Penny drove Ned’s battered old Ford Cortina down to the centre of town, and they had to run from the car to the restaurant.

Rain was coming down in buckets; it was awful to be outside in this weather, but Penny had been adamant they should still head for a bite in the SugarTree Restaurant, despite Elle’s suggestion that they wait till the following night. What with her job in the tourist office and helping out at the hotel, Penny didn’t get out all that much, Elle supposed, and wondered idly if she had anyone special in her life.

She knew her little sister hadn’t had much luck in love over the years, giving too much of herself too easily as always, though in truth she and Penny hadn’t talked about that kind of thing for a while. By rights men should be tripping up over her little sister, but chances were, her unashamed openness scared them away.

The inside of the SugarTree had been modernised since Elle was there last. A Mulberry Bay institution, it had been in business for as long as she could remember and was popular with tourists and locals alike. The food, good hearty Irish fare, was delicious, which made up for the restaurant’s surly proprietor, Anthony. Elle still couldn’t work out how someone so lacking in basic cheer got away with running such a successful business, but luckily his friendlier staff and reliable food more than made up for it.

The interior was clean and modern. Blonde wood, simple furnishings. Dim lights sat in brackets in the walls, and for a rainy week-night the place looked busy. Elle couldn’t help but contrast this to the empty dining room at the hotel.

She was confused for a moment when she saw Penny head directly to a table at which sat none other than Rob Callahan. She felt a flush of uncharacteristic embarrassment.

‘I invited him,’ her sister was saying, ‘so he could give us a bit more insight in terms of the renovation side. I hope you don’t mind.’

‘No,’ Elle replied, swallowing the thing in her throat that felt a little like joy. ‘No, that’s fine.’

But all through dinner she felt like she was an insect stuck in amber. Gamely she struggled to act and speak like a normal person, the kind of person she was at client dinners in London. Sparkling, sharp, quick to wit, yet ever so slightly unattainable.

But try as she might, she couldn’t get away with that here. Rob and Penny knew her too well, knew the skinny, unsure teenager she once was. Penny knew about her awful fear of spiders, the way she had run crying to their father when they had spotted an enormous one in the ballroom when they were children. And she had confided all of her hopes and dreams to Rob when they camped out on the beach as teenagers.