Lauren didn’t go to work. She stayed in bed with the curtains closed. The phone had rung constantly and she’d put a pillow over her head to block out the sound, but still it continued. Finally, she’d hauled herself out of her pit and had pulled the plug out of the wall. Then her mobile had started, so she’d switched that off too.

It was Jude. She knew it was. His ring had a certain tone to it. And this tone was cross. And getting crosser.

She didn’t want to speak to Jude. She didn’t want to speak to anyone. Not even Annie, if she was truthful, and yet she knew she should phone her sister and see how she was now.

Her head throbbed and she’d spent an hour puking up a strange lemon fluid which tasted of rancid pineapple and which she assumed was regurgitated Totally Tropical. Then she ate a piece of dry toast and threw that up too.

Perhaps she’d never eat again. Perhaps she’d just lie here and let herself wither away to nothing. Who would care? Who would notice?

So. It was over. Just like that. All those years gone to waste.

She should feel good that she had at least called a stop to all that subterfuge, deceit and downright lying – but she didn’t. There was just a big hollow bit inside her where feeling was meant to be.

Lauren couldn’t go back to work at Happening Today. She could never face Jude again. Never be in the same room as him again. That was the end of her career as she knew it.

It wasn’t one final lie that had tipped her over the edge. It was seeing Jude with his family, his children. She’d always managed to avoid that in the past. If he’d hosted a company barbecue at his home where children were invited, Lauren had always managed to find some excuse to dip out of it. She’d never had to confront the fact that they were actually all very happy together – that both his wife and his kids were blissfully unaware of their father’s duplicity, or her part in it.

They looked like great kids – the sort of kids that she would like to have herself one day. That made her cry again. With pity for herself and with sorrow for the damage she’d caused.

What would she do now? Another job would be the first thing. Then another place to live. This mortgage would, she was sure, be too expensive for her to pay off on her salary alone. Perhaps she could move further north, out of the Smoke and nearer to Annie. Maybe she could get a house in the same road as her sister, as they’d always planned as kids. Say goodbye to London completely. That way, she’d be sure never to bump into Jude ever again.