‘It’s not the farm that makes me unhappy,’ he said, slightly slurring his words, ‘it’s Charlie. He’s made such a mess of everything and I’ve only just found out. And that was more by chance than design. We’re in deep shit financially now.’

‘I’m sorry,’ I said, thinking how the problem was all the worse because it was a family member who had created it. ‘Did your parents used to deal with the money side of things?’

If Charlie had never had any experience of the financial running of the place then I could completely understand how it had gone wrong when the obligation fell to him, but why hadn’t he asked Joe for help rather than hiding the situation from him?

‘Yeah,’ said Joe. ‘Dad dealt with everything. He was a bit of a control freak to be honest and none of us really knew his system. He always said it was easier having just one person in charge, but of course that didn’t factor in how we’d cope when he’d gone.’

‘I see.’

Joe shook his head and sighed.

‘I know I’m pissed with Charlie right now,’ he then said. ‘But I feel sorry for him too. He was the one who was pressured into following in the family footsteps.’

‘Didn’t he want to be a farmer?’

‘No,’ said Joe. ‘Not really, but he was the eldest and it’s what was expected. It was the same for Dad, only he had never wanted to do anything else.’

That sounded archaic to me but I didn’t say so. It wasn’t any of my business to question a family tradition I knew nothing about. And besides, I had followed my father into the family firm, hadn’t I? It might not have been expected of me, but I supposed I had followed the pattern Dad had hoped would look the most appealing when I graduated. That said, it hadn’t turned out all that well, so I could empathize with the eldest Upton brother.

‘Do you know what Charlie wanted to do instead?’ I asked.

‘No,’ he shrugged. ‘I can’t remember. I don’t recall him going on about it because he had accepted that he wouldn’t be able to do it.’

I hoped Charlie didn’t still harbour regrets. Life was too short to be stuck doing a job you didn’t enjoy.

‘And what about you?’ I asked. ‘Didn’t you fancy farming with him?’

‘After the crash I couldn’t wait to get away,’ he said bluntly. ‘Staying around here and having to drive along that stretch of road every day was my idea of hell . . .’ He shuddered.

I was annoyed with myself for reminding him of his reason for leaving Wynmouth.

‘Could you just pull over for a sec?’ he asked, a sense of urgency in his tone denying me the opportunity to apologize.