Driving the girls to school in my ute the next day, they both leaned over to give me a hug before getting out, whispers of 'Love you, daddy' in my ear. They knew what was coming. I'd tried not to tell them too much, but they were not stupid either. They'd seen the relationship between their parents utterly collapse. Thing is, there were very few arguments. I remained polite as I could. Claire was smart enough not to rock the boat, believing she was getting away with it.

Finishing work early on Wednesday, something I can do when self-employed with my own business -- okay, it was owned by my...