Ouch! She could hear a collective intake of breath around the table, and she knew then that the whole plan and its budget had been shot to pieces with that one figure. And while she hated the thought that she was taking any pleasure in this rather big omission, Laura couldn’t help but feel a little bit satisfied.

Chapter Eleven

Mia hadn’t been looking for another job when she’d come across the advert for the maternity cover at Morris & Wood. But the moment she saw it she stopped abruptly, her fingers caught in mid-air above the keypad of her laptop. It was too good to be true, she’d thought as she’d scanned the advert, her gaze settling on the email address of Laura Denning, the woman whose role she would be covering. She was to contact her personally if she wanted to apply, an irregularity that she didn’t stop to consider in her haste to send her CV.

The first time Mia had met the Coopers team she’d hit it off with all of them. Only a couple of months in and Tess Wills had told her, ‘It’s fab having someone so fun around, Mia. Laura rarely invited us out for drinks or, if she did, she always stayed sober, even before she was pregnant.’

Mia liked Tess. A few glasses of wine were all the Coopers’ marketing director needed to confide in her about all sorts of things, like the fact that her husband of ten years had run off with his secretary a year ago. By all accounts, Tess was very quick to proclaim she would never forgive him.

It hadn’t been a surprise when Harry asked her to take over the account. By then Mia already knew they wanted to keep her, but it was a relief to hear it. And then, when he confirmed her permanent position, it was another reason to celebrate.

Mia needed this job. More than any of the others sitting around the boardroom table would ever understand.

Twelve months ago she’d had no choice but to move back in with her mum, to the small three-bedroomed bungalow she’d moved to when Mia had finally left home at twenty-three. Over eight years Mia had enjoyed setting up her own future, living her life, but now here she was, back at square one.

Jess had been gone a while when Mia had first left home. Five years older than her, Jess was the one who went to university, who knew what she wanted to do with her life. Not like Mia, who drifted in and out of jobs until she had finally found her niche in marketing.