Page 120 of If I Never Met You

As said, we’d start next weekend (how you fixed to take a photo in a bar, early doors Saturday?) and then run it up until Christmas …

‘Right,’ Laurie said, taking a deep breath, in shock and a light sweat. ‘So what happened was …’

Who sent this? And today?

Kerry put her head round the door.

‘Laurie, Mr Salter wants to see you. This minute, please.’

Laurie hard-gulped and followed her across the landing, past the lifts to his office. After she knocked and was told ENTER, she saw that Jamie was already standing there. He gave her the merest glance and looked away again.

‘Hello, Ms Watkinson,’ Salter said. ‘Sit please. An email chainhas been brought to my attention between yourself and Mr Carter that suggests that the pair of you have been pretending a romantic liaison for effect, is that correct?’

‘Yes,’ Laurie said. She didn’t think lying was a remotely good idea at this point, and even if she did, she’d had no time to think of any.

‘Can you explain to me, why you did this?’

‘I …’ Laurie threw a look at Jamie and Salter bellowed ‘DON’T LOOK AT HIM PLEASE, I AM ASKINGYOU!’making Laurie jump out of her skin. She’d never seen him this angry.

‘I’d been left by Dan Price, for another woman, who he’d got pregnant. I was in the situation of still having to work with him here. I wanted to make him jealous, to get my own back.’

It sounded as tawdry and ridiculous as it was, repeated in this room.

‘Why was Mr Carter moved to help you?’

‘He …’ God, she couldn’t think of how to cover this up, ‘he wanted to apply for a promotion and felt it would better his chances if you thought he had a girlfriend.’

Laurie really hoped Jamie had already come clean. It was his only hope.

‘The fact you work in law, and this was a deception. That gave you no qualms?’

Laurie thought her only way to survive was self-lacerating honesty.

‘I told myself that it was my private life, nothing to do with my work and therefore had no bearing on my job. Iam pretty appalled and ashamed at this now I stand back and look at it from a distance, but the break-up had put me in a hyper state, I think. I wasn’t eating and I wasn’t sleeping much either. I was consumed by the pain of what had happened.’

‘Yet you knew Mr Carter was doing it for professional advantage?’

‘Yes.’

‘I don’t think the hygiene of this being personal and not professional existed quite in the way you think it does. If you were involved in Mr Carter’s pretences, and you knew he wanted to be made partner as a result, you are an accessory to what he was doing. Are you not?’

‘Yes.’

A heavy silence.

‘Mr Salter. I have no idea if I am making things better or worse by saying this, but I don’t want to be involved in any more lies—’

‘A rather late arriving fit of conscience,’ he spat. She was going to be sacked. Surely.

‘Jamie and I are together. We became involved for real, some weeks back.’

‘You’re in a relationship now?’

Laurie said, ‘Yes,’ at the exact same time that Jamie said, ‘No.’

This was the first he’d spoken. Laurie stared in shock at Jamie.

‘Which is it?’ Mr Salter said.

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