As the sun starts to rise higher, I return to get my tea and then I sit in the sunshine and close my eyes, lifting my face to the breeze, and letting my thoughts drift to the future. It’s not something I’ve been able to do in months. I think about the six days Liam and I have ahead of us on the island and then my mind leaps ahead, beyond the honeymoon, and I start to think about how I’ll manage returning to the real world. I told Liam I wasn’t sure about returning to work, that I wanted a bit longer, but I wonder if I’ll be able to go back sooner after all. I’m definitely starting to feel a shift, and the truth is that I miss working. I miss the banter with colleagues, and I miss being around animals and feeling like I’m making a difference. I want to go back. It’s just a case of making it happen.

Footsteps crunch across the pebbles at the top of the beach. I open my eyes and turn around to see Liam walking towards me. I wave and he comes and sits down beside me, putting his arm around my shoulder and kissing me on the temple. ‘Morning,’ he says.

‘Morning,’ I reply as he steals my mug and takes a swallow of my now lukewarm tea.

‘I woke up and you were gone. I was worried,’ he says.

I shake my head at him, amused. ‘I didn’t want to wake you,’ I tell him. ‘You didn’t need to worry. Where am I going to go?’

He yawns, staring out over the loch. ‘Wow, this is beautiful,’ he says, taking it in.

‘It is,’ I agree. The sun is out today and already I’m feeling too warm in my sweater.

‘How are you feeling?’ Liam asks me.

‘Good,’ I say, with a nod.

He narrows his eyes at me a little, as though wondering if I’m being honest. I smile reassuringly. ‘I slept really well,’ I tell him. ‘Must be all the fresh air. What about you?’

He nods. ‘Same. Out like a light.’

He notices the cairn of rocks and pebbles further down the beach. ‘Did you do that?’ he asks.

I laugh falteringly. ‘Yeah. A little memorial for my mum.’ My stomach clenches as I say it and my throat constricts with that acidic tightness I’ve come to expect when I think of her. ‘She’d have liked it here,’ I say sadly. I really wish we’d made that trip we always talked about.

Liam frowns at the mention of my mum. Not wanting to put a dampener on the mood, I squeeze his hand. ‘Shall we get breakfast?’ I say.

Liam nods. ‘Yeah. Then I thought we could go for a walk.’

‘Let me guess,’ I smirk. ‘To find the barrow?’