Adam and Ruairi discuss Brian’s imminent return, before Ruairi breaks off with news about the castle he sourced for Peggy’s legacy holiday: there’s a huge discount if they bring forward their booking to three-and-a-half weeks’ time. Adam’s clear, he’s not taking Xander out of school and he’s pretty sure others will feel the same way. Kate though is all for it when she phones Alice, only for Alice to rebuff her as Adam predicted. Kate then reminds Alice she’s coming to dinner tonight, with Adam and Ruairi. At dinner Ruairi’s bullish about the holiday going ahead, before bringing up Brian’s promises to him and Alice. Kate assumed Adam and Ruairi were in charge now, with Alice admitting her disappointment about that. Adam regards Ruairi as just an apprentice, while Kate wants to be considered for a management role too, believing Brian should talk to all of them. Join the back of the queue, Adam suggests.
Esme tells David she still hasn’t cracked her dad’s computer, and without a Will she’s struggling to make progress. David thinks one of the cows needs a vet, suggesting Alistair could do it as a favour. At least Esme’s cleaned the kitchen and organised her father’s papers, though. To David’s surprise Esme praises Josh for being nice the other day, when she was upset. She then suggests solving her financial problems by selling the cows to David, but he lets her down gently. Esme still doesn’t know how she’ll pay for the funeral, suggesting bleakly that it feels like she’s on a boat that’s sinking.