Mia’s mother had once protested about the development of the offices and still considered Harry Wood to be the enemy. When Mia had got the job, she warily told her mum where she was going to be working, but by then the money was so desperately needed that she thought her mum wouldn’t have minded if she went to work for the Conservatives.

‘And there really isn’t anything else out there you could be going for?’

‘No, there isn’t. Besides, I like it.’ She wrapped an arm around her mum’s bony waist and gave it a squeeze. Every time she did so, she felt her mum getting a little thinner. And every time that happened, Mia felt an even greater weight pressing down on her shoulders.

Chapter Seven

On Friday morning Janie pulled a pair of black capri trousers and a white shirt out of the wardrobe. It didn’t escape her that making an effort for a child’s assembly was ludicrous but if she didn’t, she would stand out. The girls were already waiting by the front door when she descended the stairs, their blazers on, their hats slightly askew. She straightened Lottie’s and reached for Ella, who pulled out of her way, making her hat slip even further to one side.

‘We’re going to be late,’ Ella moaned.

‘We’re not. It’s not even ten to.’

‘You won’t get a good seat. Don’t you want to be at the front?’

‘Of course I do, but wherever I sit I’ll be able to see you. Are you nervous?’ Janie asked her eldest.

‘No.’

‘You shouldn’t be. You’ve practised so hard. You were playing beautifully last night.’

‘Ohmigod, I just said I wasn’t nervous,’ Ella shouted.

‘Fine.’ Janie held up her hands in surrender and ushered them through the door towards the car.

‘Lacey’s dad’s coming,’ Ella muttered when she climbed into the back.

‘You know Dad would have liked to come,’ Janie said as she slid in too and looked at her daughter in the rear-view mirror. ‘It’s just that today he has something important to do at work and—’

‘I’m not even saying anything about Dad, I simply told you Lacey’s is coming. Are you not even listening to me?’

Janie ignored her daughter’s tone as she started the engine. Ella wasn’t usually remotely bothered if Harry was there or not, but then the evening before she’d overheard her asking him if he was coming, in a way that suggested she was. He’d told Ella he couldn’t this time, and then Janie had waited for him to ask her about the piano recital, because the truth of it was she couldn’t remember if she’d even told him about it in the first place. She didn’t actually think she had.