She couldn’t imagine that Ned would have the heart or indeed the wherewithal for anything with Anna gone. Penny pushed the thought of the fate of the hotel out of her mind. It would have to wait. She couldn’t deal with any of that just now; and it was something she and Elle would need to talk about together when the time was right.

Elle. She felt heart-sick at the thought of her sister. As bad as Penny was feeling, at least she still lived in Mulberry Bay and was just down the road when all of this happened. She helped out at the hotel and saw Anna every day, had only spoken to her mother yesterday, their last conversation a stupid and meaningless discussion about a linen change in the guest rooms.

But how must her sister feel right now, being away in London? She adored her mother more than anyone else in the world, Penny knew that. Elle was a very strong, stable person, and most of the time went around wearing armour, but Anna was the chink in that armour. Last night on the phone, Penny could only hear her sister’s ragged breathing, the sound of something dropping as she broke the news. Elle had said: ‘I’ll get the next flight home.’ And then nothing. She had hung up, and Penny hadn’t had time to talk to her about anything more.

Elle had been one of those who moved away from Mulberry Bay. In fact, she’d seemed desperate to escape.

Penny was happy to stay behind, helping her parents out with the hotel, and working part time at the local tourist office, while Elle had gone for grand adventures in countries all over the world, testing her limits with bungee-jumping, trekking through jungles, eating wild locusts. Then she had become an architect, the hard edges of the buildings she designed seeming to match the edges of Elle herself. She had come home now and again for visits and holidays, treating the town she grew up in almost like a tourist would: admiring its beauty and the more relaxed pace of life, but in the end itching to get back to the city and her work there.

Last time she had visited, almost a year ago, Penny had enquired if there was anyone special in London.

‘I don’t have time for love,’ her sister had replied easily.

‘Don’t you get lonely, though?’