After a couple of days, Katy was completely fed up of people making comments about how she must be enjoying the freedom of the girls being in Spain with Tyler. Kathy's jokey comment that she was surprised to see either Katy or Isaac outside the house was met by almost as much sarcasm as her suggestion that they should go to the Vic for a drink. Katy had refused to set foot inside the pub since Sharon and Ian had taken over, although no one had really understood that it was a boycott as she had been on holiday and then spent most of the rest her time working at the R&R.

"Oh, come on… just a couple of drinks… I know you're not working tonight." Kathy tried to convince her on Thursday afternoon. "Come on… come with me and Glenda." Catching sight of the young woman's expression, she laughed. "OK, OK… maybe I shouldn't have tried to use the fact your grandmother will be there as an attempt to convince you."

Katy laughed. "No, it's not that, Kath. I've already got plans."

"With the ever-so-handsome Isaac?"

"No, actually." She replied casually, casting her eyes over the invoice in her hand. "We're not joined at the hip. We're both going out with some mates... separately."

"Oh, that's nice." Kathy smiled warmly. She privately wondered who the young woman would be going out with, knowing that apart from Tina, she only ever spent time with her family outside of work. "Where are you off to?"

"Not sure yet… I guess we'll see where we end up."

Sensing that Katy wasn't in the mood for a conversation, the older blonde headed away and left her to what she was doing. With a sigh, her business partner sank down onto a barstool and huffed irritably. She could tell that Kathy had been confused by her announcement, knowing where her mind had immediately gone. She knew her life was tragic, but she refused to admit that she was at a point where she needed to spend her evening with her grandmother and her grandmother's best friend in a pub owned by a woman she couldn't stand.

"You really got plans?" Tina asked, sidling up beside her and grinning teasingly.

"Of course… I'm not some hopeless case who–"

"Alright, alright!" Her friend held up her hands. "You going out with Graham?"

Sighing, Katy shot her a look and then nodded. "It's some big, important party or other. You should see the dress, T… it's amazing. I googled the designer and it costs over a grand."

"Jesus…" Tina blinked at her. "This must be an important one."

"I know right. He replaced the Louboutins Amy broke, too."

"K… don't take this the wrong way, but are you sure there's nothing going on here."

"Like what?"

"I dunno… it just feels like you're getting a lot more out of this than he is and… well, isn't that a bit suspicious?"

"You sound like Ronnie." Katy muttered irritably. "Why don't either of you think I can handle this?"

"It's not that I don't think you can handle this… I just don't get it."

"Good job Graham didn't ask you to do it then, ain't it?"

As the blonde stood up and announced that she was going home to get ready for her night out, Tina watched her go warily. She was concerned that Katy was so adamant that there was nothing she needed to be careful of that she was purposefully ignoring any signs she might otherwise notice. Knowing that her friend had a past, that she was less than squeaky clean herself, Tina was sure that in any other situation Katy would be the one pointing out how strange the set up was.

"Hey, sweetie!" Ronnie called as Katy left the bar. Her daughter smiled tightly and crossed Turpin Road to join her outside the R&R. "It's your night off, isn't it?"

"Mm… I've got plans, though. I can't work for you."

Arching an eyebrow, her mother shrugged. "I wasn't going to ask you to. I was just going to say I hope you have fun."

"Oh… sorry."

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah." Her daughter sent her a very forced smile. "Just… Kathy offered for me to join her and Gran at the Vic tonight, clearly not thinking I'd have other plans on my night off."

Ronnie laughed, shaking her head. "She meant well."

"I don't need her pity."

"I'm sure it wasn't pity, sweetheart."

"Yeah, well, I have plans anyway, so…" Knowing that her mother was going to question her, she glanced at her phone. "Speaking of, I'd better get going. I'll see you tomorrow, OK?"

Without giving Ronnie a chance to reply, she strode away quickly. Katy was well aware that her mother's suspicious mind would be in overdrive, but she would deal with that when she saw her the next day.

Instead of worrying about any of that, she focused on getting ready for the party Graham was taking her to. He hadn't said anything about it, more than the usual regrets about it being a boring business dinner with awful people he hated, but the fact that the dress was so expensive and he'd replaced her shoes told her that it was obviously even more important than normal. She looked at herself in the mirror, sighing and prodding at the bags under her eyes.

Snapping a photo, she sent it to Tina. 'On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do I look like an exhausted mother of three who's running a bar?'

The reply was instant. 'You look insanely hot. That dress is phenomenal and your tan totally hides how horrendously tired you normally look.'

Laughing softly at the brutal honesty of the last part of Tina's message, Katy thanked her quickly and slid her phone into her clutch bag. Appraising her appearance one final time, Katy headed downstairs just in time to hear someone knocking on the front door. Taking a breath, she switched on the hall lamp and let herself out.

"You look beautiful." Graham greeted her, pressing a kiss to her cheek before opening the car door and standing back as she slid in.

"So? What are the specifics for tonight? Who do I need to schmooze for you?"

"There's a guy coming tonight who's a hedge fund manager for a big firm in the city." He informed her, chuckling as she skipped small talk and got straight to the point. "I won't bore you with the details. He's recently divorced his third wife and has four children."

"Has he got a name?"

"Damien Anderson-Millet."

"Of course." Katy nodded. "Double barrelled name. I bet his kids are at some elite boarding school, too."

"Undoubtedly." Graham laughed. "I have to warn you, he is a bit… tactile."

"Eh?"

"Handsy."

"Ah…" Katy nodded, pulling a face. "I'm guessing you'd prefer it if I didn't punch him in the face?"

"It would be preferable." He agreed. "But if he makes you feel uncomfortable I want you to come and tell me straight away. I'll sort it."

Laughing, the blonde looked at him in disbelief. "I think I can handle him without you stepping in."

"In a way that won't end up with you under arrest?"

"Yeah, OK, maybe not."

Chuckling, he changed the subject, asking her about her holiday. She teased him, doubting he'd ever been to Tenerife in his life, laughing when he unsuccessfully tried to deny that she was correct. By the time they arrived outside the large, detached house in a leafy neighbourhood that immediately made Katy feel uncomfortable, she had almost forgotten that she was about to spend her evening as a trophy girlfriend amongst some of the most infuriating people she was ever likely to meet.

After the introductions, Katy found herself sitting next to a middle-aged woman who was viewing her with complete suspicion. She smiled weakly and re-introduced herself, attempting to make small talk. The woman was clearly not interested in speaking to the blonde who had been introduced to her as a bar owner and was very obviously nowhere near her socially.

Katy was almost relieved when a man appeared and asked whether he could get her a drink. Seeing Graham smiling at her from the other side of the room and catching the man's name as he put his hand on the small of her back and propelled her towards the bar, she realised this was the man she was supposed to be talking to.

"Graham says you're an entrepreneur." The man told her smarmily.

"I own a bar in East London, yeah." She agreed, smiling tightly.

"What's it called?"

Katy laughed, genuinely amused. "It's a gay bar… R&R?"

"Oh…" He looked a little confused. "I thought you and Graham…"

"I'm not gay." She informed him with a chuckle. "That's not a legal requirement of running a gay bar."

His smile widened again and, to her irritation, Katy felt his hand slipping lower. As he started talking about something or other that didn't interest her in the slightest, the young woman's gaze moved around the room. She frowned when she couldn't see Graham anywhere, especially as a young man appeared and announced that dinner was ready to be served.

"Where the hell did you get to?" She hissed as Graham slid into the chair next to hers a few moments after she'd escaped her new acquaintance and taken her seat. "Thanks for leaving me with that creep."

"Sorry… had a bit of business to attend to." He told her with a broad grin. "Don't worry about it. Besides, I thought you said you could handle him?"

Shooting him a sarcastic smile, Katy focused her attention on the first course and tried to tune out the conversation going on around her.

The rest of the evening passed incredibly slowly but, thankfully, Graham didn't leave her on her own again. She smiled vacuously and stayed quiet, not feeling the need to engage with any of the other guests. She laughed in, what she hoped were, the right places and nodded along with anything that was said that she didn't completely disagree with.

"Keeping the lovely Ms Mitchell all to yourself, North?" Damien exclaimed, appearing beside them and laughing heartily.

Graham smiled, his hand moving reassuringly to rest lightly on Katy's waist as he sensed her tensing slightly beside him. "Not at all, although we were thinking of leaving."

"I don't blame you, you old rogue. If I had that one on my arm I'd have been out of here at the first opportunity." He said, completely ignoring Katy's presence and talking directly to Graham. "She looks like she's a lot of fun."

"Excuse me?" She demanded, her hackles rising at being objectified so obviously.

"That was uncalled for, Damien." Graham told him lightly, his eyes hard as he stared at the other man. "I think you should apologise."

"It was a compliment!"

"Hardly." Katy told him, her eyes flashing.

"Well I apologise if you didn't take it as such."

Sensing that Katy was about to say something that would cause a scene, Graham nodded curtly and announced that they were leaving. He ushered Katy towards the door, grabbing their jackets as they went and propelling her towards his waiting car.