Despite everything, I allowed myself to entertain the thought that she didn't seem to actively dislike me. All right, so she had yet to see me in anything remotely resembling a flattering light, and OK, she'd made an unequivocal declaration that it was never going to happen between us, and fair enough, I was the one who just told her that she could well be out of a job within a few weeks, but still. Surely, I thought to myself, if she really couldn't stand me, she wouldn't be sitting here having a drink now that our official business was over. If she really couldn't stand me, she'd be making some silly excuse and leaving. 'Right, gotta go,' Catherine said then, finishing her drink as she stood up. 'I have to pick up a snooker cue for my dad.'