But all day long, he was asked about the Bay Hotel. From his coffee order at Pebbles Café, to buying paints from the hardware shop, or steaks for his dinner at the butcher’s, he had to break the news again and again: the hotel would have no choice but to close, for good. He wasn’t even sure it was his news to tell, but he couldn’t lie to people.

He was met by disbelief, disappointment, and downright despondency. He didn’t say that the new bank manager was responsible, but people could read between the lines, and they were angry about it.

The Bay Hotel belonged to all of them in a way. It was the site of their most treasured memories. Rob was regaled with tales of proposals, weddings, courtships, birthdays, graduations, celebrations for the sake of celebration, until he was ready to burst with other people’s memories.

His own recollections were of a somewhat more intimate kind: long hours spent with Elle in the garden, lounging under the huge eucalyptus trees, telling her things he hadn’t told anyone, then or since. And then later, joking with Anna over the bar, giving Penny brotherly advice, teasing her. He had taken his place in the family, and while it pained him to hear occasional news of Elle, he also had to admit to himself that this was one of the reasons he kept coming back there.

But one thing was obvious: everyone in Mulberry Bay cared about the fate of the hotel. They had let it sit there for years, safe in the knowledge that it would always be there, perched up there on the hill, in the shadow of the sugarloaf, watching over the town like a sentinel. The idea of it being taken away had got people fired up. The town wouldn’t be the same without it, they all said.

Their passion for the place had started an idea flickering at the edges of Rob’s brain. This thought, though still vague, was enough to get him driving towards the hotel later that afternoon, sure that if he talked it over with Elle and Penny, something might take hold.

Chapter 12

Elle and Penny had been doing some thinking of their own for most of the morning, but it had resulted in no such revelations. They had a big list, written by Penny, of positives about the hotel that could be exploited somehow: its prime location, the history and romance of the place, its way of making you feel you had gone back to a more glamorous time, the many moments that had been celebrated between its walls.

‘We don’t really advertise weddings enough,’ Penny said. ‘People here know about us, of course, but we could be reaching out to couples in Dublin. It’s a unique location.’