‘I have an all-day arbitration session scheduled to try to resolve a dispute between two hotel development groups and the Dominican Republic that could result in a two-billion-dollar lawsuit,’ she replied.

‘A hotel is suing a country? How does someone sue a country?’ I asked. ‘Did they fall down a pothole or something?’

‘Yes, Ros, that’s exactly what happened,’ Sumi answered with a sigh. ‘I’ve got to go. Love you.’

I ended the call determined to plan Sumi the greatest birthday party of all time. When we were younger, we’d gone on so many wild, spontaneous adventures but for anything other than an evening out, I’d have to get approval from Jemima and it couldn’t be too energetic or Lucy wouldn’t be able to participate. And while Adrian might be able to splash out on a ten-course tasting menu at some super fancy restaurant I had never even heard of, I was on a tight budget if I ever wanted to live somewhere that wasn’t a shed. I needed something fun but not too physically demanding. Affordable but still exciting. Something that would make Sumi so happy, she’d forget to be shitty to Patrick and they would end the night as BFFs.

‘Piece of piss,’ I whispered to myself as I scrolled through my options. ‘It’s going to be the best birthday ever.’

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Second Chances was full of inspirational advice on how to open yourself up to new opportunities and allow magic into your life. What it was not so good at was telling you how to do so when you were trapped in the bowels of your office with no natural light and a rancid stench that crept in through the walls and was in no way improved by the addition of half a can of air freshener.

‘Ready for the big meeting?’ Ted said, knocking on the studio door before letting himself in. ‘Our boy’ll be here in two minutes.’

‘Ready as I’ll ever be,’ I agreed as I gathered my notes and knocked four empty cans of sugar-free Red Bull into the bin. I’d spent my first week deep in prep but today was the big day. I was finally meeting Snazzlechuff.

‘Come on, we’d better be in the meeting room when they get here, his agent doesn’t like to be kept waiting.’ The corner of Ted’s mouth flickered.

‘What’s the agent like?’ I asked as we climbed the stairs.

‘Impressive,’ he replied.

‘That’s an interesting way to describe someone,’ I said as we emerged back into daylight. I took a deep breath in, slightly relieved to discover the world was still there.

‘Wait until you meet her,’ Ted said, holding open the meeting room door and waving me inside. ‘I think that’s their car outside.’