Robyn was still smirking. ‘I know this might sound childish,’ she said, ‘but I’ve just been given John’s new address. And I was wondering . . . if you were a gorgeous young twenty-two-year-old shacked up with a much older man, what would you be most horrified to see arriving in the post for him?’

Beth didn’t reply immediately and for a moment Robyn thought she hadn’t picked up on her meaning. But then Beth raised a mischievous eyebrow. ‘Adult nappies?’ she suggested. ‘Haemorrhoid cream?’

‘Hair-loss treatment?’ Robyn added, lips twitching.

‘Oh, you could have a bit of fun with this,’ Beth said, giggling. ‘You could really go to town. Wouldn’t it be awful if somebody signed him up to all these junk-mailing lists for – I don’t know – pensioner holidays or hearing aids . . .’

Robyn heard herself making a gurgling sound. ‘Or gave his details to the local Jehovah’s Witnesses, saying he wanted to be saved . . .’

‘Yes, and needed an urgent baptism,’ said Beth. ‘That would be a real shame.’

The two of them collapsed into giggles, leaning against each other. ‘The possibilities are endless,’ said Robyn, feeling more cheerful than she had for a long time.

‘Decisions, decisions,’ agreed Beth with a grin. ‘Well, keep me posted,’ she added as the children started pouring out of the school. ‘Hey, let’s go out for a drink sometime in the holidays – you can tell me all about it then.’

‘I’d love that,’ said Robyn, feeling a small glow of pleasure. With every conversation that she’d had with Beth, she’d come to like the woman more each time. Was it cheesy to say that she felt as if she might just have made a new friend?

Here came Sam and Daisy now anyway, both smiling as they ran towards her, and she felt a churn of anxiety inside, that she was about to really shake their happy worlds with what she had to say back at home. But she wouldn’t let them down, she thought, crouching a little so that she could hug them both, one on each side. She had all these great women around her who were going to help her survive this ordeal – her mum and Paula, Victoria and Beth – and she would make damn sure that her children came through it with her as best she could manage, too.

‘Alison? Is that you?’

Alison, her hand on her car door, turned at the voice. She’d popped over to see Robyn after work, and had ended up staying for dinner because Robyn had just broken the news about John to the children and emotions were running high. Sam had been silent and unhappy, while Daisy had spouted anguished tears of sorrow. It had been a wrench to leave, frankly, despite Robyn’s assurances that she could cope.