Ian, most bafflingly, had stopped injecting himself into the argument and now had his chin propped in his hand, watching them with a dreamy smile on his face. Jamie gave him a narrow look, decidedly mistrustful.

So far, as was typical, Ken and Lucie hadn’t said anything, but now Lucie offered, “I’ve no doubt I’ll spend the whole time you’re gone counting the seconds until Rosetta’s back safe and sound under this roof again, but I also have no doubt that this very short, ordinary trip will make that child very, very happy. And Mika’s right about the fact that we have to do this sooner or later, or what’s the point in doing any of this? So if we’re putting this to a vote, I vote yes.”

Jamie was furious, both with Mika for suggesting this and with himself for standing in the way of something he knew would make Rosetta happy. “I vote no,” he said brusquely. “It’s too soon.”

“I vote yes, obviously,” said Ian.

Everyone looked at Ken. “I think it’s an excellent idea, Mika,” he said gently. “I know you know what you’re doing, and Rosetta will love it, but as a first step, it feels too big. It would be safer to take Rosetta ten minutes down the coast for fish and chips.”

Mika nodded like she understood. “We could do that instead. I don’t mind where we go. I just thought she’d like the bookshop.”

“Ken’s always so sensible,” Ian said fondly.

“Seriously?” Jamie demanded. “Ken’s sensible, but I get accused of picturing the apocalypse?”

Ian beamed at him. “I have to keep Ken happy. For sexual reasons.”

“Ian,” Jamie groaned. “No one wants to picture their great-grandparents having sex.”

“Of all the nerve! I’m not that old!”

When the laughter subsided, Jamie rather reluctantly steered them back to the problem at hand. “So that was two votes no and two votes yes. And with my tiebreaker, that—”

“Your tiebreaker is a pain in my arse,” said Ian sulkily. “Mika, my dear, couldn’t you have had a little forethought and suggested this next week, at which point you would have been out of your two-week trial period and we could have given you a vote?”

“I’m getting a vote next week?” Mika looked astonished.

“Of course,” Ken replied. “You’ll be well and truly one of us then.”

Mika continued to look stunned, like it had never occurred to her that she might be considered part of something, and Jamie found he violently hated it. He was livid that she was so surprised by such a simple gesture. Hadn’t she ever been treated as anything but an outsider?

“So shall we suggest Ken’s fish and chips idea to Rosetta?” Lucie asked.

“No,” Jamie said abruptly, only too conscious of the fact that he’d lost his fucking mind. “Do the bookshop thing.”