Page 76 of The Fallback

‘Is there anything else?’ she said again, more insistently. ‘Jasmine, I need to know.’

‘He’s posted some more photos of him and Jenny,’ Jasmine said in a rush.

‘Where are they taken?’ Rosie asked, more out of something to say than because she really cared. The fact he had posted the photos was enough.

‘Some look like they’re taken in a bar. Some with the river behind them and one of them looks like they’re cuddled up on a sofa. At his flat, by the looks of it.’

Rosie was quiet again. As far as she could remember, Mitch had never posted photos of girlfriends before.

‘Rosie, are you OK?’ asked Jasmine.

‘I’m fine,’ she replied tersely. ‘Isn’t this what you wanted, anyway?’

‘Sorry?’

‘You thought I should cut Mitch out of my life, and it looks like he’s done it for me!’

‘Rosie, I’m sorry.’ Jasmine pleaded. ‘I thought it would help you move on. I never wanted it to happen like this. Or for you to get hurt. Do you want to come over? We’re just going to eat pasta and watch TV. We’d love to have you.’

Rosie shook her head. ‘No, I’m fine, I just want to go home.’ She failed to add,and cry desperate tears of sadness into my pillow.

‘I hate the thought of you being on your own, Rosie,’ Jasmine said desperately. ‘I can come to yours as soon as Chris gets in?’

‘Jasmine, it’s fine,’ Rosie insisted. ‘I’m completely fine being on my own, which is good, because it looks like I will have to get used to it.’

She hated the tone she was using with Jasmine but she couldn’t help herself. She knew Jasmine was right. She needed to get over Mitch. And she knew now that Nadia and Ben’s theory was wrong, that it was just them telling Rosie what she wanted to hear. Mitch had never given her any reason to believe he might like her romantically. And now she was so frustrated that she had allowed herself to get carried away in the daydream, even just for a moment.

‘I’ve got to go. I’m getting on the tube,’ she lied. ‘I’ll call you later.’ And she ended the call, knowing that she wouldn’t be calling Jasmine back that night.

Furiously, Rosie woke her computer and started angry-typing an update to Rachel, whose reply was instantaneous and curt.

‘Good,’ it read. ‘Press release coming your way now. It’s been approved by BioChem and the VC. Have it ready to send toThe Postwhen I tell you.’

Rosie stretched her arms over her head and waited for the press release to land in her inbox. She’d read it through, update her electronic lab notebook with today’s results, then go home, where she would switch her phone off to prevent her doing some idiotic internet-stalk of Jenny. Then take a long bath and attempt to numb her sadness with pizza and Netflix.

Right on time, the email from Rachel arrived. The press release was in the body of the email, which would make it simple enough just to forward when Rosie was told to. She scanned it, hoping her name wouldn’t be mentioned too many times, if at all. But it was extremely vanilla which gave her hope that the news desk atThe Postwould ignore it and Mitch might never even hear about it.

But then an attachment at the bottom of the email caught her eye. Idly wondering whether it was the press release as a PDF, Rosie clicked it open before realising three things in quick succession: firstly this was not a PDF, it was an email chain, secondly that it was an email chain between Rachel and the VC, which was definitely not for Rosie’s eyes, and thirdly, Rachel would be apoplectic if she ever found out that Rosie had seen it.

Rosie shut it down but not before she had received far too much information about how Rachel and the VC had spent their recreational time at a recent conference. Horrified, Rosie picked her phone up and dialled Nadia’s extension, hoping against hope that tonight was a night that Nico was picking the kids up and that Nadia would still be around.

Her wishes were granted.

‘Hello?’ came Nadia’s curt response.

‘Nadia,’ whispered Rosie. ‘You have to come to my office right now.’

‘Er, OK. Why?’

‘I can’t tell you. You have to come and see something on my computer.’

There was a sigh.

‘Can’t you just email it to me?’

‘No!’ Rosie whisper shrieked. ‘You have to come and see it.’

‘Why are we whispering?’

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