He couldn’t even use the excuse of checking up on Elle, since he’d stupidly rung that morning. On the phone, Penny the eternal optimist, had seemed determined to make something out of a bad situation, and come up with some kind of solution to keep things going, but Rob couldn’t imagine what that solution could be.

Elle had painted a pretty grim picture of the hotel’s prospects the day before. Notwithstanding the renovation loan, the day-to-day financials were in pretty bad shape and the Hartes were heavily in debt to the bank already.

It sounded like the only thing to do was to shut the gates and let the estate agent hang the ‘For Sale’ sign. It was an image that made Rob sick to his heart. The place was like a second home to him and occupied a huge place in the history and community of the Bay, but it was more than that.

It symbolised Elle for him too, its ever-present silhouette on the landscape somehow linked with the knowledge that she was out in the world, doing something wondrous, and he liked to think of that. He would rather see it torn down than in other hands. It belonged in the Harte family, Elle’s family.

He supposed it was only a matter of time before she packed up and returned to London. He felt that there had been some deep misunderstanding between them yesterday, that they had both expressed themselves wrongly.

He hadn’t lied to Elle when he’d told her that he’d never been able to find anyone that was worth it – what he’d truly meant was that he’d never found anyone beside her that was worth it. He didn’t know if he could say what he felt to her now without making a complete idiot of himself, though, so perhaps it was best to stay away. He suspected that Penny knew how he felt, of course, but she wouldn’t say anything. She was a solid friend through and through.

He arrived at Ryan’s Antiques and Restorations on Main Street and entered the shadowy store. He had told a couple he was doing some work for up the coast that he would look for some Victorian era ceiling moulds for them. If anyone had them around here, Wally Ryan would. He and Rob were about the same age and had gone to school together, and Wally had inherited the place a few years back from Arthur, his father.