“Cora! Stop! I’m sorry.” The laughter bubbling through Lisa’s words was evidence to the contrary, but Cora turned around in the doorway. She raised her eyebrows. “Really? You’re sorry?”

“Kind of. Who on earth were you dreaming of?”

“No one important.”

Lisa looked like she wanted to push it further, but instead asked, “Did you hear back about the viewing?”

Grateful the conversation topic had changed, Cora nodded. “I got the house ten minutes from here.”

“Hey! That’s great. When can you move in? Not that I want you to leave. I’ve liked having you here.”

“I’ve liked being here.” Cora really had. It had given her a safety net as she sorted out her head. “I can move in over the weekend. I sign and get the keys on Friday.”

“That’s great. And today you’re talking to…”

Cora hummed. “Yeah, talking to Alec today.” A fortifying sip of coffee didn’t help, so she took another. “Wish me luck.”

“Good luck.” Lisa gave her a thumbs-up. “You’ll be great.”

“Thanks.” Sighing, Cora straightened. “I should go. I’ll see you tonight?”

“Yup. Celebratory dinner and wine for your new place?”

“Always.”

In the hallway, Lisa’s voice called out, “Try not to think about that dream while you’re driving! Don’t want to crash and have to explain to some pretty ambulance driver you were sex daydreaming.”

“I hate you!” Cora yelled back with a chipper note, the door closing behind her on Lisa’s snickering.

The drive to work was accomplished without drifting into inappropriate thoughts. When she walked into her office area, Lauren wasn’t in, and Cora breathed a silent sigh of relief. Whenever she saw the other woman now, Cora bounced between being overly friendly and almost tripping over her own legs to avoid eye contact. It was unprofessional and a little bit stupid, but she couldn’t stop. Lauren made her feel nervous and a twist of something that felt like jealousy but that Cora wanted to pretend was dislike. Because she didn’t want to be jealous. Jealousy meant things Cora didn’t want to feel.

Why had she thought an affair had been a good idea?

Her bag dropped on her desk. Cora flicked her computer on, eventually scrolling through e-mails. How did she get twenty e-mails in twelve hours? An update from Frazer about the programme had her clicking it open faster than was probably normal. She scanned it, her teeth grinding at the overly professional tone. As if Cora wasn’t someone Frazer had spent a lot of time with finding different ways to make her—

“Cora?”

Her cheeks were hot for the third time that day, and it was only eight thirty. Cora tried to look friendly. Another woman Cora was currently terrible at looking in the eye. “Hey, Tia.”