‘I bet you’re pleased it’s the weekend tomorrow, so you can see him again.’

Laura felt her stomach churn as she dragged her gaze from the boards and back to Mia. What she really wanted to do was pick them up and look through them. See what ideas Mia was proposing to run with. Part of her wanted to make sure they were good enough, because eventually, she reassured herself, she would be taking back her account. But there was another part that wanted to hate them. So she could tear them apart in front of Harry and say, ‘See, she can’t do this.’

‘I do see my son every day,’ Laura replied, turning her attention back to Mia.

‘Oh yes, I know,’ Mia waved a hand in the air. ‘I didn’t mean – I just meant it’ll be nice to have two days off.’ She paused and then added with a laugh, ‘God, I know I can’t wait for it.’

Laura stared back at Mia’s blank face and thought there was something so insincere about her, and yet she couldn’t put her finger on what. Aside from the fact that Mia had lied in her interview about not wanting to stay on, though no one else appeared to think this was an issue.

Harry had spent most of his week in London, but Laura had caught up with him the previous day and voiced her unhappiness again. ‘I still don’t see any reason why Mia’s here,’ she had said. ‘It makes no sense. She never wanted to be – she said, clear as anything, she only wanted a six-month contract.’

‘What she wanted six months ago is irrelevant. She’s doing a good job, she enjoys it,’ he’d replied.

Laura had watched Harry flicking through his filing cabinet as he spoke to her, his attention elsewhere. Any moment he would change the subject as his mind juggled a number of issues, so she ploughed on. ‘But we don’t need her. I can manage the work, you know I can. I did it before and I can do it now.’

‘Laura.’ He turned and threw some papers onto his desk, where they landed with a thud. She cocked her head, goading him to respond. She knew she was the only one who could talk to Harry the way she did. Even Patrick stopped short of contradicting their boss when he knew he was on a losing streak, but Laura had always held her ground.

‘You get away with it because you’re the golden girl,’ Patrick would often joke. If he was annoyed by this, he didn’t particularly show it. Patrick was confident enough that he didn’t play petty office games with Laura. He might want to get his hands on the Coopers account, but who wouldn’t? By virtue of the fact Coopers brought in the most money, they were Morris & Wood’s most important client.