Read Chapter 3: — THE PRICE OF TEMPER

Learning did not mean changing all at once.

One Friday, after a customer accused him of overcharging by twenty pounds, Martin lost his temper with a young waitress named Sophie. She had done nothing wrong. He simply needed somewhere to put the shame.

"If you spent less time flirting with the chef, you'd notice the tables," he snapped.

The room went quiet.

Sophie untied her apron, placed it on the counter and said, "People can be poor without being available for your contempt."

She walked out.

The chef, who was her boyfriend, resigned two days later.

For a week the café ran badly. Meals came late. Regulars complained. Martin burned three pans and one tray of bread.

He wanted to blame everyone except himself.

Instead, he called Sophie.

"I was cruel," he said.

Silence.

"That's an apology?"

"It's the beginning of one."

"Try again."

So he did.

She did not return, but she accepted the apology. It was a smaller victory than keeping a staff member and a larger one than Martin understood at the time.

Three Fellows cider grew faster than the café. Martin was invited to trade dinners again. People began calling him "Mr Hale" with the old tone of respect. It thrilled him and frightened him.

Meanwhile Claire had built a modest online business in Devon selling regional food boxes—chutneys, oat biscuits, farmhouse cheese, preserves, soup mixes and gift hampers. She appeared in short videos from a converted garage, talking directly to customers with a confidence Martin had not known she possessed.

When he called to ask about Leo, she usually kept the camera on their son.

Leo had grown thinner and taller.

"When can I see him?" Martin asked.

"When you can come without turning the visit into a campaign to win me back."

"I want my family."

"You want the idea of your family. You were rarely home when you had it."

The sentence stayed with him.

He smoked three cigarettes in the alley behind the café.

Later Daniel found him there.

"Mum used to say you could argue with a wall until the wall apologised," he said.

"Whose side are you on?"

"Yours. That's why I'm telling you the truth."

Martin laughed without amusement.

He thought of the years Claire had asked for weekends away, dinners without phones, one summer trip abroad. He had always promised later, when the next deal closed.

Later had finally arrived and found the house empty.