I had to admit that I’d been thrown slightly off balance by Clio’s admission that she was envious of my life. I’d always thought my little world was too small to be of any interest to anyone else, let alone the object of any envy, but the way Clio had explained what she meant made me look at things slightly differently. My job as a cleaner wasn’t glamorous or exciting, but it was satisfying. I brought order where there had been chaos, and provided a service that people needed and were often extremely grateful for. On top of that, it paid well enough for me to provide for our needs, more or less, and the world would always need my skills. I could live in Timbuktu and someone would be looking for a cleaner. Looked at like that, my job really was one to be proud of. Maybe that was what Clio had seen in it, too?

After the swimming and netball were out of the way, I took the kids on a detour with the promise of a Coke and a bag of crisps to share if they didn’t moan about it.

‘Where are we going?’ asked Poppy.

‘The pub!’ I replied, and Poppy raised her eyebrows. I wasn’t the kind of mother that took her children to the pub, though there were plenty around that did.

‘I need to talk to Eddie,’ I explained. ‘I won’t be long. If I bring you a drink out, will you watch Noah? He can play on the swings. He’ll be happy enough.’

Poppy nodded with a show of reluctance that I knew was fake. She loved spending time with her little brother and would happily while away an hour on the swings and slides using Noah as her excuse.

I bought the drinks and crisps at the bar and took them to the kids outside. Then I went back in to find Eddie the landlord.

New bars had sprung up in town over the years, but the King’s Head had shunned all forms of modernisation. The walls were panelled in dark wood and the floor was covered in a busily patterned carpet that clung to the soles of your shoes as you walked. Plain tables and wooden chairs were scattered around, but most of the locals preferred to sit at the bar and chat to Eddie. Eddie had been at the King’s Head since I was a kid. Mum had worked there, and I knew that he’d always kept an eye out for me over the years even though I rarely went into his pub.