Mack and Pax Forsyth mated as rarely as giant pandas these days, especially after a row. Instead of making up by making love, they were two repelling magnets, hostility mounting amid domestic norms, her accusation lingering, new enemies who turned their backs at night, digging trenches in the bedclothes. He spent a lot of time with his parents, pretending not to be bothered; she had hushed, tearful phone calls with her friends, cried in the shower, drank too much vodka and cleaned her teeth a lot to hide it.

It was a relief to have a legitimate excuse to back out of the annual Forsyth pilgrimage to Scotland for Hogmanay. The stud desperately needed extra hands, Pax had explained. The puppy needed looking after. She needed time alone to think. Mack didn’t put up much of an argument. His parents seemed positively grateful. Last night, they’d all headed up on the sleeper and she’d drunk the rest of the vodka.

It didn’t occur to her for a moment that she should question them taking Kes. Her sister-in-law Marianne’s family hosted Hogmanay in their big town house in Edinburgh every year. The youngest of Kes’s cousins shared his birthday, so getting the boys together was always a special treat. Nothing had changed, as Mack kept pointing out. Just Pax.

Now he dropped a strategically planned bombshell to disprove that.

‘Marianne’s found Mum and Dad a Victorian villa with views of Arthur’s seat,’ he told her with relish. ‘We’re going to see it today.’

‘They’re moving to Edinburgh?’ She tried to hide the delight in her voice.

‘Been planning it a while now. They’re going to cash in one of Dad’s pensions to top up the fund from selling up in the Highlands. It’s a tidy sum. They’re only grateful they never invested down near us. The market up here’s much more buoyant.’

At first Pax took this to be very good news indeed. It was no secret his parents had been regretting the move down from Scotland almost from the moment they’d arrived. Having seen her marriage disintegrating in direct proportion to her in-laws interfering, Pax felt much the same way.

Until Mack added, ‘And the plan is for us to come up here with them.’

The spike of adrenaline felt like a heart attack, but Pax quickly talked herself down. She knew him well enough. That was exactly the reaction he wanted. He wanted to frighten her. She dug her nails tight in her palms.

‘Did you hear me?’ His voice came through the loudspeakers, like a radio play. Please make this a radio play.

‘I heard.’

‘It will be a fresh start, Tishy. Mum and Dad understand we’re going through a tough patch; they are being extremely generous by making this offer.’

‘How long have you known about it?’ She was trying hard not to scream the words. Had they planned this all along, Mack and his parents? Muir and Mairi were never generous. They saw it as a weakness.