‘Did I?’ She knows she did and sometimes he is boring. But in a way it’s what she’s been looking for, a serious, steady man who’s not into playing games.

‘You’ve been seeing him for months,’ Claude says, ‘if you were that serious I would have met him by now.’

‘I’m a big girl, I don’t need you to vet my boyfriends for me.’

‘No, because I think you’ve already made up your mind about him yourself, haven’t you?’

‘Beer o’clock,’ a voice shouts into the open office.

It’s not even five. There’s still work to be done, work which can’t wait. But like ping pong and break-out rooms, finishing work early on a Friday to drink together is part of the ‘culture’ here.

Jaden sits on the desk, reaches over and switches off Yvonne’s monitor.

‘What do you think you’re doing?’ she asks.

He smiles at her. ‘Work is finished.’

‘No, it’s not. I still have a few bits left to do.’ It blinks back on.

Jaden sighs, but doesn’t move.

‘Can you not sit on my desk, please? It’s so inappropriate.’

He snickers, but she’s genuinely uncomfortable with it. They had kept their relationship quiet at the start, but it’s hard to hide anything in this place, especially an office romance. Now it’s out in the open, it doesn’t matter how frequently they have lunch together, leave at the same time, or the fact that he likes to sit on her desk each time he passes, but there’s a tiny part of her which wishes she could take it back. It has only been three months and now it all seems way too official and permanent.

Jaden stands as Hannah from accounts walks over and tuts, ‘Now, now, Mr Slater, we have to work on those desks.’

‘See what I mean?’ Yvonne says. But Hannah has been the worst of the lot since they went public with their relationship, never missing an opportunity to taunt them.

‘Yvonne,’ Jaden says, ‘it’s Friday.’

She tries to focus on her emails, but it’s impossible with him eyeing her like this.

‘I think we should go for one drink with everyone and then head off somewhere together for dinner?’

What can she say? Of course she wants to spend time with him, but she also doesn’t like the way it’s becoming so regular, so expected. She thinks about the dust and debris waiting for her back home and compares it to an evening in a restaurant with Jaden, to another night at his immaculate flat.

‘Okay, give me ten minutes to finish off.’

‘Ten minutes,’ he says as he joins the office exodus. ‘I’m timing you.’