She [Martha] said, “I’ve got it.” I said, “Got what?” She said, “The shipment, I’ve got the cases you loaded on the S.S. America in Hamburg.” I said, “That’s impossible.” She said, “They’re in the station wagon.”

I went out and looked at the cases, and I said, “How in God’s name did you do that?” She said, “I had Lisa by the hand and Karen in my arms and went up to the stevedores and said, ‘These two kids can’t eat unless you get me those four cases off the boat.”” (Laughter)

Well, she’s really the founder of Dansk. (Laughter) Give credit where it’s due. If she hadn’t got those cases I wouldn’t be here talking to you today. - Ted Nierenberg

Roland grimaced. “Yeah,” he said. “Yeah.” And then, “You know, I appreciate it. Million quid… yeah, great. Always useful. And I know Scotland’s a small country. But really, this stuff isn’t cheap. Oil and gas in Aberdeen is turning over billions. They probably spend a million quid a year on taxis. I think you really want to be thinking more like ten million, to make it worthwhile. It’s not a pizza-delivery app we’re building here.” The advisers were taken aback, as if they’d taken a chipolata to a dick-waving contest. Roland was delighted with himself.

If they hadn’t happened to meet in the two months, out of a lifetime, when he was idling, they’d never have got together. It was practically false pretences. She didn’t know why he even wanted it. Just for shags and someone to have around when Roland was busy? That unfair thought brought out its own contradiction: she knew why he wanted this. It was the same reason he was so attentive to what she thought of him. They’d never spoken about it, but every page of his personality was watermarked with the memory of loneliness. That made her feel for him. And he was good. There was no doubt he was good. And maybe, in fact, when you thought about it like a grown-up, that need in him, and that goodness, were forces powerful enough to keep a relationship impregnable for decades. It was like when you were hiring: drive was more important than qualifications. You wanted them hungry. They would become what you needed.

James was suddenly, utterly, exhausted. He should have foreseen this. Everyone loved Roland. James loved him. For the first time since their trip to Lochnagar in the purple Lamborghini, he felt himself to be alone in the world. Nothing had changed since he was a teenager. He hadn’t, after all, left himself behind. Slowly, he reasoned his way through the matter at hand. Perhaps if he’d been less reasonable, he’d still have her. “Well, if Alice and me didn’t match up, that doesn’t mean you and her shouldn’t try. It’s a question of compatibility not… possession. It’s not like I’ve got any claims on her.”

But he could see Roland was still thinking about muslins. He gave up and said, “Did you see about McKinsey?” Roland was glancing at Alice. “Um, no. I don’t think so?” “They’ve been caught consulting on how to maximise opioid sales in the US. How to push higher doses and make doctors prescribe more.”