He glanced down at the other three watching him from their chairs. He had been deep in his own thoughts and hadn’t heard their question.

“We’re talking about a game of golf tomorrow,” Bruce said. “Are you interested?”

“Not sure.” Dan hesitated. There was so much going through his head. He needed to talk things through with Rowena some more. He’d been shocked by her revelation and then angry at her suggestion they interfere with the baby’s due date and he hadn’t been thinking clearly.

“Paula’s got you tied to her apron strings,” Ted said. “It’s only a game of golf, you don’t need permission.”

“I’ve got a couple of other things on the go tomorrow.”

“Yeah, right.” Ted sneered and he jabbed his thumb upside down into the arm of his chair. He glowered at Dan a moment, then his face relaxed into a grin. “A list of housework no doubt. You’re under the thumb mate.”

“We’ve got the sale coming up,” Dan said. Ted had been helping Dan with his sheep for a couple of years now and the big test was approaching. This would be their first sale since they’d cleared their stock and started their selective breeding program. They had high hopes of good prices for the mob of lambs they planned to sell. Ted had fallen on hard times and, up until now, it had been his expertise Dan had paid for. Then, finally, this year Ted had been able to come up with the money to go into partial partnership with Dan.

Dan slumped back against the wall. For a moment he wasn’t sure his legs would hold him up. He hadn’t given a thought to that side of things when Rowena had announced they could lose the property. He looked over at Ted who was extolling the virtues of their sheep to Chris. Bloody hell, Ted was just starting to get back on his feet. How would this affect him? Dan had used the collateral of his farm to borrow money to set up the partnership with Ted. If Dan lost the farm, or even part of it, what would that mean to their partnership?

Ted had had more than his share of rotten luck. Sometimes he came across as arrogant and he could shoot his mouth off saying inappropriate things. Dan knew Paula’s guard went up when Ted was around but behind his bluster he was a decent bloke. He was a man trying to raise a family on marginal land and he’d been a good friend. Dan would hate to cause him further angst.

“Everything okay, mate?” Bruce asked in a low voice beside him. “You look a bit down.”