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Tula was ecstatic. The hotel seemed perfect, the couple members of staff she’d met so far were friendly, and she and Dot had really hit it off. Bumping into Riley in the town parking lot had turned out to be a massive stroke of luck. Best of all, when she’d mentioned in passing that her friend down here was Sophie, it transpired that Dot knew her too.
    â€œOf course I do! Sophie’s a gem; she did all the photos for our brochure. Now, why don’t I show you around and you can meet some more people, get a feel for the place…?”
    â€œI’d love to.” Tula was scarcely able to believe her luck. Over the last few months, she’d become far more accustomed to everything in her life going pear-shaped.
    Less than three minutes later, life reverted to type. Having made their way upstairs to the first landing, they bumped into Josh, who did an unceremonious double take when he saw her.
    â€œJosh, perfect timing! It looks as if we have ourselves a replacement for Lisa. Isn’t that great? Say hello to—”
    â€œTula. I know. Hang on.” Josh’s brow furrowed as he surveyed Tula. “You haven’t seriously applied for a job here, have you?”
    â€œWhy not?” Her heart began to gallop. “It’s allowed.”
    Puzzled, Dot said, “Why ever shouldn’t she?”
    At that moment Tula glanced out of the landing window and experienced the click of a final jigsaw piece slotting into place. On Saturday she’d climbed the stone steps from the beach and ended up on the grounds of a hotel whose name she’d paid no attention to. It was where she’d first bumped into Josh Strachan, who co-owned it with his grandmother. But when Riley had driven her here today, they’d parked on the driveway at the front of the hotel, and it hadn’t occurred to her that he’d brought her to the same place.
    â€œWhy shouldn’t she?” Josh echoed. “Because she’s not the kind of person you’d want to employ. She lies to her boss, doesn’t turn up for work, and isn’t bothered about letting other members of staff down.” Turning to Tula he said, “What are you doing back here anyway? Why aren’t you in Birmingham?”
    Since denying everything clearly wasn’t going to work, Tula blurted out, “Look, it was one tiny mistake and I’ve paid for it. I hate Birmingham, I can’t stay in my flat, and taking that photo of you ended up costing me my job.”
    â€œAh, so it’s my fault?”
    â€œNo, I’m just telling you what happened!”
    â€œFine. And I’m telling you what’s not going to happen.” Josh was shaking his head. “You’re not going to be offered a job in this hotel.”
    â€œOh, but—”
    â€œI mean it.” He held up his hand, cutting off Dot’s protest. “Of course you like her, because she seems so nice, but I heard her on the phone on Saturday, calling her boss pretending to be sick so she could spend the weekend down here drinking at the Mermaid and flirting with men.” He paused. “Chiefly Riley Bryant.”
    Although it wasn’t the moment to say so, the one she’d most wanted to flirt with had actually been Josh himself.
    But the look of disappointment on Dot’s face was more than Tula could bear. Her perfect job was evaporating in front of her like dry ice.
    â€œOh, please, it was just one shift. I swear to God I’ve never, ever done it before, and I’ll never do it again.”
    â€œYou won’t be doing it here, that’s for sure.” Josh was implacable, unmoved. “We need people who are honest and reliable. And you don’t appear to be either of those things.”
    â€œBut I am ,” Tula pleaded. “And it was your friend Riley who told me about this job. He was the one who brought me here!”
    A brief eye roll greeted this statement. “Why doesn’t