She could have said, I’m married to my work, which was for the most part true, but she didn’t. Maybe it was the power of the Talisker, on top of the whisky she’d had in the pub. Or perhaps it was because it felt unfair not to answer Jamie’s question, as he had answered hers.

‘I got pregnant in my second year at university.’ She paused to collect herself. ‘That’s why I didn’t come back that summer. I didn’t tell my parents about the pregnancy or about my baby son, who I gave up for adoption.’

Jamie didn’t look surprised, just thoughtful, as though she’d answered a question that had puzzled him for some time.

‘The guy you brought here that first summer after you went to university. The one with the sports car. Was he the father?’

Rhona nodded. ‘Edward Stewart. When I discovered I was pregnant he wanted me to have an abortion. I wouldn’t. We didn’t last long after that.’ Rhona took another sip of whisky. ‘He found someone he liked better. He and Fiona have two teenage children.’

‘And your son?’

‘Liam Hope. I tried to find him, but in fact he found me.’ She remembered how freaked she’d been back then. How guilty she’d felt all those years at having given him up. ‘It wasn’t easy to meet him, but Sean was . . .’ She halted, realizing that having mentioned Sean’s name, she would have to explain more than just how good he’d been with Liam.

‘Sean?’ Jamie prompted gently.

‘Sean Maguire. He plays saxophone at the club Chrissy and I go to,’ she said, finding herself avoiding Sean’s actual role in her life.

Now Jamie did look surprised. ‘You’re talking about Sean Maguire, the Irish saxophonist?’

Rhona was used to people recognizing Sean’s name in Glasgow, but she hadn’t imagined he would be known on Skye.

‘You’ve heard him?’ she said.

‘He played here at the Aros Centre a few years ago. He’s very good. I think they’ve been after him to come back.’ Jamie paused for a moment, then seemed to decide to ask the question Rhona had been trying to avoid.

‘Are you and he an item then?’

Rhona hesitated. ‘Sean and I have tried, on occasion, to live together, but . . .’ She ground to a halt.

‘It didn’t work out,’ Jamie finished for her.

‘No, it didn’t.’ Rhona chose to stop there. How could she explain, even to herself, the ups and downs of her relationship with Sean, especially the most recent reason for their split?

Jamie, sensing her reluctance to go further, tried to lighten the situation.

‘We should have made an arrangement, you and I, that if we reached a certain age and no one else would have us, then we would rescue one another,’ he joked.