Carmel is promoted to management and must train new recruits at the Hackney Council. During training, she emphasizes all the difficult people that the new employees will need to deal with. She misses how Rueben used to blame all these difficulties on the system of capitalism rather than on the people themselves, even though she completely disagrees.

Carmel’s affair with Rueben lasted for five years. The affair moved from the office to Rueben’s apartment, which Carmel eventually decorated to her taste. The sex also became more involved, with lingerie and toys, and Carmel did things she never imagined she’d do before. Even though she knew God was watching, she reasoned that all the churchgoers were hypocrites anyway. Nevertheless, Carmel could not commit to Rueben and ruin her marriage because she believes marriage is a holy promise to God. After five years, Rueben finally insisted that she must let him move on: He was lonely and she wouldn’t commit. Shortly after the breakup, she stalked the space outside his house but never tried to interact with him. Around the same time, Barry proposed a divorce. This was when she responded violently, wielding a knife at him.