Acknowledgments

Все темы данного раздела:

Chapter One
Would you consider yourself stressed? No. Im not stressed. Im... busy. Plenty of people are busy. I have a high-​powered job, my career is important to me, and I enjoy it.

Chapter Two
As I arrive at the office, Ketterman is standing by my desk, looking with an expression of distaste at the mess of papers and files strewn everywhere. Truthfully, I dont have the most pris

Chapter Three
Nine hours later were all still in the meeting. The huge mahogany table is strewn with photocopied draft contracts, financial reports, notepads covered in scribbles, polystyrene coffee cup

Chapter Four
I wake at six a.m. with my heart pounding, half on my feet, scrabbling for a pen, and saying out loud, What? What? Which is pretty much how I always wake up. I think nervy sleep runs in th

Chapter Five
I walk through reception on autopilot. Out onto the sunny lunchtime street, one foot in front of the other, just another office worker among the midday crowds. Except Im different. Ive jus

Chapter Six
I have no idea what this womans talking about. My heads hurting so much, I can barely look at her, let alone take in what shes saying. Are you all right? She peers at me. You look terrible

Chapter Seven
I wake the next morning to an unfamiliar, smooth white ceiling above me. I frown in puzzlement, then lift my head a little. The sheets make a strange rumpling sound as I move. Whats going on? My sh

Chapter Eight
As soon as Im out of the room, I dash upstairs, along the corridor, and into my bedroom to check my mobile. But its only half charged and I have no idea where Im going to find a signal. If Trish co

Chapter Nine
Itll be all right. If I say it often enough to myself, it must be true. Ive opened my phone several times to call Guy. But each time, humiliation has stopped me. Even though hes m

Chapter Ten
The only thing is, now I actually have to be a housekeeper. The next morning my alarm goes off at six fifteen and I arrive downstairs in the kitchen before seven, in my uniform. The garden

Chapter Eleven
By the time Trish comes back into the kitchen Im a little more composed. I can do this. Of course I can. Its not quantum physics. Its housework . Samantha, Im afraid were going to desert y

Chapter Twelve
I wake up the next morning, heart pounding, leaping to my feet, my mind racing with everything I have to do... And then it stops, like a car screeching to a halt. For a moment I cant move.

Chapter Thirteen
He doesnt have a girlfriend. I managed to get that information out of Trish on Sunday night, under the guise of asking about all the neighbors. There was some girl inGloucester , apparentl

Chapter Fourteen
I get to Friday morning without any major calamities. At least, none that the Geigers know about. There was the vegetable-​risotto disaster on Tuesdaybut thank God I managed to get a

Chapter Fifteen
By seven oclock that evening, Trishs mood has unaccountably transformed. Or maybe not so unaccountably. I arrive downstairs in the hall to see her wandering out of the living room with a cocktail g

Chapter Sixteen
Im woken the next day by Trish banging sharply on my door. Samantha! I need to speak to you! Now! Its not even eight oclock on a Saturday morning. Wheres the fire? OK! Hang on a s

Chapter Seventeen
Like I said. There should be a different system. There should be some kind of universal arrangement that leaves no room for misunderstanding. It could involve hand signals, perhaps. Or small, discr

Chapter Eighteen
The crucial thing is that this lawyer doesnt recognize me. So the following afternoon, after Ive prepared the spare room, I hurry to my own room and pin my hair up on top of my head, allowing large

Chapter Nineteen
I dont see the Carter Spink brochure again for two weeks, when Im drifting into the kitchen to make lunch. I dont know what happened to time. I barely recognize it anymore. The minutes and

Chapter Twenty
I cant do it. I just cant. There is no way of writing this e-​mail without sounding like a paranoid crazy. I look in despair at my tenth attempt. Dear Guy, I need you to hel

Chapter Twenty-One
The city isnt the way I remember it. I cant believe how dirty it is. How rushed it is. As I arrived at Paddington Station this afternoon I felt almost bewildered by the commuter crowds moving like

Chapter Twenty-Two
I wake up to the view of a cracked, grubby ceiling. My eye runs along to a huge cobweb in the corner of the room, then down the wall to a rickety bookshelf stuffed with books, tapes, letters, old C

Chapter Twenty-Three
Nothing happens until lunchtime the next day. I make the breakfast for Trish and Eddie as usual. I hoover and dust as usual. Then I put on Iriss apron, get out the chopping board, and star

Chapter Twenty-Four
Im wrong. The media interest doesnt die down. I wake up the next morning to find twice as many reporters as yesterday camped outside, plus two TV vans. My mobile is so jammed with messages from jou

Chapter Twenty-Five
The news makes the front page of the Daily Mail . I am a genuine celebrity. SAMANTHA CHOOSES LAW OVER LOOS. As I come into the kitchen the next morning, Trish is poring over it, with Eddie reading

Chapter Twenty-Six
I feel numb. It really is all over. Im sitting in a first-​class compartment on the express train toLondon , with the other partners. In a couple of hours well be back. I have a new pair of t