Tara had one more appointment before the end of her working day: the Wilsons, a disastrously matched couple who’d been on the verge of divorce before the floods, but who had now achieved an unexpected rapprochement after spending two weeks in emergency accommodation without any of the things (his road bike, her parents, an unemptied dishwasher) that used to give the other the red mist. The floods, Tara conceded, had done more to bring them back together than she had.

She was packing up her bag when there was a knock on the door, and Jacqueline’s head popped round.

‘Good time for a word?’

‘Of course.’ Tara put her bag down as Jacqueline was already making her way in, heading for the sofa. ‘Cup of tea?’

‘Peppermint, please. Kasia’s advised me to give up caffeine after lunch and I must say I’m feeling the benefits! You should try it!’

‘Ha ha ha!’ said Tara, which was as polite as she could manage off the top of her head.

As she flicked the kettle on under her desk, Tara rapidly considered the options: something to do with David? Had he tipped Jacqueline off about her driving to work? Had Harry’s cake been declared unsafe to consume?

‘I see you’ve got your own kettle in here!’ Jacqueline observed, sweetly.

‘Well, for clients, really. And sometimes there’s a bit of a crush in the kitchen and I don’t have a lot of time …’

The kitchen was big enough to host a low-key wedding. They both knew the reason Tara’s kettle was there was so she could avoid mingling.

‘And sometimes I’m in the zone and don’t feel like chatting,’ Tara admitted, under the pleasant scrutiny of Jacqueline’s gaze. ‘Don’t want to seem rude. You know what it’s like. I need my coffee. I don’t have time to get into a discussion about caffeine after lunch. Well, not until my workload eases off a bit! Ha ha!’

‘Well, yes. Although sharing our opinions is what makes this such a vibrant place to work, I always think.’

Bollocks, thought Tara, hunting for the herbal tea bags. This was going to be about the Magic Divide, wasn’t it? Had Emily been bitching about dowsing again? It wouldn’t be the first time Jacqueline had had to tell Emily to ‘share some professional respect’ with the unicorn fringe. Was there a discreet way she could slip on Hero’s crystal bracelet? It was gathering dust in her drawer – conveniently one of the ‘hollow spaces’ Hero had been talking about fixing. She slid it on as she pulled out the peppermint tea, and whatever the black bits were dug into her wrist.

But Jacqueline didn’t seem to want to talk about that. ‘How are things? There’s so much going on for you right now, I feel we should be checking in with you a bit more.’