Laura squeezed her hands tighter and prayed the others would continue to look at either Mia or the table in front of them and not turn in her direction, as they must have been inclined to do. The air felt sticky and oppressive. The thought that she’d stand out as the only one not called upon for an update was mildly tempered by the idea that if she did open her mouth, no words would come out.

Her body was rigid as she listened to Mia’s seemingly eternal presentation, and all Laura could conclude was that somehow, during the last six months, Mia Anderson had transformed herself from a laid-back temp with no ambition into a woman who had clearly earned her place around Harry’s board table. The idea of it seemed so implausible that Laura wondered if she had actually read Mia completely wrong when she interviewed her last October.

She willed the next fifty minutes to pass as quickly as possible. As soon as the meeting was over, she was ready to run and, thankfully, being nearest the door, was the first out of it. Yet as she stepped out onto the open-plan floor, she realised she had nowhere to go. Mia bloody Anderson’s things were still on her desk and, as tempting as it was to hurl them off, Laura wasn’t quite at that stage yet.

‘Welcome back, Laura.’

She recognised the voice immediately.

‘Sorry I didn’t get a chance to say hi earlier. I was on a call and couldn’t get off the phone.’

‘It’s really not a problem,’ Laura said as she turned to face Mia.

‘How was it, leaving your baby this morning?’

‘It was fine,’ Laura lied. No way was she going to get into a conversation about her personal life.

‘I expect you’ll miss him, though, won’t you?’ Mia went on. ‘I mean, it must be a wrench and, you know, worrying over someone who depends on you so much. It’s not easy.’

‘He’s very lucky to be with his dad,’ Laura replied curtly.

‘Of course.’ Mia’s gaze didn’t leave her, and Laura wondered how much confidence the woman had. ‘I’m just saying, I can understand you must be feeling a bit weird this morning.’ Mia paused and smiled. ‘I think if it were me, I wouldn’t be able to stop thinking about him and—’

‘Mia, would you mind moving, so I can have my desk back?’ Laura interrupted before this woman went any further.

‘Right, yes, of course.’ Mia hesitated and then, ‘I’ll do it now,’ she said.

As soon as Mia disappeared, Laura headed straight for the lift and rode it down to the ground floor, where she pulled out her mobile and phoned Nate. ‘How is he?’ she asked, breathlessly, as soon as her husband picked up.

‘Hey! Everything okay?’

‘Yes, how’s Bobby?’

‘He’s great. He’s having his nap.’