The boat was pulling into the jetty. A middle-aged man was at the wheel and two younger ones were acting as crew. The three men obviously belonged to the same family. Jim went forward to help. He took the ropes thrown by the younger men and made them secure. He shouted to them. They were laughing together. Sarah watched Jim throw back his head and laugh. She had never seen him like that before. He seemed to have become a different person. She did not understand what the men said to each other. The dialect they used was very broad and Jim had lapsed into it, too. For a moment she felt excluded and resentful. It was her day. She had expected to be the focus of attention. Why had Jim not introduced her?

Then Sarah recognized the three men. They had been at the wedding. The older man was Jim’s father and the younger ones were his brothers. Alec was older than Jim. He was married and had two sons. Will was in the sixth form of the school at Baltasay. They came ashore. The father, Sandy, approached her, took her hands in his and kissed her. His face was brown and whiskery and smelled of oil and tobacco. She felt that Alec was staring at her. She looked at him and he winked at her and grinned. Will seemed embarrassed and looked away.

They loaded the boat efficiently and quickly. The postman drove back up the road, but the old woman waited in her van to watch. She seemed in no hurry to go. There would have been room to take Jim’s car on the boat, but he had decided to leave it behind, for the time being at least. A friend would take it back to the town.

“The road’s not very good on the island,” he said. “ It really needs improving. That’s something I’ll want to sort out.”

Sarah rather liked the idea of a place with no cars and dilapidated roads. It was something else to make the island different.

“Surely we won’t need a car,” she said, but he took no notice.