Dust billowed out behind them on the road through forest to the glacier. Their conversation went back to Andy Wu, as it always seemed to. Rob told Toni about how he’d managed to get some big movie-style reaction out of Andy at a meeting. She sighed. She pulled into the car park and manoeuvred into a space between camper vans.
"Do you know something?" she said, unable to bite her tongue any longer. "You like to pretend you haven't bought into the company thing, but you have, and you're just as competitive as people like Andy Wu and Owen Huntly."
"How can you say that? Do you really think I'm some kind of alpha male?"
"Yes, that's exactly what you are, deep down," she said.
"No, no, no. I'm not an alpha male. I'm not a gamma male. I'm not even a bloody pi male."
"Yes, you are," she said.
"Crap."
"Right. That's it." Toni unbuckled her safety belt and snatched the keys from the ignition. "I've had enough. If you don't agree with me about something – fine. But you're always saying whatever I think is 'crap' or 'bollocks'. And that really pisses me off. All the time, you're trying to make me sound stupid. I don't know why – maybe to make yourself look clever. But I've been put down enough in my life. I don't need it from you." Toni slammed her door. She wouldn't give Rob the chance to apologise yet, as she knew he sincerely would. She didn't want reconciliation and paced away from him into the forest.