“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.

A cell phone buzzed on his desk. He didn’t move to answer it.

“You okay?”

He rubbed his face and sighed as if she was yet another problem on a very long list. “What can I do for you, Alice?”

She held up the cans and sat down without being invited. “It’s hot and I’ve finished cleaning Wanderer. She needs a few minor repairs.” Sipping her drink, she ran through the manifest, reading it upside down while Nick made some notes next to her own.

“Thanks. Customers, eh? Can’t live without them but, jeez, sometimes …”

Everyone moaned privately about difficult customers and there was a punching bag in one of the storage sheds so people could vent if required. But Nick believed most people only complained if their expectations weren’t met and it was everyone’s job to meet them. It was why Pirellis’ won both state and national tourism awards each year. Alice knew Nick thrived on turning a difficult customer into a grateful one so it was unusual for him to allow anyone to ruffle him.

She recalled what Missy had said about Nick being out of sorts after his visit to the café and, matching the information with his body language on the jetty, she decided to wade right in. “Did a customer tick you off or was it Jess?”

Nick’s open face shut down and his eyes narrowed warily as if Alice had just crossed a line. She held up her hands. “I’m not criticizing her. It’s just when I was emptying the upholstery cleaner, I noticed the two of you talking and Jess didn’t look happy.”