‘Sounds like it was well overdue.’

‘It really was. Anyway, Alex, there’s something I need to tell you before—’

She’s interrupted by Danielle, who sweeps into the office and plonks her stuff on her desk noisily.

‘Urgh. Morning all. Don’t you just hate being guilted by homeless people all the time? I passed three of them on my way here. Three. All of them asking me for money. I work hard for my salary. They should try doing the same.’

Danielle’s words rattle through me like a pinball and I shoot Emmanuel a look that loosely translates as ‘she is so out of order’. Emmanuel nods in silent confirmation.

‘Do they have so many people on the streets in Glasgow, Alex?’ Danielle asks me. ‘I feel like we’re awash.’

I grit my teeth to be sure I give a measured response. ‘Homelessness is a problem all over the UK, Danielle. And it’s not an issue caused by laziness. You’re smart enough to realise that.’

‘Huh, sure.’ She sniffs, not accepting my view at all.

Grabbing my pre-work and my bag, I excuse myself from the conversation so I can get to my session on time.

‘Are you heading to the conference room now, Alex?’ Danielle asks. ‘Wait for me, I’ll chum you.’

I stop dead. Danielle’s coming to the leadership event? Surely not. I slowly turn, catching Emmanuel’s eye as I do. She mouths ‘I’ll explain later’, face full of apology. Taking a deep breath, I offer Danielle as genuine a smile as I can muster.

‘Sure. I didn’t know you were on the programme.’

‘It’s not really been public knowledge.’ Danielle joins me and we walk out of the office together. ‘I didn’t want to boast about being one of the company’s future leaders. You know how it is.’

‘I sure do.’ But you most definitely don’t, I think to myself. So, what’s really going on here?

The morning passes quickly and despite Danielle being irritatingly domineering in the group conversations, I find I’m able to filter her out and focus on the quality conversations with the other like-minded colleagues in the room. That is, with the exception of the introductions stage, when we’re sharing a bit about ourselves, including our hobbies. This is where Danielle decides to tell the group that she and I are both avid runners, and suggests we all go for a run at lunchtime the next day to help us gel as a group. As the responses of ‘why not’ and ‘sounds fun’ reverberate around the group, I have to resurrect my fantasy injury as an excuse, which unfortunately allows Danielle to sit back smugly with a look of ‘I knew it’ plastered across her face.

When we break for lunch, I make sure I shake off Danielle before returning to the office to seek out Emmanuel.

‘How did Danielle end up on the course?’ I whisper to her, hunkered down at her desk.

‘Let’s take a walk.’ Emmanuel gets up and ushers me out of the office.