It was obvious from the look on Arnie’s face that they’d reached that point in the meeting everyone had been dreading.

“Now for the tough stuff. You all know we lost two big accounts last month. Not our fault. One company is downsizing because they’ve lost so much business lately, and the other is trying to cut costs and decided to go with someone cheaper. I tried telling him that you get what you pay for, but he wasn’t listening. It’s a significant blow,” he said. “I’m not going to pretend otherwise.”

“Just give us the bad news, Arnie. Have you made a decision about who you’re going to let go?” Maya, always direct, was the one to voice what they were all wondering.

“I don’t want to let anyone go.” He let out a long breath. “And not just because you’re a fun bunch of people when you’re not being annoying.”

They all tried to grin.

“Thanks, Arnie.”

“And the truth is that to win accounts, we need good people. To staff accounts, we need good people. But I also need to be able to pay those people and unless we bring in a significant piece of business soon, we’re in trouble.” He rested his hands on the table and was silent for a moment. “I’ve never lied to you and I’m not going to start now. This is the most challenging time we have faced since I started the company thirty years ago, but all is not lost. I have a few new business leads, and I’m going to be following those up personally. And there’s something else we’re going to try—speculative, but worth a shot. It’s major. If we could land that, then we’d be fine.”

But what if they weren’t fine?

Lucy thought about Ted and his new baby. She thought about Maya and her new flat and how scared she’d been taking on the responsibility of a mortgage. She thought about herself, about how much she loved this job and how badly she needed to keep doing it. In the early days after she’d lost her grandmother, work had given her a reason to get out of bed in the morning. Her job was her source of security, both financial and emotional.

It was the most important thing in her life.

She felt her chest grow tight.

She couldn’t handle more change. More loss.

She gazed through the glass of the meeting room, forcing herself to breathe steadily. From her vantage point twenty floors up she had an aerial view of London. She could see the dome of St. Paul’s Cathedral and the River Thames winding its way under Tower Bridge. Three red London buses nosed their way through traffic, and people scurried along, heads down looking at their phones, always in a hurry.

A lump formed in her throat.