‘Joanne, this is a good friend of mine, Caroline, who runs the shop and helped to keep us fed and watered during the pandemic.’

‘Pleased to meet you, Caroline,’ Joanne muttered from behind her mask.

‘Joanne’ll be staying with me up at Beanach for a while.’ He smiled encouragingly at Joanne.

‘Really?’ Caroline took a moment to process this bit of news.

Greg could almost hear her brain working. So, he went south for the weekend and ten days later she arrives to stay with him.

‘Where have you come from?’ Caroline said, now giving her full attention to the incomer.

With a quick glance in Greg’s direction, Joanne answered, ‘London.’

Caroline shot Greg a look that told him clearly what she thought of that.

‘And how long are you here for?’

‘Not sure, yet.’ Joanne glanced at Greg again, who smiled in return, hoping that signified he was open to suggestion.

‘We heard rumours that the Party House was opening up. Is that true?’ Caroline said as he paid for the milk.

‘It’s not been confirmed,’ Greg told her.

‘Folk don’t want that place let. Not now. Not ever.’

Once outside, Joanne handed him her mask. ‘What’s the Party House and why are folk so mad about it?’

He didn’t want to tell her. Even having the words of explanation in his head filled him with dread, but she would hear about it eventually, and it was better coming from him.

‘Six people in the village died from the virus. Malcolm’s wife from the hotel, a teenage boy, two young children and two infants.’ He heard the catch in his voice. ‘We were in lockdown, socially distancing, even out on the hills and in the woods. We set up the barricades, did everything right, then the estate owners brought in a party of folk from London by helicopter to the Party House. They brought the new strain with them, which was affecting children badly, and it killed six people before it was contained. That’s why locals don’t want it to open up again.’

He felt her shock, and reached out to take her hand.

‘How awful,’ she said. ‘No wonder Caroline didn’t like me being here.’

They’d reached the Land Rover and he opened the door for her.

‘It’s not you personally,’ he said.

The truth was Caroline wouldn’t have liked any woman who came to visit him, but now wasn’t the time to mention that.

‘It’s just hard, after everything that’s happened, for Blackrig to open to visitors again.’

She stayed silent as he started up the engine and, drawing away from the shop, took the single-track road that would eventually lead them to Beanach.

He’d known things would be different here from London, and yet, he reminded himself, she had chosen to come. He had to assume that she wanted more of what they’d had together there.