The first thing I did that morning was to e-mail Gill, the letting agent, to ask whether she could have someone put a bolt on the front door. I told her I was concerned about security and was happy to pay for it. It was something I could have done myself but of course I didn’t have any tools with me. I knew I could have asked Tom if I could use some of ours, but he’d insist on coming round to do it for me and I didn’t want him to see where I was living. Gill replied quickly, saying she’d send someone around as soon as she could, but that I wasn’t to do it myself, as per the rental agreement.

I got to work by nine o’clock as usual and found another woman sitting at my desk. She was very tanned and heavily made up, and her eyes were swollen and pink. I guessed she’d been crying. She looked me up and down and I knew she must be part of the gang that worked in the admin office.

“Hi.” I smiled. “I’m Ruby Dean, the temp.”

She scowled. “I’m here now,” she said.

I stared at her, wanting a further explanation, but she said nothing, just took out her makeup bag and focused on her eyebrows.

Mike, our manager, came out and saw me standing there. He ushered me into his office. As I left the reception area I heard the woman yell, “What’s this computer doing here?”

“I’m so sorry,” Mike said. “I didn’t realize she’d be back today.”

“I thought she was on holiday for three weeks?”

“She was.” He closed the office door and whispered, “She was meant to be getting married abroad. They got drunk and had a huge argument and got kicked out of their hotel, so they had to come back.”

I bit my lip to stop myself from laughing. “So now that she’s back, you don’t need me?”

“You can stay if you like,” he said. “You’d have to work in the admin office with the others, though.”

We looked out of his office window into the admin office beyond. The woman from the reception desk was there now, telling her story to an avid crowd.

“I’ll give that a miss, I think.”

“I don’t blame you.” He shook my hand. “Thanks for all the work you’ve done. I really appreciate it. I’ll call Lesley and make sure you’re paid to the end of the week.”

I raced out to my car, feeling giddy with relief that I was getting out of there.

•   •   •