Diana had been hoping to get away by 5:00, so she could be at the farm in time for dinner. She tried not to show her true feelings when at 4:37 her deputy, Phil Haskings, presented her with a complex twelve-⁠page document that 30 ______ the signature of a director before it could be sent out to the client. Haskins didn't hesitate to 31 ______ her that they had lost two similar contracts that week.

To 32 ______ the truth, it was always the same on a Friday. The phones would go quiet in the middle of the afternoon and then, just as she thought she could leave, a new document would land on her desk. Diana looked at the document and knew there would be no chance of escaping before 6:00.

Diana adored her children. At first 33 ______ she looked happy. The demands of being a single parent as well as a director of a small but thriving City company meant there were 34 ______ moments left in any day to relax. When it came to the one weekend in four that James and Caroline spent with her ex-⁠husband, Diana would try to leave the office a little earlier than usual to avoid the weekend traffic.

She read through the first page slowly, aware that any mistake 35 ______ hastily on a Friday evening could be 36 ______ in the weeks to come. She glanced at the clock on her desk as the signed the final page of the document. It was just showing 5:51.