But Harry didn’t ask. Janie assumed this was because he must have thought he’d forgotten all about it, and she decided to let him think that. There was no point admitting it might be her mistake, but she felt guilty that Ella clearly wished her father was there.

She knew she was about to make it worse, but she couldn’t help herself when she said, ‘Honestly, Daddy really wanted to be there—’

‘Mum!’ Ella yelled. ‘I told you I don’t care.’

‘Okay. I’m sorry,’ she said and they fell into silence. Janie wondered if hormones kicked in again at eleven, or whether they had even stopped after the last surge.

Once they had reached the school playground, Janie kissed Ella hurriedly on the top of her head and waited with Lottie for the bell to go.

‘You know you won’t get a seat at the front if you don’t go in,’ Lottie warned her.

‘I know, poppet, but I’ll be fine.’

‘Mummy, why doesn’t Daddy ever come to see our shows?’

‘Lottie, he does,’ Janie said. ‘That’s not true – he always comes if he can make it.’ But even as she said it, she tried to think back to the last time Harry had accompanied her to the school. Even on parents’ evening he had rarely been home in time, but always the teachers had brushed it off, because everyone knew how busy and important Harry Wood was, and everyone was more than happy to excuse his absence.

Just like Janie always had been too. Over time, she realised, there had been many occasions when she felt like a single parent. Perhaps that was why she had inadvertently stopped telling her husband about the girls’ events. Maybe, she even thought, she found it easier to support them on her own.

There would come a day when Janie would leave Harry. She had known this for some time now, but had always assumed it wouldn’t be until the girls were older. When they left home themselves she wouldn’t need to worry about what they thought as much as she did now.

She had often wondered what everyone would say when she told them – how surprised they would be. Even her own sister wouldn’t foresee it. If Janie were being honest, thoughts of both their families were another reason that made the idea of leaving Harry seem impossible. From the outside, Janie and Harry were still the golden couple they always had been, their marriage the one everyone else supposedly craved. They’d both always attracted people like honeypots.