She longed for a large black coffee and a bite of something to eat to keep her going, but knew she would have to wait until her meeting with Richard. He was such a generous man. She would have to eat before seeing her family again if she wanted to be strong.

As soon as Dayal saw the piles of leaves, he squirmed to get out of the buggy. Neena stopped by a bench, unbuckled the strap, and watched him stagger towards the leaves.

She remembered a time when her mother took her and her sister to a park just like it, and how she would watch them as they threw leaves above their heads and twirl as they fell. If she had known then that her mother could turn her back on her as easily as she did, she would have tried to love her less.

Neena still longed for her mother. When Dayal’s first teeth began to come through, she instinctively went to call her mother to her ask what to do, before realising that she would simply slam the phone down the second she heard Neena’s voice. When she had trouble breastfeeding and settling Dayal into a night routine, it had been the midwife who offered her advice, not the woman who raised her. But after more than two years, she was going to see her mother again. A part of her hoped that perhaps the family was ready to forgive her, but her father’s curt tone and abrupt end to the call told her that something must have happened. Someone must have seen or said something about her. After all, she was having an affair with a married man – another potential scandal to tarnish her family’s name. On the surface, she looked like the heartless other woman, but in reality, she was in love with a man who had separated from his wife, and was preparing the divorce proceedings with his solicitor.

‘Mummy sad,’ Dayal said as he returned.

Neena jolted out of the memory and saw Dayal stood before her. He placed his hands on her knees for balance.

‘Mummies don’t get sad. Come on.’

Neena buckled Dayal back into the buggy and tucked his ears back inside his bobble hat.

‘Where we going?’

‘To the big gym. You get to see Amy.’

‘But I want you!’

Neena crouched before him and stroked his face.

‘You’ll always have me, Dayal. Sometimes, mummies have to go away to make money to look after their children. I don’t want to leave you, but I need to do it to put food in your belly. Do you understand?’

‘Not hungry.’