Janie stared at her husband’s building as the light bounced off it. Today was one of the days she hated it, but not just because of her reaction to Anna’s news. It was also because Laura Denning was back.

Chapter Five

By the time Laura had extracted herself from the toilets, she was five minutes late to Harry’s meeting. The boardroom was already full. From outside the glass wall she could see the jostle for chairs, the banter by the far window. She could hear the laughter erupting through the glass.

There was a time when Laura felt a buzz upon entering the room, but now her stomach was jittering for a very different reason, and she gripped her notepad more tightly as she caught sight of Mia at the far end of the room. Laura’s eyes trailed down the length of Mia’s grey woollen cardigan. It hung open and unbelted, reaching her mid-calves. Under it she had on an almost-sheer white top, which was pulled out from the waistband of slim navy jeans.

Mia’s hair was cut short, tapered into the back of her neck, but hanging lower at the front. It was much darker than Laura remembered. There was something so effortlessly chic about this woman that it made Laura feel dowdy by comparison. She’d been pleased with how she looked that morning, but now she was feeling unsettled. The men who stood around the long oval table were all dressed in either open-necked or polo shirts, as if it were some kind of uniform. They wouldn’t even consider checking out what each other was wearing. They probably couldn’t tell her what colour their own shirts were, if she asked them to close their eyes. And yet somehow, for some reason, the sight of Mia looking so elegant filled Laura with irritation, because more than anything it sapped away what little confidence she had left.

Mia was smiling at something Harry was saying and eventually he glanced up and caught Laura standing on the other side of the glass. He beckoned her in. A smile was plastered across his face, left over from whatever joke he’d just been sharing, but she could tell that beneath it there was a layer of something else. She wondered how much he was wrangling with his decision, and hoped it was enough that he would come to his senses quickly.

Laura forced a smile as she opened the door and flung it open to a chorus of, ‘Hey, you’re back. Good to see you.’

She answered their questions about Bobby and agreed how quickly the time had gone by, and silently thanked their financial officer for standing so close to the door that she could direct her attention onto him.