One Day

Monday, July 15, 1996. Emma and Mr. Godalming are half undressed on the floor of his office. They’ve just had sex, but Emma finds that even sex sometimes leaves her in a bad mood. It’s the end of the term, and the building is otherwise deserted. Mr. Godalming says he doesn’t know how he’ll last six weeks of summer without Emma. She suggests he can always fall back on his wife, but he doesn’t appreciate her humor. To try to lighten the mood, she suggests that he should use the summer to experiment with getting rid of his beard, but he seems very attached to it.

Emma’s affair with her boss, Mr. Godalming, began the previous September, shortly after Emma turned down a proposal from Ian. One day, she burst into tears in Mr. Godalming’s office, and he comforted her and took her to dinner, where they got very drunk and had sex afterward. For Christmas, Mr. Godalming gave Emma a cell phone. She said she liked it, but it meant she lost a bet. At times, Emma wondered if she loved Mr. Godalming, but now, nine months later, she isn’t sure what she’s doing.

As Mr. Godalming is about to leave for the holiday, Emma admits that she doesn’t feel excited about the affair anymore. He gets angry and says that she has terrible timing and they should discuss it again at the beginning of the school year. Emma wants to stop. Mr. Godalming raises the possibility of telling his wife, but Emma says she doesn’t want that. At last, they agree to “pencil-in” a meeting for next term, and he leaves, then Emma leaves 20 minutes later.

Ian has moved out of the flat, but he’s back when Emma returns. He claims he’s just back to get more of his things, but Emma accuses him of finding excuses to spy on her. He hasn’t shaved or washed recently. He thinks Emma was with someone recently, but Emma says she’s just getting back from play rehearsals. Ian insists that she must have broken up with him because she has a new boyfriend. At last, Emma says she’d been having sex with Mr. Godalming for nine months, but she says it so dryly that he assumes she’s joking. Ian says his own theory is that it must be Dexter.

Ian admits that he’s read some of Emma’s notebooks over the years, including about her time with Dexter in Greece. Emma gets outraged. She tries to kick Ian out. He says it’s his flat too, but she reminds him he never paid mortgage. She says she’s never really been happy in the flat. Ian asks why she can’t just love him again, but Emma says it’s not possible and wants his keys back. Ian apologizes again for rifling through Emma’s notebooks but says that some of her stories are good and she should send them out eventually. She promises to eventually.

Ian asks one more time about Dexter, who supposedly broke up with Suki recently, and Emma says she hasn’t seen him in a long time. Emma insists that she and Dexter were just friends. She tells Ian that one day he’ll feel better. Eventually, he seems to accept this and leave, saying he still thinks Emma is The Bollocks.

Emma decides to get drunk. She goes to a shop and buys expensive old champagne and some cigarettes. As she walks back, she is surprised to run into Sonya, who has grown up since she was in Oliver! and is now in her first year of college, preparing for A-levels, then hopefully to a more prestigious university. The whole time, Emma hides her lit cigarette.

Emma goes home and drinks the bottle, then she falls half-asleep. She wakes however, when she hears Dexter’s voice. He’s now on a late-night television show about videogames. She thinks he’s looking a little tired and unhealthy these days, but for some reason, she feels affection toward him again, and she decides to call him the next day.