‘But I was good here, I was good for you. I had a setback is all but I’m feeling good about coming back here.’

‘A setback … Richard, your wife died and—’

‘I know she fucking died, Carole, I don’t have my head permanently up my own arse like those management types you’re talking about, I just meant …’ Richard had to stop. His breath had run out. He took a moment, tried to fill the gap with tutting like he was too angry to speak, not fighting his own body.

‘Look, Richard, we’re not taking on a seventy-year-old. Not for the foreseeable future.’

‘I’m sixty-eight.’

‘Sixty-eight then. We have a new MD – Brett – and he’s got big new ideas for us. He’s taking us in a different direction. And if he doesn’t then the whole business will fall behind our competitors and none of us will have jobs.’

‘People don’t want some teenager talking to them about how to fix or improve their homes,’ Richard tried again.

‘People work differently these days. There’s not a single DIY job that doesn’t have a step-by-step video online. They just want their materials, which means they just want someone who can work out how best to get it to them. Now come on, this is a good thing! I had the same conversation with Henry a month or so ago. He agreed and took retirement. He popped in the other day and he’s glad he walked away while he’s still young enough to enjoy life. He talked about how he might have dropped dead in the aisles rather than admit it was time to call it a day. Surely you’ve considered this?’

‘No.’

‘Enjoy your life. This is your chance.’

‘ALONE!’ Richard slammed his fist down at the same time. It was the second time he had made Carole jump, but this time she looked a lot less impressed. Richard stood up. His chest was beating harder now, and he had to lean on the back of the chair for a moment. He had a reply, he was going to tell Carole to tell Brett that he could be the one to drop dead. But he needed to get out of there. He couldn’t speak, his breath was gone. Carole was still seated. She was looking up at him, that faux-sympathy now very much a fixture. But Richard could see right through it. She was looking at him like she thought he was pathetic.

He recovered enough to walk but not to talk at the same time. Carole didn’t stop him. He heard Elizabeth call out as he walked back across the shop floor, but he didn’t even acknowledge her. This wasn’t how he wanted to leave this place. He had turned up full of the idea of roaring back into the workplace but had ended up leaving with a whimper.