Romance novels usually run 60,000–90,000 words over 25–40 chapters, at roughly 2,000–3,500 words a chapter. This outline: 22 chapters of about 3,400 words (74,800 total).
Chapters 1–6 · ≈20,400 words
Open the lido for the first Saturday of the season
The February survey is taped to the gate when she arrives
The surveyor named on the letterhead is Ovide Maartens
Nell
3,400
Take the first readings and be gone before anyone opens up
Nell is already on the steps with the log book
He agrees to a month of tidal readings, and to a key
Ovide
3,400
Get the seasonal license application in before the March committee
The form now wants a structural note on the wall
Only one person can write that note, and only honestly
Nell
3,400
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Chapters 1–6 · ≈20,400 words
Find out why the 1954 wall was never repaired
The council's 2019 file is closed to him
Sam mentions, in passing, that there was a grant
Ovide
3,400
Run the Tuesday beginners as though nothing has changed
Two members resign over the survey notice on the gate
Aleyna asks, in front of everyone, what Nell is not saying
Nell
3,400
Hand the key back and keep the month professional
The gate jams on a spring tide and he is the only one there
Forty-one turns of the crank together, and neither of them leaves
Ovide
3,400
Chapters 7–17 · ≈37,400 words
Take the readings without discussing ten years ago
Four hours a day, twice a day, in the same small room
He says he wrote to her. She says nothing ever arrived
Nell
3,400
Price the demolition option, as instructed
Every honest number keeps the lido open two more winters
He files the first half and leaves the recommendation blank
Ovide
3,400
Get the 2019 file before the council reads it into anything
It can only be requested in person, by the original applicant
Nell requests it in her own name, and the clerk remembers her
Nell
3,400
Do one thing for the place that is not a measurement
He has no business in the changing rooms at midnight
She finds him rehanging the door and makes tea instead of asking
Ovide
3,400
Teach a frightened sixty-year-old to put her face in the water
The member is Speight's sister, and the council is watching
Ovide watches the whole lesson from the top step
Nell
3,400
Swim the winter mile and keep it light
Sixty-four lengths is an hour of nobody interrupting
On the walk back she tells him about the 2019 letter
Ovide
3,400
Get the license hearing date confirmed
The committee clerk will not confirm anything in writing
The hearing is moved forward three weeks, without notice
Nell
3,400
File the second half of the survey
The honest version condemns the wall and closes the lido with it
He asks for an extension and is refused in one line
Ovide
3,400
Find one more funder before the hearing
Every application asks whether public money has been refused before
Nell answers that question truthfully for the first time
Nell
3,400
Keep Sam out of it
The council writes to Sam directly, as a named witness
Sam resigns rather than answer, and the insurers withdraw
Nell
3,400
Get the insurers back for eight weeks
They will not cover a pool below a condemned wall
Speight lodges the 2019 refusal as evidence
Ovide
3,400
Chapters 18–22 · ≈17,000 words
Finish the survey the way the evidence goes
The evidence now includes what she told him in confidence
He files it complete, with the 2019 refusal in the appendix
Ovide
3,400
Open on a Tuesday like any other Tuesday
The closure notice is taped to her own gate
She reads his name on it and does not go inside
Nell
3,400
Explain himself before the hearing
She will not be in a room with him
He leaves the full appendix on the log book and says nothing
Ovide
3,400
Speak at the hearing before Speight can
Going first means reading her aunt's letter aloud, envelope and all
She reads it, and asks the council to fund the rebuild
Nell
3,400
Hand over the finished survey and go
The rebuild he designed takes two winters and needs somebody on site
He takes the contract, and the sixtieth season opens in June
Ovide
3,400