‘You’re not sleeping now.’ Brodie pointed out, relaxed and indulgent. They’d just joined the mile-high club. ‘This was one of Vera’s better ideas. I’m going to miss her as secretary.’ ‘But then you’d have to stay on as chairman.’ Jessica shuddered. ‘Not worth it.’ After all the dramas of the Monday morning meeting, Joe’s original purpose for it seemed an anticlimax — even though it was revolutionary. Joe was going to take Numbat public. Jessica would retain thirty per cent; enough that she could keep an eye on Pops’ legacy, but not enough that she’d feel burdened. Besides which, she’d had a brain wave. It had been Vera who’d steered Ian through his chairmanship. She knew Numbat and its world inside out, and she had ethics. Vera would sit on the new public board and vote Jessica’s shares. Vera had been overwhelmed. Then she’d started strategizing. Derek had gone travelling, a strange kind of New Age traveller, looking to find himself. Selling his car and apartment had cleared his debts, and would fund the first leg of his wanderings.
