‘What I mean is that I just thought it was the right thing to do, for now. Mia started the campaign, she’s going to complete it. No one is taking your job away from you, Laura. You still have it – nothing’s changed. And listen, I wasn’t going to say anything today,’ he went on more softly, eyeing her carefully as if worried she’d either break down or start screaming any moment, ‘but there’s a new opportunity on the horizon. It’s a start-up; it’ll be a big account but it’s not concrete yet.’

Laura continued to regard him. She didn’t trust herself to speak.

‘Someone I used to work with,’ he went on, ‘and he wants to put a lot of money into building his new company’s brand. Laura, you’d be perfect to handle it, but there’s no way you could possibly do both.’

She opened her mouth, but for a while no words came to her. She’d been talking to Harry about new opportunities before she had left, begging him for something else that she could invest in, but she hadn’t factored in giving up her most important client to do so. Eventually she said, ‘But this opportunity isn’t even definite.’

‘No, not yet. But I’m going to set up some time for you to meet him in the next couple of weeks, and in the meantime you can settle back in. I thought it would help you,’ he said, wide eyes imploring her. ‘I remember when Janie went back to work after Ella was born. She felt awful every time she had to take some time off when Ella was sick and—’

‘Harry!’ Laura snapped, ‘Nate’s at home. You know that. He’s given up his job so that I don’t have to run home every time something happens.’

Harry splayed his hands wide on the desk in front of him. ‘I know that, I know. But please, Laura, this wasn’t meant to make you feel worse. I was only trying to help.’ He flicked his wrist and she caught a flash of the gold watch peeking out from his cuff.

‘You couldn’t make me feel any worse if you tried,’ she said, her voice on the edge of snapping. ‘I want to keep Coopers. I don’t want another account.’

‘Okay,’ he said calmly. ‘Okay, let’s have another chat about this later. My meeting starts in five, and we can’t both be late for it. We’ll catch up again later in the day.’

Laura pushed the chair back. ‘I want her out of my desk.’

‘It’s done,’ he nodded.