And then there was Rob, handsome, slightly shy, but who felt to Elle like cool, still water on a hot day. All she could think about was Rob, Rob, Rob, and she had been protective of her feelings, of their conversations and promises, not wanting to tell Penny anything when she came knocking at her bedroom door.

Elle thought now that that was the thing about teenage love. Part of you knew it could never last, so you built up little walls around it, grew defensive and slightly embarrassed about the intensity of it. But it didn’t matter how you tried to shield it in the end, it would be lost anyway.

After her shower she fell into bed, suddenly exhausted. All night long, the wind howled in the eaves of the hotel, and the drip above the bath entered her dreams as she tossed and turned. In her dreams she saw Penny, but a mean-faced Penny, not really her sister, who didn’t say anything to her at all, just smiled cruelly and shook her head, as though there was something Elle had missed, something she couldn’t see.

Chapter 5

When Elle woke the next morning, two things were different. There was a gap in her ears where the wind had been howling the night before, and a weight at the end of her bed. She sat up to find Penny sitting there, as patient and imperturbable as a yogi.

‘What are you doing?’ she asked ‘How long have you been there?’ She felt irritated and self-conscious. Had she been talking in her sleep? Snoring maybe?

‘Not long. Just enough to catch the last few minutes of your sleep and to see that you’re not quite as attractive in slumber.’

‘Shut up,’ said Elle and threw a pillow, which missed by miles. She didn’t know why Penny was playing the annoying little sister today, but she didn’t altogether mind it.

‘You were certainly in a bad mood last night,’ Penny ventured.

Elle was surprised that her sister would even mention it. Usually, she preferred to ignore awkward situations and conflict. It was perhaps why she’d always found Ned so difficult to handle. While Elle accepted his gruff mannerisms and silence for what they were – simply their father’s nature – Penny internalised them and turned them into something greater, something hurtful.

‘I wasn’t exactly in a bad mood . . .’ she argued. She eyed her sister. ‘Maybe I just resented being the third wheel . . .’

‘Is that how you felt?’ said Penny, her face impassive. ‘Well, I think that you might be misreading things, but I’m sorry that you felt that way.’

‘What exactly do you think I’m misreading?’ Elle pressed. She was becoming annoyed afresh. Was Penny taunting her?