I looked down with zero appetite at the possibly-blueberry muffin I had purposely chosen in an attempt to make up for the disrespect shown to the cakes by Luke several weeks earlier.

‘So, how is the church project going?’ I asked brightly, attempting to kick-start the conversation. ‘Roger said there was a decision to be made over parking.’

He nodded. ‘We’re going underground, so we can have a garden. We hit a grave, but we’re back on track.’

‘Yes, Roger mentioned the skeleton too. I had that on a previous job years ago. It was a London office block development and I was still training. We uncovered graves and various artefacts. It set everything back by twelve months.’

‘Difficult.’

‘It was.’ I picked up the muffin – an ancient artefact if ever there was one – peering closely at one of the supposed blueberries, distracted for a moment by the fact that it appeared to have legs. I returned it to the plate and pushed it away from me. ‘So, did you make up your mind about the façade?’ I asked, aware that a silence was extending between us.

‘Yes.’

I looked across at him, waiting for something more, and as he questioningly met my gaze, I leaned back in my chair and said, ‘I don’t have any design or build issues at the moment. Do you?’

He hesitated for a moment and then shook his head. ‘I do not.’

‘Did Alison ask you to suggest lunch?’

‘No.’

‘So why did you? Because it’s pretty obvious that you’d rather not be here.’

He placed his barely touched sandwich back down on the plate and studied it for a moment. ‘I suggested lunch because we currently work together and, unless you’re planning to quit, we’re going to have to work together for some time to come. That being the case, the sooner we can achieve a productive working relationship free from suspicion and resentment, the better.’

‘But I’m honestly not at all suspicious or resentful,’ I smiled.

‘I wasn’t talking about you.’

I placed my hands under the table, clenching them into tight fists. ‘OK, but I have apologised,’ I began, my smile now fixed and my voice even and controlled, ‘and I have admitted that I made a mistake. I am not by nature a confrontational or judgemental person and in the past I have enjoyed amicable, productive, mutually supportive working relationships with all of my colleagues. I prefer to work with people, not in competition with them. I’m neither calculating nor manipulative and I am not a threat. I made a mistake based on misinformation, and that is it. I’m as eager as you are for us to move on from that.’

He picked up his sandwich and took a second bite.