One pill wasn’t enough though, so she made the stupid error of taking a second. Somehow she had the wherewithal to ask Lara to pick the girls up from school, used the well-worn excuse about waiting in for a tradesman. With Simon in Dublin, she thought she’d be able to float through the evening until bedtime, then sleep off her excesses, no real harm done. But she’d forgotten that she’d asked Kat to walk Luna that evening. Of course the salt-of-the-earth dog walker turned up bang on time, and somewhere along the way Beth told her about Mark.

She doesn’t know why she did that. There was something in Kat’s voice, steeliness mixed with kindness, a touch of familiar working-class dependability, that encouraged her to open up. But now she just feels more exposed.

Beth is one of about forty parents here, mainly mothers, sat in the school’s main hall. She could name about half the audience, while they will all know who she is, or at least think they do. Capable mother, attractive wife. Brave pillar of the community, putting her safety on the line for a homeless drug addict. They don’t know that she lies to everyone she loves. Or needs medication to stop herself cleaning relentlessly. She can sense the mums closest looking in her direction now. She knows they want to talk to her, to remind her that they met at a coffee morning once, and therefore have the right to press her for further details about her failed Florence Nightingale act. She keeps her head down and prays that no one has the nerve to tap her on the shoulder.

At least she doesn’t have to face Saskia yet. In the past, the lower school has put on a big Christmas carol concert with all one hundred and fifty pupils sharing the space, but they’ve opted for a more intimate format this year, separate back-to-back concerts for each year group. The reception class went first so Angus will already have delivered his solo (and no, Saskia’s four-year-old son didn’t have an ounce of nerves, he announced on the way to school while she and Saskia painstakingly avoided eye contact; he’s clearly inherited his mother’s chutzpah) and now Beth is waiting for Ava’s year one performance to begin. Unfortunately Saskia will be back in an hour for Martha and Olivia’s festive turn.