Lottie faces her fears.

Lottie scrambled to compose herself, then immediately dialled Olivia's number. They had been close friends since secondary school, and she desperately needed her friend right now. "Liv! I need you. I'll be home at 2 o'clock. Harry will be out with Adam. Please!"

"Yes, yes, take a deep breath," Liv responded in panic for Lottie. "I can come to work and get you if you need me."

"No," Lottie took a few calming breaths, "It's okay, but I really need you."

"Alright, well, I'm free all day. I will grab a bottle of wine and meet you at 2," Liv said confidently, prepared to be the rock that Lottie needed.

"Thank you, Liv. I'll explain later. I messed up big time. I have got to go. I'll message you on my way home."

"I'll be ready," Liv hung up the phone and wondered what her friend had done that was so wrong. The phone call she'd just received was unlike any she could remember in recent memory."What the fuck could she have done?" Speaking to herself.

As the clock struck eleven o'clock, Lottie noted, only two hours left. She'd stayed in her cramped office, pushing herself hard since that event, diligently working through her backlog of tasks. Just as she looked to her window, wanting to escape, a chat window from her colleague Harry popped up. He asked: "Are you free?"

Lottie nervously typed out her reply, "Yeah, of course! I'm free. Come by. Are you leaving soon?". She questioned herself immediately. It was too much. Was she too eager and quick to respond? How could she talk to her husband after what she'd just given over to Charlie? She couldn't tell him now, not at work. But no more. She could hardly cope with the last 2 hours. They needed to talk this through properly if he'd let her. She would not lose Harry.

"Hey, you okay?" Harry's voice broke her train of thought.

"Yeah, yeah, come in," Lottie managed to get out, her voice shaking slightly.

Harry came round to her, pulling her into his side reassuringly. "Mhm, I'm looking forward to it," he said excitedly. "It's always a good night with Adam." Pulling away from Lottie, he took a seat and relaxed, "I'm even more excited to hear about how much you teased Charlie."

"Oh, it was nothing, I promise..." Lottie's voice trailed off as she struggled to think of anything to say to him, guilt burning through her.

"You've got to stay up," Harry said with a smirk, "just take a nap; I won't be too late. I want a repeat of last night."

"Okay," she mumbled hesitantly, her stomach in knots as dread slowly filled the room. She wanted to apologise and make things right with Harry. But part of her knew she had gone too far, and there was no chance of salvaging their relationship after her revelations. She didn't know if she would be forgiven, but all she could do was try. Fear crept in as she contemplated what would happen if Harry left her, and the burden of living with this mistake for the rest of her life came into focus.

"Hey, Harry and Lottie, how's it going?" Adam interjected, his voice shaking her out of her thoughts.

"You're early," Lottie said, her tone frosty.

"Oh wow, someone's in a bad mood. What did Harry do now to get you so mad?"

"Shut up," she spat out, feeling guilty for taking her frustration out on Adam.

"Chill out, guys. Let's not spoil the atmosphere, okay? I was just about to say that we were leaving earlier than expected - is that okay with you?"

"Yeah, sure, I'll be waiting tonight."

"Don't worry. I won't bring him back too late. I can see you need to let some steam out," Adam teased.