‘Rob brought some fruit over first thing this morning. He must have been listening when you were going on the other night about the dearth of healthy breakfast options.’

‘Was I? I don’t even remember,’ Elle lied.

‘Well, he certainly did. He was here at six a.m. with a pile of fresh fruit from SunBurst,’ she said referring to the popular organic produce store on Main Street.

‘How thoughtful.’

‘Exactly what I said,’ Penny’s grin widened.

‘So how did it all go with breakfast this morning?’

‘Not too bad,’ her sister said. ‘Apart from the dreaded early morning. I was here at four making muffins. Did you know Dad’s quite the dab hand at making pancakes?’

‘I wouldn’t have guessed that,’ said Elle.

‘Me neither. But they’re delicious. Not too far off Mum’s, either.’

There were a few guests dotted round the tables and they all looked reasonably satisfied, if you could tell such a thing, Elle thought.

‘I sent emails this morning cancelling existing bookings for the next month,’ Penny went on.

‘What? That’s jumping the gun a bit,’ Elle said, frowning.

‘Not really. There were only one or two, and I gave them vouchers to come back when we’re renovated. It’ll be fine. Absolutely fine.’

‘I hope so,’ said Elle, thinking it possibly wasn’t the finest idea to start cutting off existing revenue just yet. Not when she still had the bank to face. Suddenly, in the face of Penny’s new-found confidence, it had become a bigger hurdle to overcome.

Elle didn’t like asking for things, especially not for as much money as this.

She had briefly been in debt when she graduated from university, but she had worked hard, paid her bills, made a good living for herself, and compared to the rest of her family was able to live in great comfort. She owned her London flat outright and she quickly thought of her investment and savings accounts – she was by no means wealthy – but she wasn’t a pauper either. The thought occurred to her then that she might be able to invest some of her own money in the project.

But will I ever get it back? she asked herself. The idea of putting her own financial future at risk to pay off the hotel’s debt frightened her, especially when there was no guarantee for success.

As she drove Ned’s sputtering Cortina down the hill along the coast towards Main Street, she turned up the radio extra loud to try and chase the worries out of her head.