"I'm sorry," she says again, wanting to make that clear. "I shouldn't have reacted like that, it was just a bad moment." She'd worried enough seeing him turn up unannounced, without it happening in front of the board. It didn't take much for a reputation to get damaged when you were that high up in the pecking order, and Melody knows a boyfriend young enough to be her son is just the kind of gossip that could see certain important gazes turn disapproving.