Page 112 of The In-Laws

Theo finished his coffee and asked if he could go. ‘I want to FaceTime the boys and tell them the good news. I need to make sure they know I might be coming to Exeter so we can get a four-bedroom house to share.’

‘Of course, go!’ Amanda laughed, thrilled to see her son looking happy for the first time in ages.

When he had left, Ross paid the bill and they strolled back towards the house, walking through the park. Ross told her about Melanie’s shock resignation.

‘How did your mum take it?’ Amanda asked.

‘Not well.’ Ross grimaced.

‘Tell me everything, I want all the details,’ Amanda said.

‘Okay, well, Melanie called us all into the boardroom and bluntly announced that she had decided to leave the agency and go out on her own.’

‘What did Nancy say?’ Amanda would have loved to have seen her mother-in-law’s face in that moment.

‘Well, obviously she was furious. She hadn’t seen it coming. She demanded to know why Melanie was leaving.’

‘And?’ Amanda prompted her husband.

‘Melanie stayed ice cold, no emotion at all. She told Mum that she appreciated everything she had done for her but she simply felt that, after twenty years, it was time to go out on her own.’

‘Did Nancy try to get her to stay?’

‘She pointed out that it was a really bad time for Melanie to leave, with everything that’s going on.’

Amanda shrugged. ‘That’s not Melanie’s fault. It’s yours.’

Ross sighed. ‘I know, but itisa terrible time to jump ship. Mum reminded her that she had given Melanie her first job and mentored her.’

‘Yes, but Melanie has paid her back in spades,’ Amanda pointed out.

‘That’s exactly what Melanie said, and she quoted all the revenue she had brought to the agency. She had all the facts and figures ready. It was pretty impressive.’

Amanda buried her hands in her coat pockets to warm them. ‘How did Nancy react to that?’

‘She tried emotional blackmail. “If you leave us, the agency will fall apart,” which was pretty insulting to us, her sons. I said we’d be perfectly capable of running the agency without Melanie. We just needed to find a replacement agent. Melanie, to be fair to her, offered to help us find a good one.’

‘That’s decent of her.’

‘Mum still wanted her to stay, but then Melanie told us about her and Frank breaking up and said that her mind was made up. She was leaving.’

Amanda said nothing.

‘I presume from your silence that you knew about all of this?’ Ross asked.

She nodded. ‘Yes. It’s sad, but it’s for the best, I think. They’ve drifted so far apart.’

‘I never understood how they married in the first place. Two more different people you could never meet. Anyway, it would make it all way more complicated if she did stay, so she’s right to go. Even Mum could see that.’

‘So are you going to step in and take over?’

Ross shook his head. ‘I thought I would, but Jamie was having none of it. He kept banging on about how he had been in the agency the longest, and Melanie backed him. It felt like a bit of a set-up. But the worst of it is that Melanie is taking Xina, whom I bloody well found.’

‘But didn’t Xina specifically request a female agent?’ Amanda reminded him.

‘Yes, but still, she’s worth a fortune. I’m sure I could have convinced her to stay with the agency if Melanie hadn’t gone behind our backs and persuaded her to leave.’

‘She chose Melanie, Ross, get over it.’

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