I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose, focusing on work and pushing what was clearly happening right under my nose as far away as possible. I’d always been good at that.

‘No, I don’t think so,’ I replied confidently. ‘This is amazing, thank you so much.’

‘I’m sending all the info over now,’ she sang down the line, her voice full of cheer. ‘Call me if you have any problems at all, any questions, any issues with the job.’

‘I will,’ I promised as I ended the call, knowing that I wouldn’t. I didn’t have problems, that was part of my charm.

Fran Cooper, dependable, reliable and one hundred percent guaranteed to make your life easier. That was my brand. As I watched Stew wander off down the street with a great big smile on his face, I realized the only person I ever made things difficult for, was myself.

CHAPTER TWO

‘What are these and why aren’t we burning them right this very second?’

Jess held a pair of pink flowered culottes aloft with a horrified expression on her face.

‘They’re Stew’s mum’s,’ I said, snatching them out of her hand and tossing them back into the ironing pile that lived on the spare bed. ‘I had to borrow them last Sunday after Mandy’s youngest decided to hurl his pudding across the room and I got doused in custard.’

‘What I wouldn’t give to get doused in custard,’ she sighed as she flopped onto her back. ‘And now I’m hungry. What have you got for pudding?’

‘I haven’t got anything for pudding,’ I told her, holding a smart black blouse up to the light to check it was in fact still black and hadn’t been washed into a sad state of charcoal grey by our archaic washing machine, before putting it in my suitcase. ‘In fact, I haven’t even got anything for dinner, I was busy getting ready for tomorrow and I forgot. Pizza?’

‘Can’t beat pizza.’ She took the sensible black blouse out of my suitcase and dropped it down the back of the bed. ‘You really don’t have any clue who you’ll be working for?’

‘Haven’t the foggiest,’ I replied, reaching across her to pick up the blouse and put it right back in the suitcase. ‘I tried Google, but there are about a million Sarah Pierces, I gave up after an hour. It’s all very intense though, I’ve never had to sign an NDA for an interview before. And the job requirements list is a lot.’