The shouting discombobulated her. The Pirellis’ office could lurch from relaxed to frenetic in a short space of time, but the vibe was always upbeat. The only time Alice ever heard Nick raise his voice was during a race—captain’s privilege—or to save someone from injuring themselves or a boat. He ran his business on the tenets of respect, responsibility and the expectation of high standards, and he always rewarded a job well done. His staff loved working for him and most went the extra mile every time, because they knew he worked as hard as they did. Brodie, the apprentice diesel mechanic, was a perfect example. He’d told Alice over a beer at one of the Friday staff barbecues, “If it wasn’t for Nick, I’d still be doing shit or be locked up like my old man. I dunno why he ever trusted me that first day to wash a boat.”

“He probably thought you were safer on the boat working than lurking around the marina unsupervised.”

Brodie gave her a cheeky grin. “Yeah, Nick’s not stupid. At first, I only rocked up every day for the boats. After a while he figured I liked engines. He kept banging on about me doing an apprenticeship and one day he drives me up to community college. I never knew playing with engines was a job.”

But now this understanding man with the patience of a saint was yelling at someone.

“What’s going on?”

“I don’t know.” Missy wrung her hands. “You saw him this morning. He was his usual happy self but when he came back with the coffees he was seriously pissed. I’ve been avoiding him, but poor Jannick’s copping it. I mean, I know the dude’s late with his visitor regional work form, but …”

A subdued Jannick slunk out of the office clutching his 1263 form and exchanged a look with Missy that was both beleaguered and aggrieved. “What is his prob—Oh, hello, Alice.”

“Hi, Jannick.” She threw the backpacker what she hoped was a sympathetic smile before grabbing two cans of drink from the retail fridge. “I promise I’ll pay for these before I leave.” She walked into Nick’s office.

Nick was staring out the window watching two swans diving for lunch among the weeds, their large black feet flapping wildly and working as a counterbalance. As he turned to face her, Alice saw deep lines carved around his eyes and mouth, and a slump to his shoulders that she hadn’t seen since baby Dom’s funeral. If Dom had been born at term, he’d be turning two soon. Was the absence of a happy little boy toddling around playing on Nick’s mind?

By the time Alice had returned to the bay nursing her own grief for a relationship she hadn’t known was dead, along with an abrupt stop it had brought to her career, both Libby and Nick had lost the haunted look of grieving parents. Working for Nick this summer, she hadn’t noticed any overt signs of sorrow and, the other night, she’d been struck by how relaxed and happy he and Libby were together. Alice scuttled mourning as a reason for Nick’s uncharacteristic outburst with Jannick.