However she presented it to him, she knew that he would support and cajole, as needed. Most likely, he would conclude that this break in the trajectory of her career provided an excuse for them to hang out together more, to go on the long-haul family holiday they had been planning but never managed. They didn’t need the money so badly that she would have to find another full-time job straight away. She could retrain, in something more flexible. Tom could take on more projects, which would enable her to take a step back for a while, spend more time with the kids, with him. She’d envied them briefly, hadn’t she? The women she’d met at the stay-and-play on the Heath she’d taken Sadie to when Callum was born. But it wasn’t their life she wanted, it was their complacency. How she wished she too could be content with a life at home, the endless hours spent milling between playground and library and various playgroups, singing rotations of the same songs, out of tune.

She tried to picture it again: chatting with the other mothers at the school gate, signing up to the PTA, perhaps to stand as a governor. Mentally, she drew the image: filling the days between drop-off and pick-up, running errands, doing household chores; she might feel compelled to take up a hobby, join the local choir.

‘Gaby?’

She looked up at Tom and after a moment’s pause, she swallowed.

‘Everything’s fine.’

Chapter 20

Gabriela

Everything was exactly as it had been, and yet completely changed, as she made the journey from the tube station to KCS the following day.

Having failed to reach Madeleine on the phone, she wasn’t sure whether to expect her at the office. But when she arrived, Madeleine was already there, her demeanour undented, her lips perfectly accentuated in her signature red lipstick.

‘What the hell? I couldn’t reach you,’ Gabriela said, moving over to her desk, looking around for confirmation that they were alone.

Madeleine paused before standing, leading the way outside, away from the eyes and ears that she seemed to believe might follow them despite the absence of bodies in the room.

‘There’s nothing we can do about it,’ she said flatly. ‘They don’t need two senior leads in London, they can’t justify it, and they don’t want me back in Hanoi. So this is where we are.’

Gabriela looked at her, awaiting further explanation. For a moment, Madeleine looked like she might say something more, or as if she thought Gabriela might, but then she took a drag of her cigarette and shifted her gaze away again.

‘What the fuck, they’re firing us?’ Gabriela probed.

‘No,’ Madeleine inhaled sharply. ‘They’re smarter than that. They’ll be planning to push us out, one way or another, but I’m not hanging around for that.’

‘What do you mean?’