‘Yes, I think so,’ she beamed. ‘I’m updating you all on the ad in a bit anyway, so it’ll be good to get your thoughts.’ Her heart skipped a beat as she said this, because even though she was confident enough, she didn’t relish putting herself out there. And Patrick was such a closed book. She knew he saw himself as Harry’s right-hand man, but there had been something so offish about him towards her, right from the start. Mia wondered if at some point the other people around the board table were going to take sides, and if they did, she had a clear picture of where Patrick would go. Straight to Laura’s. And if that happened, she feared she might be the one to suffer the loss of a job, because she was the new girl.

Mia straightened as she walked into the room, dropping her notepad and phone onto the table, before pouring herself a coffee from the pot that had likely been standing there for the last hour. The women on the floor, outside the glass walls of the boardroom, might have her back, but if it came to it, were they going to be enough?

Finally Harry arrived, and a couple of minutes later so did Laura. It was odd for Mia knowing she wasn’t the only woman round this table any more, as she had been for the past six months. There were seven men in the room – account directors, Chief Finance Officer, Chief Operating Officer, and her. They had danced around her like peacocks when she’d first joined. Each time she spoke, the room descended into silence, a few of the men shifting on their seats. Apart from Patrick, that was, who had a habit of talking over Mia and finishing her sentences.

Laura was now the centre of attention as the men all asked after her and her baby. Mia felt uncomfortable as she stood by the coffee pot at the far side of the room, not knowing whether she should join in the chat or wait until later, when they’d have a chance to speak in private.

In the end she pulled out the chair next to Harry, who was already sitting down, and waited for the meeting to begin. Probably better to remain professional at this point, especially when she had so little first-hand knowledge of what Laura Denning was like.