BooksBarbecue
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Chapters (84)
  1. Chapter one
  2. Chapter two
  3. Chapter three
  4. Chapter four
  5. Chapter five
  6. Chapter six
  7. Chapter seven
  8. Chapter eight
  9. Chapter nine
  10. Chapter ten
  11. Chapter eleven
  12. Chapter twelve
  13. Chapter thirteen
  14. Chapter fourteen
  15. Chapter fifteen
  16. Chapter sixteen
  17. Chapter seventeen
  18. Chapter eighteen
  19. Chapter nineteen
  20. Chapter twenty
  21. Chapter twenty-one
  22. Chapter twenty-two
  23. Chapter twenty-three
  24. Chapter twenty-four
  25. Chapter twenty-five
  26. Chapter twenty-six
  27. Chapter twenty-seven
  28. Chapter twenty-eight
  29. Chapter twenty-nine
  30. Chapter thirty
  31. Chapter thirty-one
  32. Chapter thirty-two
  33. Chapter thirty-three
  34. Chapter thirty-four
  35. Chapter thirty-five
  36. Chapter thirty-six
  37. Chapter thirty-seven
  38. Chapter thirty-eight
  39. Chapter thirty-nine
  40. Chapter forty
  41. Chapter forty-one
  42. Chapter forty-two
  43. Chapter forty-three
  44. Chapter forty-four
  45. Chapter forty-five
  46. Chapter forty-six
  47. Chapter forty-seven
  48. Chapter forty-eight
  49. Chapter forty-nine
  50. Chapter fifty
  51. Chapter fifty-one
  52. Chapter fifty-two
  53. Chapter fifty-three
  54. Chapter fifty-four
  55. Chapter fifty-five
  56. Chapter fifty-six
  57. Chapter fifty-seven
  58. Chapter fifty-eight
  59. Chapter fifty-nine
  60. Chapter sixty
  61. Chapter sixty-one
  62. Chapter sixty-two
  63. Chapter sixty-three
  64. Chapter sixty-four
  65. Chapter sixty-five
  66. Chapter sixty-six
  67. Chapter sixty-seven
  68. Chapter sixty-eight
  69. Chapter sixty-nine
  70. Chapter seventy
  71. Chapter seventy-one
  72. Chapter seventy-two
  73. Chapter seventy-three
  74. Chapter seventy-four
  75. Chapter seventy-five
  76. Chapter seventy-six
  77. Chapter seventy-seven
  78. Chapter seventy-eight
  79. Chapter seventy-nine
  80. Chapter eighty
  81. Chapter eighty-one
  82. Chapter eighty-two
  83. Chapter eighty-three
  84. Chapter eighty-four

The only consolation was that in these days of supposed equality, Neve would probably carry the can. She was a more junior member of staff, a woman and, therefore, despite employment legislation, considerably more dispensable than he was. The truth of the matter was there would always be a queue of tall, leggy and beautiful graduates ready to take her place.

Pip peeled his tall frame out of the Philippe Starck boardroom chair and stretched. ‘Come on, Mr Swift. Time to stop dwelling on your tortured love life and turn to the rather mundane, but infinitely more pressing matter of work. Time to put your corporate underpants on outside of your suit and transform yourself into a superhuman advertising executive.’

Jake dragged himself up. ‘I can’t get fired up about this one. Eggs are a bit of a turnoff for me at the moment. I need something more meaty to get my teeth into.’

‘We’ve got a pitch for a New Zealand–lamb promotion coming up,’ Pip said with a smile.

‘You know what I mean. I need something sexy, something glammy. My testosterone is in turmoil, I need to channel it,’ Jake said. ‘Whatever happened to the Blow aftershave contract? We got that one, didn’t we?’

‘Yeah,’ Pip mumbled.

And if Jake hadn’t been quite so preoccupied with his own problems, he would have noticed that his friend had suddenly become rather shifty.

Chapter five

Chapter five

I can’t believe how long it took to get to five o’clock. I deliberately didn’t ring Jake all day, but you would not believe the amount of effort it cost me. It was only the fact that I know he hates personal calls at work that kept my fingers away from the phone.

The house is still in darkness when I arrive home. I can’t bear this time of the year when the nights start to draw in and the mornings are pitch-black too. I hate going to work and coming home in the dark. On top of everything else, I’m sure I get that Seasonal Affective Disorder—SAD. Although at the moment it’s been rather surpassed by UBM—Utter Bloody Misery.

I’m going to make a fab dinner for Jake this evening. Instead of working this afternoon, I took the opportunity to pick some stale crumbs out of my keyboard and had a long think about what the girls said. I have to admit that I was a bit shocked that their sympathy leaned more towards Jake’s plight than my apparent abandonment. But, on reflection, they could well be right. I probably have been neglecting us as a couple and focusing instead on why we aren’t a threesome. All that is going to change. Tonight, I’m going to woo him with my culinary skills instead of talking about my ovaries.