Mia turned to her notes and started to tell the team how excited she was, before ploughing through the presentation that she had spent the last week rehearsing, on the single bed in the box room at her mum’s bungalow.

She felt as if she were in a prison, living in that place, but at least she escaped to work five days a week. Not like her sister Jess, who cocooned herself within that bungalow like there was no life outside its four walls.

By the end of the presentation it was clear how fired up the team was feeling. The fact that they loved her ideas flooded her with a warm flush. Finally she could relax, though she didn’t dare look in Laura’s direction. Just for that moment she didn’t want anything to take away her relief.

She wasn’t particularly surprised when Laura had something to add at the end of the meeting, but still Mia wanted it to be quick, so that she could get out of the room on a high. She even expected some sort of put-down – she knew she’d be able to handle it – but she could never have prepared for the bombshell about weather insurance.

Mia thanked her lucky stars that she rarely blushed outwardly, because inside she was dying. Budget was a high priority on the brief, and this curveball was going to destroy it. But of course she hadn’t thought of insurance, because she hadn’t actually run a sodding TV ad before. Why hadn’t anyone else in the office thought to mention it to her? What about Bryony, who was now avoiding eye contact, rustling through her papers as if she were looking for the figure in there somewhere.

You’re not going to find it, Bry, Mia screamed in her head. Because you never told me we needed any.

Her heart hammered as she wrestled with an appropriate response. Not including insurance was such a stupid mistake, and it was one that was going to cost them dearly. ‘I’m just waiting for some quotes to come in,’ Mia lied.

As Tess gawped back at her, it was clear she didn’t believe her. Anyway, what use was it waiting for quotes to come in, when she hadn’t even factored in a figure in the first place? There was only one person who could dig her out of this hole and that was the person who’d thrown her into it.

Mia didn’t have any other choice. She turned to Laura, who seemed faintly amused by Bryony’s frantic actions. Their assistant was diving into pieces of paper like a lunatic, and suddenly Laura’s voice boomed across the room. ‘Twenty per cent.’