And that was how she’d lived her life: purposefully. She’d wanted adventure; she’d got it. She’d wanted a career, and now some of the buildings she’d designed might be famous one day. Elle didn’t know how she’d get through her days in London now without Anna’s regular emails, her little jokes about the townspeople and her gentle words of encouragement. She had always told herself she loved the city, loved its great bursts of energy, so many people struggling to fit into one small space all at once; the noise, the smells, the anonymity, but the truth was that sometimes she had to steel herself against it. Sometimes she longed for calm, and the only thing that could get her out the door was thinking of a message from Anna: ‘So proud of my clever girl – go and build me a castle.’ She seemed to think Elle and Penny had each hung the moon, despite how different they both were.

She tried to remember the last conversation she’d had with her mother. They’d talked about all the usual things, laughed over some misunderstanding Anna had had with Ned. He’d spoken too quietly when he told her what he wanted for his dinner: she’d made him a cake, when he’d asked for hake.

‘Oh, I knew what he wanted,’ her mother had admitted mischievously. ‘I always know what he wants. But I just thought it would teach him to speak up a bit. I think he enjoyed the cake.’

An avid music fan, Ned Harte was a deep thinker, and oftentimes silent above all else. An engineer by profession, but long retired, her father had always been cerebral, reserved, and analytical. Ultimately, he was the complete opposite of his buoyant, cheery wife who chatted happily with hotel guests, bubbled over in enthusiasm for making everyone comfortable at all times, and was always keen to know the life story of everyone who walked through the front doors.

Ned, however, had always appeared detached from the operations, despite it being the only source of income for his family. Elle wondered now what would happen to the place, which doubled as the family home and as Penny’s place of work.

Penny and Ned both worked at the hotel, but it had always been Anna’s passion. Her dad and sister had operated largely in the background, while it was her mum who’d kept on top of the day-to-day running of the place as well as the business side, keeping accounts, paying taxes etc. For as long as Elle could remember, her father’s passion was his beloved Beatles music, not the The Bay Hotel, and with her mother gone, she wondered what exactly would happen next with her family’s home and long-standing business.

Thinking again of that story about the cake, she certainly knew that there would be no such carefree joy in her family again.