Mike was an irritatingly stubborn man; Laura knew if she pushed him, he would retract even further. Her eye caught his screen, and a visual of Coopers’ health drinks stared back at her.

‘Can I ask you when you’re going to get to my brief?’ she asked, tearing her eyes away from it.

Mike sighed. ‘Which ones?’

‘The direct mail for the estate agents,’ she snapped back.

‘When do you need it by?’

‘I was expecting to see something last night.’

Mike shook his head. ‘No can do, now. We’re all stacked.’

‘What do you mean, “No can do”?’

‘I mean there’s no way I’ll be able to get it done today. Not with this,’ he said flatly, his head nodding towards his screen.

Laura screwed up her eyes as she assessed her options. She knew she should walk away and not turn this into an issue, but at the same time she didn’t know what to do with the ball of rage rapidly building inside her.

Mike had already moved back to his project, rolling his mouse over the desk as he worked his way around the creative. The fact was that Laura had no option. There was nothing she could do but wait until Mike had time to get to her work.

‘I’ll send it to Sam – he can do it, if you need it today,’ Mike said eventually.

‘Who the hell is Sam?’

‘My work-experience lad.’ He nodded in the direction of an empty desk.

‘Forget it,’ Laura snapped. ‘It can wait until Monday.’

Mike didn’t bother responding as she charged back to her desk, her blood bubbling beneath her skin. Never had her work been passed to a work-experience ‘lad’ unless she’d come up with the idea herself.

She pulled out her chair and slid onto it, steepling her hands on the desk in front of her as she leaned forward, resting her chin against them, blowing out short puffs of breath. Beside her, a photo of Bobby smiled back. She reached out and pulled the photo closer, tracing her finger over his happy face.

He was wearing the blue-and-white striped top that she and Nate had bought on a weekend in Cornwall. Five minutes after the photo had been taken a seagull had landed on their table and frightened the life out of her, but Bobby had giggled, reaching his chubby fingers out as he tried to grab the bird.

What was she doing here? The question swept through her so suddenly. She had given up being with her son so soon, and for what? They didn’t have to carry on living in their house – they could downsize. Move out of the area. Lymington was so expensive; they could move to Wales, be nearer Nate’s parents.