Robert clasped his hands together between his knees, smiling at the floor. ‘I’d give you the money if I had it,’ he said quietly. ‘You’ve changed this place by being here. Just by doing what you do. It’d miss you if you go.’ There was a pause, and then he said, very deliberately, as if forcing it out despite some instinct that told him not to, ‘I’d miss you.’

Anna’s heart pulsed a strange beat. She put down her mug, not knowing what to say. She watched his downturned head, and for a moment it seemed that Robert didn’t want to look up at her again. When he did, he gave a lopsided smile as their eyes met.

‘I’d miss you too,’ Anna said quietly. ‘You’re one of the reasons I came here in the first place. You, Bren and the Fishergirl’s Luck. Without you, I might have visited, but I wouldn’t have had a reason to stay.’

Robert said nothing, but the way he looked at her made Anna feel as if there was no air in the room. Then he blinked and stood.

‘Robbie, I—’ he said, his voice hoarse for a moment, until he’d cleared it. ‘I have to make sure he’s home. He promised, but—’

Anna swallowed her heart, dislodging it from where it seemed to have beat its way up into her throat. ‘Dolphins?’

‘Aye. Dolphins.’

Robert went to the door, where he hesitated for a second, half turning back to her. ‘This old place,’ he said. ‘I hope it stands forever.’

They said goodbye, though there was a moment when what Anna wanted most was to ask him to stay. If he hadn’t mentioned Young Robbie, perhaps she would have. Instead Anna shut the door and imagined him battling his way out of the village through a storm that seemed to have grown exponentially worse since he arrived, the memory of that look in his eye making her heart expand and contract so quickly that she had to take a breath.

The village locals clubbed together with what they had for a joint supper at the Weaver’s Nook. David had driven over to check on their place, leaving Glynn and Bill in Inverness. Terry and Susan were there too. Rhona was absent, and no one would wish her there given what she’d have had to come through to join them. The wind raged outside, the rain hammering the village hard.

‘Perhaps we should have gone, as Old Robbie said,’ Pat fretted, reaching over to grasp Anna’s hand. ‘Or you should have, at least. He’ll be worrying about you.’

Anna squeezed Pat’s hand. ‘He’ll be worrying about all of us.’

‘Yes, but it’s different with you, love, isn’t it? You know that.’

‘Pat,’ Frank warned, gently.

‘What? With Liam going—’

‘Pat,’ Frank said, again.