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Chapters (64)
  1. Cover
  2. About the Author
  3. Dedication
  4. Chapter One
  5. Chapter Two
  6. Chapter Three
  7. Chapter Four
  8. Chapter Five
  9. Chapter Six
  10. Chapter Seven
  11. Chapter Eight
  12. Chapter Nine
  13. Chapter Ten
  14. Chapter Eleven
  15. Chapter Twelve
  16. Chapter Thirteen
  17. Chapter Fourteen
  18. Chapter Fifteen
  19. Chapter Sixteen
  20. Chapter Seventeen
  21. Chapter Eighteen
  22. Chapter Nineteen
  23. Chapter Twenty
  24. Chapter Twenty-One
  25. Chapter Twenty-Two
  26. Chapter Twenty-Three
  27. Chapter Twenty-Four
  28. Chapter Twenty-Five
  29. Chapter Twenty-Six
  30. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  31. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  32. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  33. Chapter Thirty
  34. Chapter Thirty-One
  35. Chapter Thirty-Two
  36. Chapter Thirty-Three
  37. Chapter Thirty-Four
  38. Chapter Thirty-Five
  39. Chapter Thirty-Six
  40. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  41. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  42. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  43. Chapter Forty
  44. Chapter Forty-One
  45. Chapter Forty-Two
  46. Chapter Forty-Three
  47. Chapter Forty-Four
  48. Chapter Forty-Five
  49. Chapter Forty-Six
  50. Chapter Forty-Seven
  51. Chapter Forty-Eight
  52. Chapter Forty-Nine
  53. Chapter Fifty
  54. Chapter Fifty-One
  55. Chapter Fifty-Two
  56. Chapter Fifty-Three
  57. Chapter Fifty-Four
  58. Chapter Fifty-Five
  59. Chapter Fifty-Six
  60. Chapter Fifty-Seven
  61. Chapter Fifty-Eight
  62. Chapter Fifty-Nine
  63. Epilogue
  64. Acknowledgements

Inhaling deeply, I look out at the road and smell city. Old things, fried things, fragrant things, pissy things. Traffic fumes laced with lilacs from the hanging baskets outside the bougie bar around the corner. It numbs me, just enough. I feel calmer, safer. Some people think you move to London because your ideas for your life are too big, because you’re arrogant enough to believe you might get noticed, because you want to be somebody. They don’t realise that most of us end up here because we need to feel like anybody—or nobody. We need to disappear. When I lean against this wall, I’m not a disappointing daughter, a disloyal friend, a failing writer. I’m just another girl in a winter coat, running a little late for work.

Chapter Sixteen

Failure to launch

Imogen

Kim is laughing. I can hear him the moment the lift doors start to creak open. Following the sound, I stand in the office doorway, and see he’s bent double, and wheezing. He is holding a long, purple balloon in the air.

‘Oh my God, is he OK? Do we need to call someone?’ I ask Harri, who is standing beside him, her arms folded. She shakes her head, gravely. ‘Only HR.’

‘I mean…’ Kim tries to stand up, but another gale of laughter gets the better of him. ‘I got to the office, and…’

Harri cuts in. ‘Imogen, I thought I’d decorate the office to celebrate our official launch day. I pretty much worked through the night, and I’m knackered. But I got here extra early, and found these nice balloons, in The Know colours…’

Kim is crying now, his beautiful face folded in on itself, his T-shirt rucked up and revealing a glimpse of very taut ab. He gulps, and pulls it over his head, wiping his eyes with it. Blimey. ‘Sorry, sorry Harri, I know you worked very hard, I’ll try to get it together, but…’ he’s gone again. ‘A penis! It looks like a penis!’

Harri smiles, but a tiny sigh whistles out of the side of her mouth. She looks very, very tired.

‘I think we’re all feeling a little bit…bonkers, after the last fortnight. You’ve all worked so hard. I want today to be a celebration. Launching a brand new title is not easy, and we’ve made something really strong. We’ve got work to do, but I thought we’d knock off early, I’ve got some prosecco. I’m sure we’ll do some speeches and things later, but we’ll have the features meeting at ten o’clock, as usual.’ Harri looks meaningfully at Kim, who whispers ‘Sorry!’ and straightens his shirt, so that Wonder Woman is now fully visible and flying across his chest.