‘You could contact her dad?’ she asks me. Causing me to almost drop Tommy and turn a neon shade of red. I hoped I had gotten away with that, but I suppose me yelling ‘Anal Man’ gave it away.

‘I mean, I wouldn’t say I know him,’ I say, spluttering.

‘OK, well you—’

‘I met him yes,’ I blurt, before she says it.

‘Sure … you, er, “met” him,’ she says, rolling her eyes and doing inverted commas with her fingers. ‘Well can you contact him and ask him how she is?’

‘Risky, it isn’t our problem.’

She comes to my desk and sits on it, bending over to get her face as close to mine as possible. Tommy blinks at her proximity.

‘Boss, there is a woman out there with no one to turn to. She tried to kill herself at her own wedding. She could be thinking about doing something stupid again. We have a responsibility to make sure she is OK.’

‘Risky, please. I just want to get this job wrapped up and get back to my maternity leave.’

‘OK, well if anything happens to Lauren and you knew a way to reach out to her, then that will be with you forever.’

‘Woah. That’s not fair!’ I say, swapping Tommy onto my other boob.

‘I’m just saying, if you know of a way to help someone you should do it. Her dad might be beside himself about it all. He might need help too.’

I think about Ross, and how kind he was to me that day when I acted like a drunk hussy and demanded anal in the middle of the afternoon. He didn’t make me feel worse. He’s a good person. Maybe he does need help. Lauren will be a mess and it can’t be easy on him either, knowing his ex-wife had an affair with his future son-in-law.

‘OK, I’ll go and see him. I’ll check in on Lauren. I’ll make sure she’s OK. Then can I get back to my life, or whatever is left of it …’

‘Yes. Yes you can,’ Risky says, heading back to her desk to read a text message. She looks very excited as she reads it.

‘Who is it?’ I ask, fascinated.

‘Oh, um … it’s Adam.’

‘Risky, please, if this thing gets out it could be really damaging for my business.’

‘Beth, there’s so much gossip surrounding this wedding, do you honestly think anyone would care about me and Adam getting together?’

She raises a good point.

‘Anyway, weren’t you going somewhere?’ she asks, suggestively.

‘OK, OK, I’ll go.’ I get my bag and put Tommy in his sling. ‘I’ll go because I just want to put this whole thing behind me.’

Bad choice of words.

‘I bet you do, you saucy minx,’ Risky says, winking at me. She is relentless.

Ruby