Ella smiled. ‘Dolores, you’ve been in here less than twenty-four hours, there’s nothing to miss!’

‘There’s always something to miss. Did you go and pick up your uniform at The Lakehouse?’

Ella nodded. ‘Yes I did!’

‘And what did you think of the place?’

Ella brought her hands up to her heart. ‘What an absolutely stunning location, the whole place has a magical feel about it.’

‘I’m going to book and Hamish can take me for lunch. I can’t wait to see the place again, it holds such very special memories for me. I can picture it now, packed to the rafters, the pianist playing on the grand piano, exquisite food, and does it still have the separate roof terrace? Many glasses of champagne have been drunk on that roof terrace!’

‘It sure does, and I can’t wait to start work there, even though I’m not sure how long I will be there.’ Ella scrunched up her face.

‘Why, are you planning on moving on so soon?’ Dolores reached for the glass of water at the side of her bed, but her eyes were still on Ella.

‘I wasn’t intending to, but the way things are going, that pianist will be playing to himself.’ Ella shared with Dolores the news that The Lakehouse wasn’t doing as well as Flynn had hoped, and that it was already losing money.

‘Word of mouth… reputation. The Lakehouse never had to advertise. Anyone who was anyone knew it was there.’ Dolores was thinking out loud. ‘That place is full of history, it’s an iconic establishment, it can’t shut again. That place launched my career. Anyone who was anyone performed there on a Thursday evening. It was a club for the rich and famous. I still have my little black book…’ Dolores gave Ella a knowing look. ‘I have the phone number of every person who ever performed there. Sadly, now some have passed away, but the majority of us are still hanging on for dear life.’

‘Tell me how you started out. We saw a photo of you in an old album over at The Lakehouse.’ Ella was loving this conversation. She could picture Dolores hanging out with the rich and famous back in the day.

‘By accident!’ chuckled Dolores.

‘Tell me more?’ Ella was genuinely interested.