Suddenly, there’s a commotion across the street. The revolving doors of Dunston & Bradley spin on their axis and a group of happy, giggling people push out onto the pavement. And she’s there right in the centre. Call it woman’s intuition, call it gut instinct, call it insanity, but I’d know her anywhere. Even from the few brief details Pip gave me about her I just know—I just know that she’s the one sleeping with my boyfriend. And Pip was accurate too, she is beautiful, but not quite in the way I expected. I thought she’d be small and girly and look young and gullible. But she’s not. Oh no. No way is this one gullible. Or small. Or girly. She’s tall, uncommonly so. ‘Statuesque’ would be a kind word. But I’m not feeling kind, so I think she looks like a rugby prop forward. Action Man with boobs. She’s got short, black hair, all chopped about, and is wearing a tight, unutterably cool black business suit with a skirt that wouldn’t look out of place on a streetwalker. And that’s not being unkind, that’s being truthful. This woman is fully loaded with weapons of mass distraction. The group surrounding her are all guys and they’re hanging on her every word and she’s quite clearly mistress of all she purveys. They gradually peel themselves away from her, dispersing in little clusters down the street until she’s left standing there alone. No. Not quite alone. Lurking behind her is Jake. He sidles closer to her and they both scan the street and the office behind them furtively. Furtive, in that they are making sure that none of their colleagues catch sight of their intimacy, but not furtive in that they think Jake’s ex-girlfriend might be watching them from across the street. Jake reaches up and touches her hair and then kisses her softly on the lips. I touch my own hair. Did Jake ever do that to me? Was he ever mesmerised by my hair? I can’t remember. I feel as if someone has reached into my chest and pulled out my heart. They part and it takes me by surprise that they walk off in opposite directions and, just for a moment, I don’t know who to follow. Should I chase after Jake and confront him? Or should I arm myself with a few more facts first? I’m in such a quandary that I very nearly ask the wino for advice. And then as the woman strides out, I break cover and decide to follow her.