– Lucy Doyle wakes up in the arms of Niall Flynn. 19 August – 7.30 a.m. + 1 second – Lucy Doyle realises her head hurts. 19 August – 7.30 a.m. + 2 seconds – Lucy Doyle realises that she is in Sophie’s bed, at Sophie’s flat, but that Sophie is on the sofa. NOT GOOD. I wanted Niall Flynn. I did not want to be his wife, fiancée, little woman, whatever. I mean, at my age? Sod that! He had a cheek, for one thing – happily shagging my friends and expecting me to be his girlfriend, and his alone. It was not going to happen. He still turned me on, and I’m a stubborn little cow when I want to be. I wasn’t giving in, and I wasn’t going to chuck him either. There had to be some way of working it so that I got my way. Mrs Maryam Smith rang just before eight to give Sophie her assignment, and by good luck I was on the same one. Niall had left by then, needing to get the garage open and make sure his lads had done what they were supposed to the day before. Sophie and I went together, by tube, to a mail room in Wandsworth where we and several other temps were supposed to process a huge pile of responses to some big competition.
