Luckily, Jake didn’t follow me so I got into the lift and the doors closed. I leaned against the wall with a sigh. I didn’t need that stressful interaction on top of having to deal with Hayley. I straightened up as the lift reached the fifth floor and told myself if I could tell Jake how I felt, I could definitely tell Hayley. Taking a deep breath as the doors opened, I walked through, shoulders straight and head high.

‘You look like you’re on a mission!’ Ellen called out from behind her desk.

‘I am,’ I said, not slowing down to chat in case my resolve cracked. She stared after me curiously as I went to my desk to dump my things then went straight to Hayley’s office, knocking on the open door to make my presence known.

Hayley was at her desk, typing on her phone. She waved me in without looking up as she carried on typing, her long fake nails making a tippy-tappy sound on it. I didn’t sit down opposite the desk though in my usual chair. It felt like I might have the slightest chance at not chickening out if I remained standing. Plus, this way, I actually appeared taller than her too. I kept my hands behind my back so she couldn’t see me wringing them with nerves.

Finally, she put her phone down on the desk and rolled her eyes. ‘All my sister wants to talk about is her wedding,’ she said. ‘She keeps on about me leaving early to go to New York but I was there to see her get married. And she’s sent me about five hundred photos and videos. It’s ridiculous.’

‘Getting married is a pretty big thing,’ I said, thinking that Hayley’s behaviour towards her sister was really telling. I had thought her workaholic ways were something to aspire to, but although she had achieved a lot in her career, it made me determined not to be so one-track minded. Yes, work was important to me. Yes, I was ambitious. But my family and friends were important to me too. I knew if and when Liv married Aiden, I would be almost as excited as she was going to be. I didn’t understand how Hayley could be so dismissive about her own sister’s wedding. It was no wonder she didn’t care about how she’d treated me.

‘So she keeps telling me.’ Hayley folded her arms on her desk. ‘I thought we weren’t meeting until lunchtime? I’m waiting for Jake to come in and discuss the offer we had in from Craig.’

I tried not to think about how I left Jake outside the office after being so honest about my feelings for him. He was probably still standing there, stunned.