Penny’s mouth dropped open, and she stared at her sister, shocked. ‘You mean you’re going to run away?’

Elle laughed. ‘Don’t be such a baby. No, I’m not going to run away. But when I’m seventeen, and finish school, I’m definitely leaving. Only five more years. And then I can go to college, somewhere that isn’t here, somewhere glamorous and sophisticated and exciting.’

Her younger sister pondered this new information and sat quiet for a moment, as if trying to picture a world where Elle couldn’t be found a couple of doors down the hallway from her own bedroom. ‘Do you mean like Dublin?’

Elle looked out toward the horizon, where the ship was fading into the distance, going on to places and ports unknown.

‘Maybe even further than Dublin,’ she said wistfully.

Penny processed this and bit her lip, as if willing herself not to become upset by her beloved big sister’s impending departure.

Noticing the silence, Elle smiled and placed an arm around her shoulder.

‘Hey kid, don’t worry,’ she said (Elle always felt very grown-up and worldly when she referred to Penny as ‘kid’), ‘I’m not going anywhere yet. Besides, you might want to ski-daddle one of these days, too.’

But Penny was already shaking her head adamantly. ‘No, I never want to leave Mum and Dad or the hotel. I love it here. Mulberry Bay is my home.’

Elle repressed the urge to roll her eyes – her mother was always telling her that it wasn’t polite. ‘All teenagers do it in the movies, Mum, it’s what you are supposed to do. I’m simply expressing myself,’ she had argued.

‘I don’t care if Molly Ringwald walks around with her eyes constantly in the top of her skull. It’s not nice to have a perpetual look of disdain on your face,’ scolded her mother, ending the discussion. Elle had rolled her eyes but Anna didn’t catch it as she had been walking away.

‘Well, OK,’ Elle said, making an effort not to belittle her younger sister’s (misguided) intentions to remain in their hometown forever. ‘You can just come and visit me then. Wherever I’m living. In Dublin or London with my gorgeously handsome and insanely successful husband.’

Penny’s eyes were as big as saucers. ‘But where will you live? And where will you meet your husband?’ she asked, wonder in her voice, as if Elle’s words were law and the future was certain.