‘Family is heart.’ Mairi curled her hand into a fist and beat it against her chest. ‘Heart is family. We need you here, Dylan.’

‘We do, bro,’ Cole said.

‘Do you really?’ Dylan said. ‘If I’m as untalented as you seem to think, why am I so bloody indispensable?’

‘What’s going on?’ Glenn said in a bored voice as he walked over. Heather stayed seated by the fire, nibbling at her fingernails as she watched us. I was tempted to join her but Dylan’s hand was gripped tight around mine. Luckily, Lumin and Alfie were sitting on the stairs in the hallway now with headphones on, listening to his new CD player.

‘Dylan wants to leave the family business,’ Cole said. ‘He wants to have a go at woodworking,’ he added in a mocking voice. He turned his attention to me. ‘This is all your doing, isn’t it, Gwyneth? I always knew you’d drive him away from us. That’s why I …’ He stopped talking.

Dylan took a step towards his brother, glaring at him. ‘That’s why what, Cole? Finish your sentence, won’t you?’

But Cole kept his mouth shut as his wife grimaced, turning away.

‘Fine, I’ll finish it for you,’ Dylan said. ‘You exaggerated Gwyneth’s reasons for turning down the job in Finland to pressure me into leaving her. In fact,’ he added, taking another step towards his brother, ‘maybe you even hid the note she left here with her number on too? You didn’t want your chief talent having his head turned away from the business that allows you to buy your expensive suits,’ he said, gesturing to Cole’s grey suit.

‘Is it true?’ Oscar asked his son.

‘What if it is?’ Cole replied, turning to his father. ‘We need Dylan but Gwyneth was making him think about his little business again, turning his head, taking him away from us, from the family business!’

‘Dylan has his own mind,’ I said, folding my arms. ‘Stop making out I’m some wicked girlfriend turning him against his family.’

‘Am I so wrong?’ Cole countered, angry eyes turning to me. ‘It’s not like you give a damn about family, Gwyneth. You don’t seem to give a damn about your own, you barely mention them!’

Dylan shoved his brother and Cole shoved him back. ‘You’re both the same,’ Cole spat, looking at us both. ‘Family means nothing. If you leave, Dylan, how the hell are we supposed to afford another site manager and builder like you? We’ll lose the business, which means we’ll lose this house.’

‘Don’t put that on me!’ Dylan shouted, face right up against his brother’s.

‘Stop it!’ Oscar shouted. ‘There is no bloody house any more, no money either.’

Everyone in the room went quiet.

‘What do you mean?’ Mairi asked.

Oscar sighed. ‘I wanted to wait until after Christmas.’

‘What do you mean?’ Mairi shouted at him.