all worked so hard, and invested so much — in his family’s case, for decades — to take any more pain.

‘What wouldn’t work?’ Evelyn watched him with narrowed eyes.

Liv pushed away from him and matched Evelyn’s stare. ‘What do you mean? There’s something you’re not telling us. What is it?’

‘It’s nothing.’

‘Sounds like something,’ Liv argued, the colour returning to her cheeks.

‘They did make an offer—’

‘What! Why didn’t you tell us?’ Evelyn demanded.

‘Because it’s a pointless one.’

‘They wouldn’t have made it, if that was true.’

‘Maybe you should tell us what the offer is and let us decide for ourselves.’ Liv’s eyes were filled with so much hope that he found himself forced to look away. It was preferable to seeing the light fade from her eyes and sadness take over again.

* * *

Callum refused to meet her gaze as he spoke. ‘They like the proposal and offered to put up just over one point five million.’

‘That’s fantastic!’ Evelyn exclaimed.

‘There’s more, though, isn’t there?’ Liv could hear the hesitation in his voice. He was holding something back.

‘The condition is that it’s a match-funding deal. We have to put up the rest of the money: three hundred and ninety thousand give or take.’