Katie’s eyes expressed relief. “That’s great, then!” She walked across to the kitchen sink, which was situated in front of the window nearest the stove, and opened up the cupboard beneath it. “There’s some cleaning stuff in there, and”—she got down on her hands and knees and put her head into the cupboard, and there was an immediate sound of trickling water above in the roof space—“that’s your water turned on.” She got to her feet and pulled open a door next to the stove. “And there’s a mop and bucket and a vacuum cleaner in there.”

“Okay,” said Dan. “Just leave us to it, then.”

“Would you mind if I did?” Katie asked. “I really have to make sure that Patrick’s all right before I go to work.”

“Of course. We can easily cope here.”

“Good. And then you must both come over to the house for lunch, say about half-past one? I think Patrick is pretty eager to take you into Seascape this afternoon, so maybe after that you could go to the supermarket in Fort William and buy some provisions for yourselves.” She turned to Josh. “I don’t know what plans you have, Josh, but Patrick said that, if you wanted, he could give you a job in the factory.”

“Nice one!” replied Josh enthusiastically. “That would be sound.”

“Right then. Well, best of luck and we’ll see you at lunch.”

Having pulled the Saab up onto the side of the track to allow Katie to reverse down to the road, both Dan and Josh watched as she accelerated away, giving a short blast on the horn before disappearing around a bend in the road. Dan shot a sideways glance at Josh and snorted out a laugh. “Bit of a change of lifestyle, eh?”

Josh turned and surveyed their new abode. “They should film us for the next episode of Survivor.” He let out a resigned sigh. “Could be character-building, I suppose.”

Dan reached over and pulled his son’s beanie down over his eyes. “I’m glad you came, Josh. I think I’d be near suicide by now if you hadn’t.” He gave him a macho slap on the shoulder. “Come on. Let’s get started.”