By the time breakfast was over, she felt quite left out. Again. She would have been almost angry if Penny hadn’t turned to her and said: ‘Why don’t we go for a walk along the beach, Elle, and you can tell me about this idea of yours?’

Then she looked at Colin and Elle saw some kind of private communication pass between them. What on earth . . .?

‘I need to talk to you about something else anyway,’ she said. ‘And we can all discuss what to do about the hotel later.’ Penny smiled at her sister. ‘For the moment, I’m just glad to have you back.’

It was another beautiful spring day, everything in perpetual motion, a light brisk wind in the air. The surface of the sand eddied around Elle and Penny like a golden stream.

Elle was reeling by the time her sister finished outlining her story about their father’s albums, and how Penny was now like a crazy woman, trying to track down and replace the entire catalogue.

‘Are you serious?’ she said, when Penny finally paused for breath. ‘As if we didn’t have enough to think about.’

‘Didn’t you hear what I said? Dad gave up all of those albums for me, for us! Our family. You know it must’ve been a huge sacrifice for him, especially with how he is about music.’

‘I know what you’re saying but I just can’t . . .’ She just couldn’t get her head around the notion that Penny seriously believed she could get an entire first edition Beatles collection back. It could take months, years even. If at all.

Once again her sister was setting herself up for disappointment. This couldn’t work.

And yet . . .

Wasn’t the same sentiment part of Elle’s reason for returning? Wasn’t she, too, trying to restore something, something that would help heal the fractures that had developed in this family? So if this was so important to Penny, (and she had to admit it tugged at her heart too, to imagine their dad giving up his beloved collection for their sake) maybe she should get on board and help her out.

She guessed she had a better sense than Penny of the value of such things, and certainly had more means, and from what Penny had told her about the cost of her most recent purchase, it seemed as though her meagre budget would be used up in no time. So Elle would go with her to meet this guy on Saturday, and like Colin sensibly pointed out, ensure that he wasn’t an axe-murderer for a start.

Penny took a piece of paper out of her pocket and handed it to her. ‘This is what I’ve got so far.’

Elle read through the list of records, surprised at how much progress her sister had made in such a short space of time.

‘You’ll help me?’ Penny asked hopefully.