Jackie rolled her eyes. “And you took it upon yourself to presume that I would give up my job as managing director of Rebecca Talworth to come and help you run some poxy little mail order company that you’d just happened to unearth somewhere up in Scotland?”

“Actually, it happens not to be a poxy little company, and anyway, I didn’t presume anything of the kind. I just thought that you could have helped sort of part-time.”

“Part-time! Dan, I don’t have time for part-time! I work all hours of the day as it is. You could not find a job that is more demanding than mine right now.” She shook her head. “I can’t believe this. I really can’t believe what you’re telling me.” She looked around and, for lack of something better to do, took a large gulp of coffee that was still far too hot to consume in that fashion. She rushed over to the sink, threw away the remainder of the coffee, filled up the mug with cold water from the tap, and drank copiously.

“For God’s sakes, Jackie, it was only an idea.”

Jackie took in a few deep breaths before replying. “Really? And I suppose that if it had been for sale and you liked what you saw, you would have asked me to give up my work, sell up my house—remember that, Dan—my house, and move lock, stock, and barrel up to some heathen part of Scotland.”

“That was not what I thought. The business could quite easily have been run from here.”

“Oh, Dan, get a grip on your bloody senses!”

“Oh, piss off! Just because you think you’re so bloody wonderful.”

The door was pushed open and slammed against the wall. Josh stood in the doorway like a gunslinger entering a saloon bar. He was wearing nothing except a pair of boxer shorts. “What—the—hell—is—going—on— here?” he drawled out.

“Keep out of this, Josh,” Jackie snapped at him.

“I’m sorry?” he said, entering the room slowly. “I thought by the volume of your voices that you were intending for the whole street to be involved in your little discussion. What the hell has got into you two? You seem to have become incapable of saying one civil word to each other.”

“Your father—” “Your mother—” Dan and Jackie started in unison, then both stopped abruptly and stared at one another with foolish embarrassment.

Jackie spoke first, her voice deliberate. “We were just discussing your father’s trip up to Scotland. It seems that he went up there to look at a small mail order company with the intention of buying it.”

Josh’s face brightened. He turned to Dan. “Oh, yeah! How did you get on?”

Dan looked daggers at him.

“Wait a minute,” Jackie said, looking from one to the other. “You knew about this?”