‘A bit,’ Anna admitted, with a smile. ‘And as it happens, I’ve already failed on that front.’

‘Oh?’

‘I met an old man as I came in,’ Anna explained. ‘Didn’t want me to park in the residents’ area.’

‘Ahh,’ Pat said. ‘Carried a cane? Looked as if he could have gone ten rounds with Tyson back in the day?’

‘That sounds about right.’

‘Douglas McKean,’ Pat said, with a sigh. ‘Oh dear. Don’t take it personally. It’s not about you, it’s about the Fishergirl’s Luck. Some dispute over ownership that goes back literally decades. He hated Bren because of it too. Although to be honest, I don’t think there’s a soul on this earth that man actually likes. Except Old Robbie, perhaps. Douglas is the last of the Crovie born and bred and he’s got a chip on his shoulder about us incomers. I should sympathize, I suppose, but I don’t, really. He works hard at being unpleasant.’

Anna smiled, obscurely relieved to hear she wasn’t the sole focus of the old man’s anger. ‘How long have you lived here?’

‘Frank and I bought the business about fifteen years ago. It was our retirement plan. Perhaps not the best idea we’ve ever had, but I can’t imagine living anywhere else now.’

‘Business?’

Pat offered Anna the plate of shortbread. ‘We run this place as a B&B in season and we’ve also got another one of the houses further along as a self-catering rental. That’s where Frank is now, doing a bit of fixing up. Both get quieter every year, but then again, we’re not as young as we were so that’s perhaps for the best. We love it here, though. But you, Anna – what brings you to Crovie?’

‘Oh,’ Anna said, looking down into her mug. ‘It’s a long story. Actually, no – it’s not long at all. It’s just not a particularly interesting or unique one. My father died and left me some money at about the same time that a long – very long – relationship finally fizzled out. I realized I was about to hit forty with nothing to my name but what would fit in my dad’s old car. I was looking through my parents’ photo albums as I packed up their house. They’d done a driving tour of Scotland for their honeymoon and there was a picture of them in Crovie. It seemed such an amazing place that I looked it up online, and that’s how I found the Fishergirl’s Luck. I bought it on impulse, because after selling Mum and Dad’s place I could afford it without a mortgage and I needed somewhere to live. I vaguely thought it would be a fresh start…’ She looked up at Pat with a lopsided smile. ‘Not the best idea I’ve ever had, either.’