Even though it was no surprise to Elle (actually more reasonable than she’d anticipated) her sister’s eyes widened and she nodded gravely. ‘Well, it has to be done,’ she said. ‘Before the whole place falls down.’

‘Oh, that reminds me,’ Elle said. ‘Can you take a look at the room I’m in? There’s a leak above the bath.’

Elle and Rob went up the stairs to her room while Penny and Ned stayed behind and cleared things away.

‘Why aren’t you staying in your old room?’ he asked.

She shrugged lightly. ‘I don’t know. It felt too familiar, like Mum might walk in at any second. I worried I’d feel suffocated by memories there, I suppose.’

Rob nodded. He felt that this was the first honest thing that she had said to him since she had been home.

‘How’s your family?’ she asked.

He grinned. Elle had never got on with his mother and sister. He himself had always felt closer to the Harte family, as his mother was a hard woman with high standards and she had brought up his sister in her mirror. ‘I’m sure you’ll be delighted to hear that they are in fine fettle,’ he replied, with no small trace of amusement.

She smiled and it changed her face entirely, bringing him right back to those teenage years together. They went into the room she was staying in and Rob took note of the laptop sitting on the dressing table, and scattered papers and tubes containing, he supposed, important plans for important buildings in London. ‘Working on anything big?’ he asked.

She nodded. ‘It never stops.’

‘Well, how you will be able to handle all this and the hotel too?’

Elle sighed. ‘I’ll be honest, Rob. This has me worried. I’ve discovered some . . . stuff . . . about my parents’ finances and the state of this business – and well this is just a huge project – there are a lot of variables and moving parts – and not all of them automatically guarantee or lead to success . . .’

‘You never were a gambler,’ he said simply.

‘What does that mean?’ she said quickly, narrowing her eyes.

‘Hey, don’t be offended, I’m just stating the honest-to-God truth. You hedge your bets – and you like certainty.’

‘No, I like security,’ she clarified. ‘I don’t like making bad choices.’

Her words echoed through the room and were met with silence.

‘Have you made many? Bad choices that is,’ he asked then.

Rob guessed that they both knew were no longer talking about the hotel and the renovation project – and he felt momentarily worried that they had crossed over into dangerous territory.

‘I haven’t made any bad choices in a long time,’ she said assertively.

His voice was quiet. ‘The person I remember simply lived in the moment.’